The Natural

Roger Federer is unquestionably the greatest tennis player who ever stepped on a court. At 36, the champion has nothing left to prove, but someone forgot to tell Roger Federer.

- Tim Struby

It was supposed to be the end. In the fourth round of the 2013 U.S. Open, Roger Federer faced Spain’s Tommy Robredo, a man who had posted a goose egg against Federer in 10 previous matches. This night, however, the script would be rewritten. The Swiss superstar misjudged forehands, shanked backhands, squandered break points, and dished out 43 unforced errors. The once unflappable champ even kicked a ball in frustration en route to a straight-sets defeat.

To many watching, the performance was startling. For more than a decade, Federer had appeared infallible. Witnessing his seamless, fluid artistry on the court - and his play was nothing less than art - was to see the purest form of sport, much like Messi with a soccer ball or Tiger when he ruled the fairways. As Jimmy Connors once told the BBC, in the modern game, “You’re either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist, or a hard court specialist…or you’re Roger Federer.”

Yet that year, for the first time since 2002, he didn’t make a Grand Slam final, he exited Wimbledon in the second round, and eventually he dropped to seventh in the world rankings. So it was no surprise that after a loss to a guy who could walk around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre without being recognized, sportswriters were using phrases like “sense of mourning,” “era over,” and “sun begins to go down on Federer’s career.”