Roger Federer dropped hints that his great career may be drawing to a close after his age-defying win over his Grand Slam nemesis Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.

The 35-year-old Swiss admitted his return to Melbourne wasn’t guaranteed after he ended a five-year wait for his 18th major title by beating Nadal in a thrilling five-setter.

He told the Rod Laver Arena crowd: “I hope to see you next year, but if not, then it was a wonderful year here and I couldn’t be happier tonight.” Federer has been rebutting suggestions of retirement for several years, but he said he was now aware injuries could force him off the scene.

The Australian Open marked his comeback from a six-month injury break, the longest of his career, after he underwent surgery for the first time last February.

“This is all about, you know, knowing that I have only so much tennis left in me,” he told reporters when asked about the comment in his acceptance speech.

“If I do get injured, you know, maybe if I miss next year, who knows what happens… You never know when your next Grand Slam is going to be, if ever.

“You never know if you’re going to have an opportunity at this stage.” Federer added: “Look, I’ve had a tough year last year. Three five-setters are not going to help. I just meant it the way I meant it.

“There wasn’t something planned behind it, that this is my last Australian Open. I hope can I come back, of course. That’s my hope right now.”

Federer, now four titles clear of Nadal and Pete Sampras on the all-time major-winners’ list, was troubled by injury during the tournament and he said he had been carrying an upper leg problem since the second round.

Unusually for the Swiss, he took a medical timeout in the final as well as during his five-set semi with Stan Wawrinka. He also went five sets with Kei Nishikori in round four.

He said Sunday’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win ranked alongside his 2009 French Open victory, which completed a career Grand Slam and ended a run of three defeats in the final.

“I think this one will take more time to sink in. When I go back to Switzerland, I’ll think, ‘Wow’. The magnitude of this match is going to feel different,” he said.

“I can’t compare this one to any other one except for maybe the French Open in ’09. I waited for the French Open, I tried, I fought. I tried again and failed. Eventually I made it. This feels similar.” Fittingly it was Nadal who pushed Federer to one of the biggest achievements of his career, after his Grand Slam chances had been largely written off.

It was a redemptive win as Federer has struggled against Nadal, losing four straight major finals to the fearsome left-hander since his Wimbledon victory in 2007.

“Rafa definitely has been very particular in my career. I think he made me a better player,” Federer said.

“Him and a couple more players have done the most to do that to me because the way his game stacks up with me, it’s a tricky one. I’ve said that openly.

“It remains for me the ultimate challenge to play against him. So it’s definitely very special.

“I said that also before the finals: if I were to win against Rafa, it would be super-special and very sweet because I haven’t beaten him in a Grand Slam final for a long, long time now.”

If you hadn’t seen it, hadn’t borne emotional witness to it, hadn’t been here in this arena or at home nibbling at your nails, you’d laugh it off as a work of nonsense fiction.

Roger Federer won?

He beat the fighting man?

In the fifth set of the Australian Open?

When 0-2 down?

Come now. Enough now.

But this is what the exceptional athlete does.

He works with the impossible.

He spins tall tales.

He takes you to places you’ve never travelled to.

He turns back time, he rewrites history, he mocks prediction.

He makes you reconsider the idea of talent and insists you reassess the depth of genius.

The 61-minute fifth set on the way to Slam No.18 is possibly the greatest he has played.

Surely?

Because if he digs into that encyclopaedia in his brain, if he’s looking for evidence to arm himself with it, there’s nothing.

Nothing like this, nothing to prepare him at 35 on a sore leg against Nadal.

At two sets all, the match is only notionally even.

Nadal has won the fourth set and we know what he’s like under pressure.

A dam, a dike, an impenetrable object.

We also know how these duels end and it’s the predictability of it all which is exhausting.

Federer is done.

Body language is telling us unarguable tales.

Nadal runs off the court, Federer looks forlorn as he follows a trainer out.

He is more than tired.

As the amusing Yogi Berra, the baseballer, once put it: “It’s deja vu all over again.”

We keep forgetting he is five years older than Nadal but at an age where it tells more.

He has played 1,332 career matches, Nadal 990.

We keep underestimating the absurdity of not playing for six months for he must recover feel, find touch, arrange footwork, reclaim timing and discover the stamina for three five-set matches.

We accept he has talent, but really, this is showing off.

The noise as the fifth set starts is 15,000 people registering their approval.

Not necessarily of the play, which has been scratchy, but of these players.

Men who don’t have crowds but personal choirs because they give tennis a heart and a gloss, because this duel in some way is also a partnership in excellence, because they are so different.

Federer with sculptor’s chisel and Nadal with blacksmith’s hammer. Both used bandannas for appropriately distinctive purposes: Federer to keep his hair in correct place, Nadal to absorb his excessive sweat.

In the first game of the fifth set, they start with a 10-shot rally.

Nadal wins.

Then a 16-shot rally.

Nadal wins.

Federer is broken.

No, he is beaten. 0-1.

Nadal serves and Federer flicks a backhand down the line and then another crosscourt for winners.

They sound as good as they look.

In the first four sets he hits six backhand winners combined, in the fifth alone he strikes eight.

This is his weakest stroke?

Nadal saves three break points, two with forehands made of muscle.

Two games later he will save another break point with a backhand crunched cross court.

The crowd howls.

The seagulls are not the only ones flying.

Nadal is 3-1.

Federer cannot break him and this is the issue.

He’s the greatest ever with an asterisk that is 185cm tall and comes from Spain.

And then Federer wins five games in a row. 1-3 to 6-3.

It is madness and miraculous, it is skill and desperation, it is prayer and experience, it is last throws of the dice and the latest building blocks of his legend.

He wins 10 points in a row and his face is empty.

No emotion written, no hope, no bravado.

It’s almost like he doesn’t want to think too hard about what he is doing because it will not make sense.

He tells himself, “play free. The brave will be rewarded” but words everyone says to themselves.

It is the translation into action, under pressure, while facing Nadal, knowing what people will say if he loses – how is he the greatest? – which is outrageous.

Nadal is tired, to his bones, his energy leaked away, for he has played 860 more shots than Federer on his way to the final.

There are only so many miles even in Spanish feet.

Federer will serve for the match with new balls and Nadal will rattle him.

It’s inevitable, a final rebellion, but it’s also the end.

At 15-40, Federer flattens an ace down the middle.

At 30-40 he hits a forehand he has stored for a lifetime just for this moment: Inside out, searing, spinning, out of reach. He will watch the replay at home. He will not believe it.

Then he has won and tears come and we know why.

He believed he had one Slam left in him and yet Djokovic came, Murray arrived, a knee failed him, Grand Slam finals were lost, Kei Nishikori pushed him here and Stan Wawrinka exposed his anxiety.

How much can a man fight, and how does an artist fight, and how many things – Nadal, time, injury and himself – must he fight?

And yet he did.

People are more than stirred, they are moved.

Not just by him, but equally by Nadal.

Two men who need each other and push each other.

Two men who exist to win but know how to lose.

Two men of dedication and decency.

Two men who knew that last night there was only a single fairy tale available.

rohitb@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on January 30, 2017.
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Bernie Ecclestone’s almost four-decade stint as the man at the helm of Formula One divided opinions.

Some praise him for having grown F1 into one of the world’s biggest sports, rebranding it from a life-threatening sport into an enthralling showpiece.

Others, though, pillory the Briton for running F1 like a dictator, for neglecting digital platforms and for implementing inane rules over the years, such as the elimination qualifying format introduced last year.

But the 86-year-old, who was replaced as chief executive officer by Chase Carey last week in a surprise move, launched a stern defence of his legacy.

For the diminutive wheeler-dealer with the razor-sharp wit, it all comes down to dollars and cents.

In a phone interview with The Straits Times last Friday, he said: “I did what I thought was right for the shareholders. I made them a lot of money, which is what I was supposed to do as CEO. I made F1 into a multi-billion business. I delivered.

“Now it seems maybe that’s not good enough for the new owners. It’s not what Liberty wants to do.”

United States company Liberty Media completed its US$8 billion (S$11.4 billion) takeover of F1 last week and immediately replaced Ecclestone with Carey, who is also vice-chairman of 21st Century Fox.

This, despite earlier indications that the former F1 chief would stay on for about three years to ensure a smooth transition.

In his first interview since being replaced, Ecclestone told ST he was surprised at the move.

But he conceded that the sport will benefit if Liberty can achieve what they promise to do.

“Their ideas are good but it wasn’t a position I could adopt. I was supposed to be producing, as CEO, maximum income,” said Ecclestone.

With a hint of sarcasm, he added: “I’d like to see what they want to do. Maybe they’ll make it such that promoters won’t pay as much and teams won’t get that much money.”

The new owners are expected to boost commercial revenue by ramping up marketing efforts, with Carey having said earlier that each race should be turbo-charged into a Super Bowl-like event.

In addition, there are plans to hold more races in the US, with New York, Miami and Las Vegas touted as possible venues. The Austin Grand Prix is the only US race on the F1 calendar.

Ecclestone also quashed rumours that he would start a new rival series. In a statement to Reuters, he said: “I have built the championship over the last near 50 years, which is something I am proud of, and the last thing I want is to see it damaged.”

Part of his legacy includes bringing F1 to new countries, such as Singapore. The Republic’s current deal with F1 runs out this year and no new deal has been announced.

While he told ST last November that talks would be sorted out by the end of 2016, this time Ecclestone would only say: “Of course I hope it continues but I’m not dealing with those talks right now.

“You should speak to Mr Ong,” he added, referring to Ong Beng Seng, the hotelier who backs race promoter Singapore GP (SGP).

SGP did not respond by press time.

Read Also: Formula One: Bernie Ecclestone admits he was ‘surprised’ at being replaced as F1 chief executive

siangyee@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on January 30, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

By his own admission, Jerry Ling was neither trained nor prepared for the work he has done over the last 12 years.

From an international sports federation, then a world championships, to his current role as the director of sport services for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Singaporean has been involved in managing world sport’s highest-profile events.

Yet, for someone whose only foray into sport before this was as a weekend warrior, the 40-year-old never thought he would carve a career in sport management.

A psychology degree holder, Ling stumbled into sport at the end of a month-long backpacking trip in South Korea in 2004.

Just a day before he was due to return home to Singapore, the young graduate was unexpectedly offered a job on the spot by the World Taekwondo Federation to help introduce changes in the organisation.

After more than four years, Ling joined the organising committee of the 2011 athletics World Championships in Daegu, South Korea as its director of international liaison.

“I took a totally different career path. I never expected (that I would) end up in sport management, but I guess things have their own way of working out,” Ling told The Straits Times in a phone interview from Pyeongchang, where he is now based.

The learning curve has been steep, and not just because he had no background in sports management. He has also had to learn Korean from scratch, and the only child has also had to cope with being away from creature comforts and family.

Said Ling: “Sometimes there are very different working styles and clashes, and you have to learn to bridge the gap. It was a very good learning experience but also a great challenge. I had nothing to build on… but over time, establishing relationships helped to overcome the challenges.”

His current work with the Pyeongchang Winter Games involves overseeing anything that helps to support the smooth running of competition. This includes the complex work of developing the competition schedule, managing logistics for the hundreds of technical delegates and liaising with a range of international federations.

An accidental career in sport management has brought him unexpected satisfaction, but Ling said he has taken more joy from proving doubters wrong.

“This is something totally different, something off the beaten track,” said Ling, who has a Korean wife as well as a son aged five and a daughter aged three.

“I think I’ve helped to show people that just because I come from a small country like Singapore, it doesn’t mean I cannot handle organising (sports events). People start to have a different perception.”

With more than a dozen years spent abroad, Ling has preferred to keep a low profile, be it on the projects he has worked on or within the Singapore sport fraternity.

His rationale is simple. He said: “If you want to make yourself known, you have to have quality. I don’t want to be an empty vessel just making noise.

“Singapore is small and we don’t have a big population in the (international) sport field. So those of us who are out there have a responsibility to say and do the right thing. We are representatives of Singapore and it’s an image we carry.”

Still, he acknowledged it is time to play a bigger role – mainly because he wants to give back.

Ling, who is already helping to advise on other projects and deliver lectures to sport management students, revealed that he has plans to set up sport management courses and combine this with volunteerism as a way of “paying it forward”.

“This whole experience has been really enjoyable,” he said. “Hopefully, with more experience, I can contribute back to Singapore or somehow help put it on the map. It’s time to give back.”

maychen@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on January 30, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.