The true athlete

Tennis and golf have been the two sports that have always interested me. Apart from having played them both as a child and adult, what intrigues me more than just the sport itself are the professionals who play them and how they have managed to reach the levels they have.

When there are truly great players, I find it more than worth my time and effort to take a moment and observe how they have managed this and analyze how they have achieved such a feat. And furthermore, it makes for an intelligent study to understand what will it mean for those of us who love to watch them and play both these games.

Being the sportsman that I am, it’s an opportunity for me to be able to say that in my lifetime, there exists in our midst two of these exceptional individuals who in my opinion are in the process of re-shaping history in their respective sports. These are Tiger Woods in golf and Roger Federer in tennis.

Both sports have their respective on-going tours and each have four major tournaments throughout the year that the professional golfer and tennis player prepare for.

In golf, it is the PGA, the Masters, the US Open and the British Open. In tennis you have the Australian Open, the French Open, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.

In tennis it is played across continents and on different surfaces. In golf, it is also played in two continents, thus a different climate, terrain and grass come into play.

Now that all eight major championships have been played this year, it is most noteworthy to record that Federer and Woods have each won two of the four majors of their sport for the year. And in the two that Federer did not win, he made it to the semis. Tiger on the other hand won the Masters and British Open, and came in second at the US Open, third at the PGA. In my opinion these are feats that are almost impossible to achieve in either sport today.

They have developed the capacity to dig deep into themselves and still find something to give to the game, to their opponent and to the field when the others would probably have nothing left.

To begin with, the talent that they each possess is way beyond what one could call average. In combining this with discipline, dedication and hard work, they have used their talents to reach a level that you could consider genius.

Tiger has been known to be able to "turn it on" at will when the situation calls for it. It is an ability that he has worked hard to achieve. He has been known to change his swing even right after winning a major tournament. It seems he may have found a swing today that will allow him to play golf for a longer period of time because it is less stressful on his back. Though the change may come with a price, he pays this willingly even though it may cause him to remain winless for a few years.

I consider this quite courageous and could actually turn out to be a major breakthrough for him. It may have put Father Time on his side for as we all know, if he remains healthy and does not burn out mentally he can still win a major after 40 as Nicklaus did the Masters at age 46.

Though Federer may not have the luxury of time on his side for in tennis you are considered old at 30, his advantage is that he dominates on grass and hard court and is considered untouchable in these two surfaces today.

Seeing the purity in the execution of his one handed back-hand is like watching poetry in motion. His innate ability to anticipate his opponent has made watching today’s lightning speed tennis seem like it were in slow-motion for him. He somehow manages to always be there, on time, waiting for the ball and being fully prepared to convert his return into a winner.

In achieving their personal levels of genius, both of them have made a tremendous contribution to golf and tennis. They have been positive role models for the youth in terms of work ethic, proper conduct, respect for the other player and the game itself.

In my opinion, neither sport will ever be the same again.

You are seeing healthier, fitter and more imaginative shot makers in both the professional circuit and the weekend hacker as we have never witnessed in the past.

They may have actually re-defined the essence of a true athlete.