George Ferguson Column: Now Fed?: Missing another legend

In the not so distant past, I’ve written columns detailing my aging body, and how I can’t play tennis as hard or swing a golf club quite like I used too. I’ve even used those pages to poke a little fun at myself.

Not so long ago, I also wrote a column on how time has caught up with Tiger Woods, and just last year, I traveled to the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay and saw for myself just how age and injury have changed the once greatest golfer in the world.

Well, thanks to a stunning announcement Tuesday afternoon, here I go again.

For those of you who love the game of tennis, as I do, or, if you’re just an all-around sports nut, you probably heard that Roger Federer decided to shut it down for the rest of 2016 due to a nagging knee injury. It was somewhat shocking, considering Fed’s durability over the years — as he has sustained very few injuries in his remarkable professional career, which began way back when he was 16.

But, as I’ve said in this column seemingly too many times lately, time catches up to us all, and injuries catch up to even the world’s most elite athletes — which Fed is, and has been.

And while I’ve certainly accepted the adage I’m preaching here, that nothing lasts forever, and no athlete is great forever, Fed’s announcement on Tuesday stung particularly deep.

Why, you might ask? It’s not because it’s another reminder of just how old I’m getting, or that my sports heroes are doing the same. I’ve watched Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and so many more of my favorites come and go over the years that I’m pretty used to the fact that age will end even the greatest of sporting careers.

Not to mention, as great as Roger is, and he is the greatest of all time in my opinion, he’s not my favorite tennis player of all time. That would be a tie between John McEnroe and Andre Agassi, though I do respect and love me some Fed too.

No, Roger’s decision to call it a season means he won’t be at the U.S. Open this year, and, under normal circumstances, I could live with that. But, the 2016 U.S. Open isn’t normal circumstances for me, because I’m actually going to it for the first week.

Yes, our plane tickets are paid for, our hotel was booked a long time ago, and we have tickets to three sessions of this year’s U.S. Open. For me, it’s a bucket list trip and one I’ve been wanting to check off that list for a long time. Add to that the fact that, while Fed may not be my favorite player of all time, I was going to check getting to see the greatest player of all time play at least one match at the U.S. Open, which, sorry Wimbledon fans, but I consider the most exciting, and toughest tennis tournament in the world.

Yes, this was going to be the second straight summer in which I knocked a major sporting event off my bucket list, and with it, two of the greatest to ever play their games in Tiger and Fed.

But, as I chronicled in my coverage of last year’s U.S. Open golf tournament, I didn’t get to see the real Tiger Woods. Yes, I watched him play 36 holes at the U.S. Open, and that was exciting. But, as all of us who love golf know, and whether you love or hate Tiger, Tiger was a shell of his former self last year, and though I saw him up close, I didn’t see the Tiger I fell in love with watching for the last two decades.

That made last year’s trip to Chambers Bay bittersweet. Tiger and Phil Mickelson weren’t factors, but, I was still at the biggest golf tournament in the world, covering it no less, and, I knew, and still know, that was a once-in-lifetime experience, so, Tiger not being Tiger didn’t sour it too much.

Fast-forward a little over a year, and the excitement of attending the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York has been building for me and my wife for months. To put it in perspective, tennis to me is what the NFL is too many of you. Tennis is it for me. It’s my favorite sport, it’s the sport I truly have a love affair with, and, I’ve been playing it for the better part of 30 years.

On top of all of that, I’ve been coaching it for the last 15. And, when you coach a sport, it’s an everyday part of your life. The Havre High tennis season may only run from early March to late May, but for me, Blue Pony tennis is 365 days a year, in my heart, and in my mind.

And the sport itself, well, to me, there’s nothing better, and I am finally heading to the pinnacle of the sport — the U.S. Open. Arthur Ashe Stadium, hot, muggy August nights in the NYC, JayZ and all of the celebs in the stands, all of it — I’m going to love and soak it all in.

But, thanks to a lesson I keep having to learn and talk about over and over again, my one and only trip to the U.S. Open is going to be missing a big piece of the puzzle — it’s going to be missing a fan favorite, the G.O.A.T., Roger Federer.

This trip won’t be like last year’s U.S. Open golf tournament. Because, I actually did see Tiger Woods play golf. This trip, not only will I not see Fed play, I won’t see him it all. He’ll be in Switzerland or Monte Carlo or maybe on his yacht, he could be just about anywhere but New York, and, for someone who lives, eats, breaths and sleeps tennis year round, that’s a bummer.

Now, don’t feel sorry for me. I promise I won’t feel sorry for myself when I’m in New York. For my wife and I, it’s the trip of a lifetime, probably a little more so me than her, at least the tennis part anyway. I’m going to love every second of the three days and nights I’m at the U.S. Open, and Fed’s absence won’t hold us back from having a great time.

But, his absence is not only disappointing, it’s yet another reminder that nothing lasts forever. It’s yet another lesson learned that, no matter how athletic, how great, how tough our sports heroes are, time catches up with all of them.

Of course, it’s also yet another column for me to lament about the fact that, just like all of my sports heroes, I’m getting old too. MJ reminded of it, Tiger did too, and now Fed. And, I’m sure this column won’t be the last one on this subject either, because, hey, I’m not going backward. I’m not getting any younger. And neither are my sports heroes.