Granted you want to win - no matter what - but when you are at the crossroad Federer is parked at today, you HAVE to force enough wiggle room to allow words like 'savor' and 'fun' to seep in not just to enjoy the journey but more importantly to boost your chances of winning again.
This is the classic stage where trying harder proportionately reduces your chances of success while maintaining a more natural and organic state at least allows you to absorb the shock of disappointment more gracefully and with less pain, even if success is completely denied.
But the underlying reason responsible for this intense a journey this late in the day leaves Federer with no other option.
Just position yourself in his shoes. You have not just broken almost every record ever recorded you have smashed freaking it to pieces - under ALL conditions, competition etc. You have passed the gold standard record with enough room to spare (17-14). That is enough for ANYONE to relax. That's EXACTLY where Sampras was when 'nothing left to prove anything' appeared to permit him to not fight Father Time anymore.
Federer is there - with a slight twist. Want it one word? Nadal. Nadal has cast a shadow long and dense enough to force Federer to constantly seek means of gaining as much separation as he can with whatever is still in his control. Until now, it was whatever had happened in the past between the two that was driving the truck. Not anymore.
With this Nadal resurgence coinciding with a straight set win over Federer - on a hard court and at a tournament Federer has won more than anybody in history - that past has morphed into present AND future.
It's not that Nadal will be able to even match Federer's records, forget about passing them, but the closer he gets to them, specially the all-important one, their past history resumes it's casting shadow routine - with even more effectiveness. That dynamic leaves Federer with no choice but to pursue bagging titles and records with even more aggression and urgency. And that in turn produces something called desperation followed closely by frustration - not to mention the wrench it throws in the natural working of the contraption. Those two words (frustration and desperation) should be the last ones to be associated with Federer and his career.
When you cannot go anywhere in the world - without the threat of people bringing up Nadal to discredit your achievements - it's not easy to just let it go at this stage. It's the ever-present elephant in the room whose influence can only be mitigated not eliminated by widening the gap through more titles AND more titles.
Don't believe and appreciate the FULL impact of being 'had' so publicly? Just ask Graf and Agassi. It's like being robbed of your identity. You always have that 'are they going to ask how come Nadal ate your lunch' look on your face - even in your own home. It's like that thorn under your mattress that let's you sleep - but you cannot enter the deepest stage of rest.
Translation: Federer, after being on the tour for 13 years, is still running on BASIC NEED. The need to push the monster as far removed from his trunk of treasure as possible to allow his 'complete' Halo to shine - uninhibited.
Federer may give all sorts of reasons for his extreme run this late, but the root of it is planted in some obscure island in Spain. You will have to wait for the book to reveal it - decades later - when the heat of the moment has subsided and the winner has been declared.
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