And now, the end is near...

It’s the worst moment for any sports fan. It feels like a stab in the heart. You know that eventually you will have to experience it but when it actually hits you your eyes fill up. It is the day you realize that the player you love the most in the entire sport has lost his ability to win at his former level. Roger Federer, I’ve dreaded this day for a while, but it is upon us.

As a fan you go through a number of stages with a player.

The Fun Stages

The Spotting- This is the stage where you first spot your guy. For me it was 2004. I was living in New York and when Wimbledon started I was reading an article by John McEnroe where he said that Roger could be come the greatest of all time. I knew who Roger Federer was of course but had never really watched him seriously because I had been a bit off tennis for a year or so. The Sunday of the final I woke up early to watch him beat Roddick. I was hooked.

The Winning/Losing- As a fan nothing gives you more joy when your team or player wins. In Roger’s case it was a dream run. What he did from 2004-2007 is almost unheard of in any individual sport. With the exception of Steffi Graf, never have I loved a tennis player more. He made Sunday’s a joy and the way he carried himself made him even more special. Victory after victory, he journeyed to become the greatest of all time, taking us with him along the way.

The Rivalry- This is a very important stage. Everyone you cheer for has a rival. It makes the sport more interesting. No long lasting relationship with a player goes without one. Normally, I hate the rival of my player, can’t bear anything about them and cheer at their losses. This one is different; I am a huge Nadal fan. As Bill Shakespeare would have put it, it’s not that I love Rafa less, but that I love Roger more. The rivalry consumes you as a fan. You analyze it, discuss what went wrong, debate whether your player has a chance and hope that he never loses again.

The Final Frontier- Which great player doesn’t have it? For Tendulkar it was the World Cup, for Dan Marino the SuperBowl. It is that final step that pushes you in to a different category and silences any possible critic. Some men achieve it, some don’t. For Roger Federer it was the clay of Paris. Every year the one tournament I wanted him to win above all was the French Open. In 2009, he crossed that frontier.

The Stress Stages

The Denial- This is the first step in to demise. Your player shows signs that he might be human. The game looks scrappy, the wins reduce and other players who never stood a chance pull off upset victories. As a fan, statements start flowing from the tongue- “What does he have left to prove? He doesn’t take these small tournaments seriously anymore? He is just going through a bad phase that was over due. You can’t expect him to keep winning.” All along you are justifying to yourself that these losses, upsets and lack of wins is a mere anomaly and your guy will be back. There is no question about it….. until you reach the next stage.

The Questioning- The seed of doubt that was planted in the denial stage begins to grow. You start wondering if it is a mental thing. You realize that your player has grown older and may not have the ability to keep up. In Roger’s case it started with the 2010 Wimbledon, the loss in the quarterfinals was a shocker. And for the first time you actually ask the question- Is it over?

The Last Grasp- Every player comes back to give you that one last spark of hope. When Roger won the year ending championships in 2010 in London the feeling came back in to my chest, the feeling of hope and anticipation for the next year. You think, it is not over, 2011 will be his year once again. Alas, it is short lived.

The Acceptance- Moving in to this stage is an instantaneously process. It hits you like a lightning bolt and is almost as painful. For me the lightning came in the form of Jurgen Melzer who beat Roger a couple of weeks back in Monte Carlo. Heard of Jurgen? Neither had I. At that moment I moved in to this stage and am probably going to be stuck here for a while. Don’t get me wrong, he may still win some tournaments and who knows may be even pull off another major, but we have to accept it, Roger Federer is no longer the force he once was on the ATP tour. When he goes out there to play, he could lose to anyone. That was never the case.

The Farewell- This is the final stage and my guess is all fans will have no choice but to move here starting 2012. Some will go through every stage as I did, while some who are still in the denial stage may need to skip a few steps. Either way, I fear it may be upon us sooner than we wished.

This post was first published at http://www.gqindia.com/content/end-federer