The fan who ignored Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
The 2019 Championships have left us with a hanging mouth: a 15-year-old defeating a five-time champion, a legend achieving more than 100 Grand Slam wins, a new queen being crowned, and the longest final played at the English Major are not events to be seen every day. Yet, when it seems like there could be no more room for our jaw to drop more, some facts come into focus and blow the whole picture. Don’t believe it? Here is a proof.
On Friday 12 took place one of the most anticipated matches of the ongoing season. For the second time since 2017 -- and the clash missed by the skin of one’s teeth in Miami -- two of the greatest tennis players of all times locked horns. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal facing each other in the All England Club, eleven years after their last clash in Wimbledon, sparked a frenzy among fans and insiders and secured a high range of interest from the world. However, high doesn’t mean total. As surprising as it may seem, not everybody was holding their breath looking at the score. Not even around Wimbledon’s Center Court itself.
The cameras covering the match spotted a young boy -- sat among the very lucky and select crowd with access to the stands -- who was simply not paying attention to the master-tennis played live in front of him. As the score on court was nerve-wracking tense in the first set, this young man kept flipping the pages of his book as if he were cosily sitting at home.
This eyebrow-raising-worth situation didn’t fail in creating a new trend on Twitter, where users speculated on how interesting the story must be in order to shade a Fedal match. Some even expressed their will to find out the book’s name, sure that it must be the best read ever.
Theories have soared left and right, analysing this peculiar fan’s behaviour, attributing it to the silent and civil protest of a child whose parents love tennis, but who doesn’t himself -- and who was dragged to a semifinal worth $7,400 per ticket against his will.
Yet, maybe, the young bookworm just didn’t like the match. Perhaps, the outcome of the last round of this part of the draw was indifferent to him, and he was only waiting for the next clash. Or it could turn out that the young boy is a Novak Djokovic fan, whose purpose among the crowd was only to evaluate his idol’s next opponents -- all while hiding behind a book. What if it was a way for him to gain exposure and then introduce himself as an Internet personality?
Who knows… One fact is sure: he was there, while I was sitting thousands of kilometres away from the incredible atmosphere, marvelling at his conduct.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2GfApiC
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