Is the Grand Slam dream over for Federer?

It all started in the year 2008. First came the innocent Australian Open Semifinal loss, then the bigger Wimbledon Final loss but with the US Open victory, the 2008 season was written off as just a slump in form. Come 2009, he won the French Open and Wimbledon, creating new records in the process. Comparatively, his Australian Open and US Open losses did not seem too visible. But critics had begun to notice a chink in the armour. The fear and awe that Federer always commanded had started to dither. Suddenly, defeating the legend no more seemed inconceivable.
The year 2010 only further cemented the belief that the best of Federer was behind us. After his 16th Grand Slam win at the Australian Open, the downslide in both his form and rankings continued. Ever since, it has been a constant battle against maintaining his ranking, his ever-fluctuating form and his far younger competitors. The frequency of his unforced errors started to go up and that of his genius backhand shots go down. And the ardent fans of the legend have begun to wonder if his time is finally up.
But the true brilliance of Federer lies not in the number of matches or Grand Slams that he has won, but in every shot that he completes in a serene motion that leaves you gawking in awe. You are left stunned by the wrist as it does a staggering drop shot from behind the baseline, you revel in the free-flowing motion of his hand and you even marvel at how simply he produces an error and merely shrugs it off to carry on like nothing ever happened. To say Federer is past his prime would be like saying Mick Jagger is too old to make music today. One doesn’t simply write off a legend because he is past his prime
Federer’s tennis is a brand of tennis which goes beyond merely being a sport. It is an art, which transfixes you with its sublime motions. It is art which leaves you wanting for more of its breathtaking and unbelievably beautiful strokes. Federer may have started to lose ground among the current crop of upcoming and highly talented players, but even amongst them, the level of the game that Federer plays invokes awe and respect.
So does this mean that from this point on we watch Federer play just for the joy of watching him play or do we still have some hope left for some more of his awe-inspiring Grand Slam wins? That’s a question which is hard to answer. But the more relevant question to ask is this: does it really matter? As long as we are treated to the kind of tennis that we are witnessing today, winning has become more of a technicality.
In the recent Wimbledon finals, Federer proved that he may not yet be back again to his winning ways, but he is far from being down and out. With the help of his new coach Stefan Edberg, Federer might climb greater heights or he might not, but to say that the 18th Grand Slam will remain elusive forever would be a bit far-fetched given the form that he has been displaying in the recent months. As to how long he takes to get there, well, that’s anybody’s guess.