Records command status but also bring their own weight: Federer, Maradona and the relief of letting go

We fear losing our positions. But sometimes when we lose them, it doesn’t hurt as much as we expected it to. In case it hurts, we learn to live with it. That’s the sense one gets in the way Roger Federer has dealt with Rafael Nadal recently winning his 19th major title. Nadal only needs one more Grand Slam to equal Federer’s record of 20. It is a record Federer has held for 10 years — despite Nadal and Novak Djokovic snapping at his heels since the late 2000s — and which was the clincher in the ‘Greatest Ever’ debate.

Federer may yet surprise us and extend his grip on the numbers. But it is unlikely. Nadal, 33, is five years younger and in no mood to let up (unless he gets injured).

Soon after Nadal won the US Open, he and Federer joined forces in a team competition in Geneva. They even coached each other. Federer seemed at ease with Nadal’s success. As usual, he had an older brother type of praise and awe for the Spaniard. It would be gullible to believe Federer is not wounded at some level. As relaxed as he is as a person, he is also a proud man. But for the most part, Prince Roger seems to have accepted that he may be dethroned.


In July, after blowing match points in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic, Federer said, “If somebody else does (break the record), well, that’s great for them. You can’t protect everything anyway.”

Defeat hurts, but it is also liberating. Records command status but also bring their own weight and obligations. It is therefore understandable that some of the most successful athletes have admitted to a sense of relief after being surpassed. Pete Sampras won the US Open at 19. The next year, he struggled to cope with the burden of expectations and lost in the quarterfinals. Later, he said it was a monkey off his back.

The great Bjorn Borg won five Wimbledon titles in a row. When John McEnroe ended his reign, he too experienced some relief. It is not that Sampras and Borg did not value victory. But they were weary of the weight of the crown and being trapped by labels.

One of the themes in the new documentary on Diego Maradona is that the footballer’s personality is divided in two parts: ‘Diego’ and ‘Maradona’. Diego is the original — childlike, large-hearted, loving. ‘Maradona’ is the brand. Diego is likeable; Maradona not so much, not even to himself. “But he needs that to be successful and get out of the ghetto,” Asif Kapadia, the film’s director, said in an interview. In other words, Maradona has been trapped in his image.

Argentina haven’t won the World Cup since Maradona’s team did it in 1986. Had that not been the case, it is possible the cult of Maradona may have gotten subdued over the past 33 years, and it could have actually been good for Maradona.

He may have broadened his horizons. Life is like a streaming service provider. For a new show to begin, one has to end.