Walk In His Shoes

I think, it would be inhuman for him not to cry. I would be worried if he didn't. Look at it this way : he may never have Roland Garros. Rafa took his winning records at Wimby. Now on AO, when everyone's saying "Roger is back!!" and Rafa is hurting from a 5 hour grueling match, Rafa STILL wins. He must be feeling pretty damn hopeless right now.

I was so, so sorry for him to have to stick it through the whole trophy ceremony. I've always wondered how athletes do it. At the end of the day, Roger is still just a man, like the rest of us. I dare you to go through all he did in the past year and not cry like he did. He's a strong man who couldn't hold back anymore. I don't think less of him because of that. No one should.

The moment when he asked to speak right after Rafa received his trophy? I don't think he did it on purpose. Notice how he took the podium again after Rafa hugged and talked to him*. Maybe he urged Roger to give it another try.  It was polite of him to say a few words to his fans, to Rafa, to everyone. It was also polite to give him that moment, considering how he could not say a word because he was sobbing his heart out. It would be little for the winner to begrudge him the words.

Besides, after all, Rafa did win.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="392" caption="It'll be all right. We can still gut it out at Wimbledon."][/caption]

I really, really wish we wouldn't make this moment as "the one where Roger sobbed his way through the ceremony". It was a great match from two of the greatest players in history.

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="335" caption="Cameron Spencer/Getty"][/caption]

 Rodge just needs to realize it's not the end of the world.

 

*Link to video, found via Down The Line.