“Are there absolute limits in sports? Is there some speed no runner will ever exceed? A home-run distance no batter will ever reach? A weight no power lifter will ever hoist above his head, even a thousand years from now?” asks John Brenkus in the opening lines of ‘The Perfection Point’. 

It was impossible not to think along similar lines while watching the US open final on Monday. Can Tennis hope to get any better than this? It seems like it's scarily closer to the perfection point already. Of course, I am exaggerating here. But the exaggeration suits well in this context. 

Rarely do we sense that we are witnessing something transcendental, while the event is unfolding live in front of us. Often it's retrospective sense-making and sometimes purely force-fitting narratives. There are moments, like the 2009 Aus Open final - where Rafa clearly overtook Federer - or the '95 Aus-WI series, where the passing of baton so clearly came to the fore. There was an underlying contest but just as relevant was the overarching narrative. But these are about shifts of power, change of dynamics and not quite game-changing leaps that John Brenkus is talking about. But on Monday, apart from Djokovic consolidating his status as the best player on the planet now, there seemed to be more to it, a major milestone in Tennis’ quest to reach the perfection point. Or so it appeared to me at least.

Djokovic was out-Nadaling Nadal. He was returning like Agassi - sometimes even better, his backhand strokes made even an Edberg-tragic like me contemplate if his was the greatest backhand in the game, his inside-out forehands seem to be nearly as good as Federer's. Throw in a Sampras serve and Johhny Mac's volley - you nearly have the perfect Tennis player! Nearly.

Did we just witness the next big quantum leap in the evolution of Tennis? Steve Tignor talks about how the transition from the wooden frames to metal frames changed Tennis drastically in his very fine book ‘High Strung’. But that change was waiting to happen and its impact shouldn’t have been entirely surprising. The lighter weight and a huge sweet spot made power a new tactic in Tennis.

“Swede. “Billy,” Lendl said, “you just rally with him in the backcourt until you get a forehand you like. Then you crash it hard, crosscourt.” Scanlon, still thinking in terms of classic tennis strategy, finished the thought. “And then I can approach the net because his backhand is vulnerable?” Lendl paused and gave Scanlon a quizzical look. Then he said, “No, he doesn’t get the forehand back!”

The killer forehand tore the cover of the game. Groundstrokes were never the same again. A humongous milestone in the evolution of Tennis was crossed. Tennis has seen no such technological advancement since then. Of course Racquets are getting better by the day, players are fitter than ever before, and the polyester strings have made an impact on the game. They have all contributed to a gradual move forward but none of them are game-changing leaps. None of them till Federer came along.

Federer raised the bar so high that he threatened to leave the rest of his fraternity behind and inhabit a parallel universe. There was the general standard of Tennis, and there was Federer’s. For a few years, they could so easily have been different sports.

There was a space for sporadic excellence before, lesser mortals were winning a major here and a major there. But when Federer was reigning, he completely shut the door on lesser mortals. He owned the court, and sometimes appeared like he owned the game. Tennis and Federer became indistinguishable. Some of his Wimbledon matches could so easily have been a celebrity spotting contest - the world couldn’t have enough of Federer. Nike might as well have designed a halo for him instead of a headband.

A generation with plenty of promise – Roddick, Hewitt to name just two – fell by the way side. The next generation grew up knowing fully well that Federer demanded sustained excellence and 'Total Tennis' from them. Anything less would be quashed. There was just no respite.

“Until 1954, many people thought that a sub-four-minute mile was impossible for human physiology. The species just wasn’t engineered to do it. ……………But one day at Oxford University’s Iffley Road Track, with the wind so bad he almost withdrew from the race, Roger Bannister clocked a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. He only broke the barrier by six tenths of a second – slightly more than an eyeblink – but he changed the world of foot racing forever”

Federer was the Tennis equivalent of the sub-four-minute mile. His domination was neither a result of technological advancement nor because of a major change in the game that his previous generation (like the transition from Amateur to Pro era) was deprived of. This was a gifted man, with an insatiable appetite, and a Tendulkarine work ethic who redefined the limits of human potential.

Once he broke the glass ceiling, the rest could have either lost their careers consigning themselves to relative mediocrity or liberated themselves to become greater players than they could have otherwise become. Nadal grew far beyond his clay-comfort and his natural leverage against Federer. He took on Federer on all surfaces, and went onto even surpass him. 

Then Djokovic exploded...so much so that he seems to be the perfect beast that Rohit Brijnath wrote about. I wouldn't bet that he can sustain this level of intensity over the long run, but just the thought of "what if he does" is bloody exciting.

Of course, Tennis is far away from reaching its perfection point. Who can rule out a technological leap that can make sub-100 gms Racquet a reality. But as things stand now - in terms of courts, racquets, balls, strings etc., - there is very little room for Tennis to get better than what it has been in the last one year. The US open final was the breaking point of the high-intensity Tennis that the Trivalry has been building upto all year.

Is the new found intensity sustainable? Or would this be documented as an exceptional Golden Age a few decades later? Will this continue to be a Trivalry or would others knock past the glass ceiling as well? Is Tennis on the cusp of a quantum leap or are we just a privileged generation?

January 16th cannot come any sooner.