Roger Federer and Australian cricket team – Similar in so many ways!

Being the most successful sportsperson or team is never an easy task. 2 different sports altogether, have proven this fact. That too, almost in the same time frame! Come to think of it, there are many such similarities between Roger Federer and the Australian cricket team, which is astonishing but true.

Federer was the undisputed World No.1 for the most of the previous decade. This status was confirmed time and again due to him being able to win the Wimbledon Championships for a staggering 6 out of the last 10 years, a record which might go unbroken due to the increasing competitiveness in the modern game.

In 2009, he overtook a man who many consider as the original champion of tennis, Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles and Sampras himself conceded that Federer is his favourite and the best of all time.
What Wimbledon is to tennis, the World Cup is to cricket. Steve Waugh played a major role in transforming Australia’s young team into that of world beaters and this was proven with their come-back-from-behind, gritty performance in the 1999 World Cup, defeating teams such as Pakistan and South Africa in the way.

Thus from 1999-2007, Australia won all the 3 World Cups! They too, broke the record of the ruthless, numero uno West Indies team of the 70s and 80s which won 2 World Cups under Clive Lloyd.

Besides the World Cup, Australia won almost every other major title which can be conceived plus everywhere in the world despite the Indian subcontinent and India in particular being their main Achilles Heels. Much like Federer, who could just not master the clay court unlike this toughest opponent, Rafael Nadal who has a greater head to head record overall.

Thus, both of them proved why they were the true champions of their respective sports by winning again and again, taking every match seriously. They have won the most number of matches in history and statistics prove it!

Ironically, both of them began suffering their downfall from the year 2008. Federer’s Grand Slam wins started drying up while Australia with the retirements of legendary players, were no longer the same force that they were before.

Changes in the modern game were just not foreseen by both of them and it was the time for others to rise, while their game plan became too predictable and stale. Both are living at the moment and have their fan base on their past glory and cannot be still underestimated.

Yet, even the optimistic of sports buffs perhaps will not expect them to return to where they were before especially looking at their rankings at the moment. What an era that was, indeed!