PARIS — If the other three Grand Slam tournaments measured Roger Federer's talent and informed us it's sublime, the French Open has just finished measuring his intestines and informing us they're humongous.
Roland Garros and its persnickety red clay subjected Federer to four years and two weeks of torment, lament and predicament, so that when he finally felt his long-daydreamed moment and crumpled to his knees on a gloomy Sunday, he did so as a 27-year-old who knew the exhilaration derived only from having waited and waited and waited for something.
"Yes, the waiting and the age definitely have a big impact on how important and how nice this victory actually is," he said, soon adding, "I've come a long way," a strange-but-true assessment from a Swiss tennis genius who won Wimbledon at 21, the Australian Open at 22 and the U.S. Open at 23.
As he absorbed the joy of having endured that long way -- stemming a surging Robin Soderling, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4, in the final -- his words could have referenced two narratives.
They fit his four unnerving years -- three straight finals -- losing to an indomitable Spanish force named Rafael Nadal and plagued with doubt, such as after the 2006 final, when "I was like, oh my God, I got to wait one entire year, and then I don't even know if I'll make the finals again." They also fit the last six trying, draining, harrowing matches of this French Open, of which Federer said, "I was in desperate situations during this tournament."
Before he could climb the platform and accept the Coupe des Mousquetaires from Andre Agassi -- "I'm so happy for you, man," Agassi clearly said in an exchange brimming with warmth -- the French Open harrumphed typically. It insisted that if he wanted to join Agassi among merely six men with all four Grand Slam titles, if he wanted to feel what Agassi reported as "not having any more regrets," if he wanted to spend his duration as a French Open champion, he'd have to endure more than enchant.
To stoke the adoring French crowds and hush the best-player-ever debate -- tying Pete Sampras at a record 14 majors with the French title Sampras lacked -- he'd have to scrap in the grime.
That he did so lends salient clues about the whiz from Basel, Switzerland, including that his elegance often occluded his grit.
