Welcome to Lefty Advantage, my very own new blog in which I hope to write great articles about tennis. Some of you will know me as @KJOttawa on Twitter, where I can talk about tennis for hours upon hours on end, especially when it comes down to talking about the great Roger Federer. If you have followed me at all over my two-plus years on Twitter, then you will know that I am a diehard Roger Federer fan and one who has no doubts that he is clearly the greatest player ever to walk the face of this planet. I always stand by him and I will never stop being his ultimate fan.
Seeing as I am going to be writing this blog for hopefully a long time, I want to let my readers inside my head. I want to let you guys know the evolution of KJ, how I came to be this extremely passionate tennis fan who will be giving his thoughts and opinions on this blog. So as my first post of what will surely be hundreds more to come, this one will be one of the few that is not about tennis, or at least directly about the current ongoings in the game.
I was born June 23, 1992, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. So skip through all that fluff that is the 19 years of my childhood, where I played and watched sports as if my life depended on it, and I am currently a 6'3, 165 pound lanky soon-to-be-man with long legs and big feet.
But how did I get into tennis, this wonderful sport that has given me so much? Well, throughout my childhood I was a huge hockey fan, and I watched the sport with a passion. My favourite team was the Ottawa Senators and I never missed watching a game, and usually went to a handful of games every season. In general, I was a sports nut - hockey, football, basketball, baseball, you name it - every day my friends and I would be talking about nothing but sports. Then, when I was 10 years old, in 2002, my parents introduced me to tennis at this great little tennis club in a small neighbourhood where I lived. Intitally, I was against the prospect of playing tennis, and didn't want to take a lesson with my folks. However, I went through with it, and before you know it I was a natural tennis player from the first time I picked up the racket. I fell in love. Through my early teenage years, I joined summer camps and was always one of the best, if not THE best in the camps. Then, in about 2008, I started really getting involved in the game and it became my one true calling in life. I started watching more matches, listening to the commentators, analyzing points, watching technique and finding every nugget of information I could about ways to improve my game. Right now I am a 5.0 level player through the ranking system of the NRTP, and I play almost every two days. I have always taken pride in the fact that I am a self-taught player, having really only learned the very basics in my first lesson (the camps were just for me to have fun, I already knew the things they were teaching). I believe in tennis, as with anything in life, if you work hard enough and set your mind something, it will be achieved. I am happy to say I have achieved my goals of improving at tennis and devoting my days to the wonderful sport.
Now, the story of Roger in relation to MOI.
In 2002, when I was 10 and just starting tennis, I was a Lleyton Hewitt fan. His backwards cap and his intense fighting spirit must have caught something within me and I was a fan. Then in 2003, probably when Andy Roddick had won the US Open, I became a fan of his. Big serving American with a loudmouth demeanor and dripping buckets of sweat? What's not to like about that? So then my fascination lasted for about a year. Then, and this is where it gets good, I heard on TV that this man named Richard Feedera had just won his third straight Wimbledon. Right afterwards I found out it was Roger Federer. Immediately I was hooked. But that third straight Wimbledon wasn't the draw to my liking of him. I saw the highlights, where he demolished Andy Roddick, and I couldn't get over his grace, elegance, and temperament on court. His shotmaking was unreal, and I realized, even at 14, THIS was the guy I wanted to cheer for as long as he was around playing his beautiful tennis.
Skip ahead to 2008, and I was still a Federer fan, but I hadn't really followed the results at all over the past two years. Then came the French Open. Roger struggled to make the final, having many tough matches, and then came the final. Oh, the final. He was clobbered by Nadal. Clearly not at his best, and it broke my heart. Then came Wimbledon. The 5-times defending Champion, I thought he had it in the bag, even with the heartbreaking defeat to Nadal a few weeks earlier. I watched the final. It was the greatest single match I had ever seen in my life and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Then Roger lost, and it broke my heart again. It took a very long time to digest what had happened, until the US Open began. Roger got his fire back, and took the title by defeating his younger rivals Djokovic and Murray in the process. I was ecstatic, The King was back! Well, not quite.
Skip ahead to January 2009, and the Australian Open final was another meeting of Federer and Nadal. Fed had just come off two great wins vs Del Potro (two bagels) and Roddick, and after Nadal had a 5-plus hour marathon with Fernando Verdasco the day before, I thought there was no way Roger would lose. Then he did. It broke my heart, and it just furthered my depressed state I was in the months before where I was absent from school thanks to deep anxiety. Then, months later, it was the French Open, and Roger had just come off a win vs Nadal in Madrid after a TOUGH season filled with racket smashing and shanks. I was optimistic about Roger's chances knowing who he was, but I thought it was Nadal's tournament surely. Then Rafa lost to Soderling. I was amazed. Then Roger, the day after, barely edge Haas and saved break point at 3-4 30-40 down two sets. I didn't watch the match live and I'm happy I didn't because I would have lost it. Then came the semifinal vs Del Potro and Roger pulled out a two sets to one deficit, showing his true warrior spirit in the face of adversity. Then the final vs the Giant Killer, Soderling. I knew Roger would win, and sure enough I was right. The weight was lifted and I could cry for a positive reason this time! The ceremony was beautiful and the rain made the moment magical.
Then came Wimbledon. After learning Nadal withdrew, I knew Roger was going to win it. He did, but not before being taken to the brink by Andy Roddick, who I felt so sorry for after the match. But Roger was the 15-time Grand Slam champion and officially the greatest ever. Since that time, I have watched EVERY single Federer match from Wimbledon 2009 up until now, and have followed tennis with a keen eye and an even greater love for the game. I have grown to appreciate what Roger has done for tennis, his fans, and for humanity (Roger Federer Foundation), and I am proud to say that Rog is my true inspiration in this world.
I aspire to be a sports journalist someday and maybe a tennis instructor. I would love to work for Tennis Canada and help improve the tennis youth in Canada. I love writing, reading, and learning, and I will always have something to say about any subject related to tennis. I hope to share my knowledge and passion for the game with those who read this, and hopefully in time I can become good enough to make this blog enjoyable and a good tool for discussing tennis.
Thanks for reading this first entry! Cheers until next time, and until then, wag that finger!
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