Roger Federer stands miles apart from the rest.

“I dreamed, I believed, and really hoped that I could actually, maybe really do it… So I put in a lot of work, and it paid off.” Roger Federer

That quote right there is what all of us need to achieve whatever it is we want to achieve or become in life. That quote right there is what my pastor has preached from the beginning of this year till now and she hasn’t stopped.

D r e a m. B e l i e f. H o p e. F a i t h. H a r d w o r k.

And with that you would break records and make new ones.

What is not to love about Roger Federer? He keeps proving naysayers wrong. He keeps defying age and age-long fables. First man in the history of the Wimbledon Championships to lift the title eight times. The only male player in history to reach 11 Wimbledon finals. The only player to win three different majors at least 5 times (Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open). What is not to love about this dude?

No other tennis player in the history of the game has had a more successful career like Federer. No tennis player his age is still breaking and making new records like him. 29 stand-alone-record of Grand Slam finals. 19 stand-alone-record of grand slam titles. 8 stand-alone-record Wimbledon titles. At 35 years, 342 days, Federer is the oldest man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon. The G.O.A.T was already not in question. It’s even more not in question now.

The belief, the consistency, is unrivaled.

Family

“What keeps me going? I don’t know, I love to play. My wonderful team. My wife’s totally fine with me still playing. She’s my No. 1 supporter. She’s amazing,” Federer said.

The moving and touching part for me last Sunday was after he won the last and final point. Reality dawned for the feat he had achieved. He sat in his on-court chair, he raised his head and saw his wife and children, his mother and father and his team in the stands and all the emotions welled up. Federer cried. The GOAT cried like a baby. That moment was special and that moment said a lot.

Family had been his support system through thick and thin. Family had been his backbone when journalists wrote him off. And when sports analysts opined he was finished, family believed otherwise. And to see that everything eventually paid off was too overwhelming for Roger, he couldn’t stop the tears.

His ‘Straight sets’ of twins were all present on final day to celebrate his straight sets wins throughout the championship. is pretty perfect for a guy who wins them on the court, too. But what really gets us are the matching outfits the Federer kids donned to watch their dad play.

Identical twin daughters Myla and Charlene, are almost 8, and identical 3-year-old twin sons Leo and Lennart, are 3. They all cheered papa on as he lifted the trophy on Sunday. Leo and Lennart may actually be too small to know what was going on but who could ignore the matching outfits they donned at the stands?

“It’s a wonderful moment for us as a family. This one’s for us,” Roger said.

The final On Sunday

Marin Cilic is a fantastic dude.

What any player could not afford to do when playing Federer is to allow him put his nose in front. Your chance of winning Roger is as good as zilch if you allow him dictate the pace.

Cilic was a set down and 0-3 in the second set. That right there is devastating! And added to that is the pressure of all those watching in Croatia. Remember this was Cilic’s first Wimbledon final (Federer had been there 11 times) The pressure was huge. Cilic is human. He broke down. Federer didn’t beat him because he had blisters. Come on! Have you seen the feet all the players? Check Nadal’s feet, it’s a sorry sight. Many of them have blisters and win matches with it. Federer didn’t beat Cilic because he had blisters, Cilic lost to the better man on the day.

We all know Marin is one of the biggest servers on tour. If he couldn’t pull one ace all through the first set, it was only indication of Federer’s brilliance and quick reading of his serve. The commentator also acknowledged that.

Cilic had a great run but I’m not one of those that would quickly linked his performance at the final to injury. No. The first 3 or 4 games, Cilic had Federer begging for answers. His ground strokes were thunderous. Federer’s backhand return couldn’t find the court. I was actually worried for Roger because Cilic was blazing hot. Roger double faulted and had to fend off a break point. Cilic was on song. However, Roger settled, and because of his all-round game, and experience being on his side, he managed the nerves and changed tactics. The slice started coming in, he read his serve better, and he improvised. Cilic was flustered and Federer broke. All went downhill for Cilic from there.

Tennis is more mental than physical. And once Roger got into Cilic’s head, the 6ft 5in, 28 yr old, didn’t recover. Come on, forget blisters, the loss was not injury-based. To say that is to deny the greatness of the greatest sportsman ever. The only injury that happened on Sunday was Federer messing up Cilic’’s mind. Yes, Roger injured his mind. He crushed him. And he was merciless about it. Which was why Cilic broke down in tears on court. And Federer was so brutal, even the crowd deserted their ‘homeboy’ for a while and rallied round Cilic to play better. And give it to Cilic, though he collapsed in the second set, he fought like a champion in the third. Unfortunately (oh well, fortunately) Federer was already cruising and the confidence level was at an all-time high. If you watched the Berdych semi-final match you would understand when and how Roger responded with three consecutive unreturnable serves when push came to shove.

Again, kudos to Roger for keeping to his game plan. Because all those medical time out and physio coming in, could be distracting. Because for some players medical time-out is just strategy. Bernard Tomic admitted that much in his first round loss.