Roger won his 18th Slam the first day of Chinese New Year 2017—the Year of the Rooster
By Irene Lee
I have been an ardent Roger Federer fan from the first day I saw him play at Wimbledon one beautiful summer years ago. I have followed his career with great interest through all his victories and defeats since that time. But when he injured his knee in 2016 and announced that he would take the rest of the season off to fully recover from his injury, I basically stopped watching tennis.
Then in January 2017, I heard Roger felt well enough to compete at the Australian Open. With a sense of renewed interest, I started preparing myself to follow each of his rounds to see how far he can go. I did not have any expectations that he could win although it was my hope and dream that he would.
Through each round and each victory, I felt more and more delighted as he once again displayed the beauty of his movements and showed us his tremendous mental focus in building each point. Even to my untrained eye, it was very exciting and wonderful to behold.
When he beat Stan in the semi-finals in five sets, I finally let myself feel that he can win the final too, and get his 18th Championship at last. Even though I knew Roger had to go through Nadal, I felt strangely calm at the prospect of his victory, which is unusual for me.
Saturday January 28 was Chinese New Year and according to Chinese Astrology, each year is symbolized by an animal that represents new energies that come in for that year and the symbol comes back in 12-year cycles. 2017 is the Year of the Rooster. Roger Federer was born in the year of the Rooster in 1981. I was not aware of this until it was brought to my attention.
I read an article that described people born in the year of the Rooster are “very observant, hardworking, resourceful, courageous, and talented. They are very confident in themselves and make great athletes.” It described Roger Federer perfectly.
When I woke up on Sunday and saw that Roger has won his 18th Championship in Australia, I jumped for joy. Then I remembered reading in the same article concerning people born in the year of the Rooster that people who understand and support them will be generously rewarded this year. I couldn’t agree with that more.
Topics: 10sballs.com, 2017 Australian Open, Australian Open Tennis, Chinese New Year, Federer tennis, Irene Lee, Roger Federer, Rooster, Sports, Tennis News