Someone once said that a true champion is one who can conquer his weakness and turn his life around.
Take 1: As an upcoming tennis player, Federer was prone to choking on the big stage, one who would do a la-Marat Safin when confronted with frustrating situations. The manner in which he overcame that fallibility to go on and break every record in tennis speaks for itself.
Take 2: Clay, the slowest possible surface to play the great game on tennis on. Red dirt totally removes the skill aspect from the game. No matter how graceful you are, it boils down to physical strength, raw power and tenacity. No so long ago, clay used to be Federer's weakest surface. These days, Federer is the second best player on the surface and not too far from the best. One semi-final and two runner up finishes in the last 3 yrs at Rolland Garros is a terrific performance, especially considering that clay is his weakest surface. Moreover, he wins the other three slams in the year quite easily, almost sleep walks them.
I'm sure Federer will conquer clay one day. It is just a matter of time. Roll on Rolland Garros 2008.
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