The World’s Falling Apart, and Then There’s Roger Federer

I’ll try to describe the scene entering Terminal B at LaGuardia tonight, but it’s nearly impossible. Lines and lines of cars. A sea of endless cars that you could only look past and believe it’s not real. You are moving a foot a minute, and when people are catching their flights, stress levels aren’t quite low. And it began. People filing out of Ubers, cabs, friends’ cars, from both the upper and lower level, getting out 500 to 1,000 yards from an entrance, walking through traffic, on the side of cars, on highway-ish medians that needless to say, didn’t have a sidewalk. There was limited dialogue with my cab driver – some back and forth where he was worried about letting me out. It could have been because the one cop outside, doing nothing, yelled at me when I kinda asked if I could get out. Imagine the sternest tone you could have on a 60 degree sunny and brisk busy Friday afternoon. “NO. You CanNOT get out of the vehicle.” As he said that, in my line of sight were at least 6-8 people getting out of cars behind his head.

I got out 2 minutes later, and a wave of people were behind me. One gentleman, who admittedly had never been to New York, and didn’t know if this was ‘normal’, jokingly but seriously exclaimed – “This is like out of a movie; like Daybreak or something.” I have never seen the movie – I’ll add it to the list. But I smiled and agreed and was just happy to be walking.

I don’t want to say it’s a microcosm of what the daily grind is in a post-covid world still finding its way (understatement of the century), but it sure felt like it. Meanwhile, in the terminal, you could hear a pin drop. Quiet, calm, newly renovated, easy to find comfortable seating. Sitting inside, I still kept worrying in my head about what was happening outside.

We had a delay to start the day, from 5:20 to 7:00, which was actually welcomed. But as I was sitting at my gate, streaming the Laver Cup and Federer doubles match on my phone with only 2 bars, the view I had of the gate was also one of concern. I knew it was going to be delayed – just didn’t know or really care how long. I’m writing this at 8:21 on the plane as we’re waiting 45 minutes on the taxiway after boarding 45 minutes late to begin with. A lot of 45 minute delays. This is the new normal. And the part that gets me the most, is the empowerment and rudeness from a mix of folks. Like that cop. Like the taxi agent who yelled at me and other innocent bystanders and travelers to the tune of “DEPARTURES?! Go around and use the OTHER door!!” The people behind me sure exchanged glances. I understand where it’s coming from in some respects, but 2 years of being away from each other has really taken its toll on how to remember to be with each other. I digress.

Thank god I was on JetBlue; well technically I’m still on Jetblue. In the midst of welcoming us to the flight, I think they coined the nickname of this plane “Big Blue Beluga.” I appreciated the humor, but it seemed mistimed given the continuous and monotonous delay(s). But they have live TV. And they had Tennis Channel. And even though match point got interrupted with an announcement on how to fasten your seat belt, and a big blue box showed up on the entire screen to let us know they were making an announcement, it was okay. Because eventually the announcements stopped, and with a 45-minute delay, you get uninterrupted Tennis Channel on the taxiway.

Roger Federer is the definition of a class act. And I think you can only be granted that term if you are highly recognized for what you do. His farewell speech after the match (which they did unfortunately lose) was one of the most authentic and emotional moments I’ve seen in my young 31 years of sports and 27 years of understanding them. Federer played great today, but he didn’t necessarily do it on the court like Kobe scoring 61 in his last game. Or whatever Jordan’s retirement speech was. Or Coach K’s angry speech after we lost to UNC in Cameron.

Federer’s was thankful. Heartfelt. Endearing. Beautiful. I was crying. My friend and my dad were both texting me about the speech and end of match. They were crying. If you would have been watching it live and have watched at least one Federer major final, you would have been crying.

The respect and response from the crowd was as you would expect. It was past midnight in London, and these people found their second and third winds to cheer on the “celebration,” as Federer smartly put it.

He emanates this aspirational respect trait – I want to be like him, as a person, and as a player. Nadal is only one step behind, partially because he grew up in Spain and became fluent in English later in life (in my opinion). I love Nadal. Who also absolutely loves Federer and was the most emotional of all the players on court during his speech.

It may be time to end this write-up. A seven year old just yelled, pretty loudly, “Why are we still waiting?!!” People laughed. A couple people almost in sync said “that’s a good question.”

Maybe we’re not in as bad shape as we thought. We have Federer. Had Federer. And we still have children, who don’t know any better.

Maybe I’ll get to Tampa tonight. Maybe not.

Post Script: Federer and Nadal played Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock in the Laver Cup Doubles match tonight (Federer’s last). Jack Sock hit a winner to win the match. In the boys under 12s national tournament in Tucson, I played Jack Sock. He beat me 6-1, 6-2, and after the match when we shook hands, he said with a smile on his face “nice match. We had some top 10 sportscenter plays in that one.” When he shook Federer’s hand for the last time of his career, I tried to listen very closely and lip read very carefully, because Jack likes to say some emotional good stuff at the net.