To be the greatest, you need to have someone else who is greater.

It's a matter of comparision. If everyone is great, then you are only "greater" than the rest. But only if there are a handful "greater", can you aspire to be the "greatest".

That was the caveat Roger Federer was trapped in. During the years that he was the undisputed king of the game, Federer was exactly that, the "undisputed" king.

Among all the good players, he was "better".

Then came Rafael, "better" than the good players, and thus started the quest to become the "greatest".

Notwithstanding st what level of ability one consistently performs, it is judged superlative only when there is another entity to compare it with.

India's march @ the Wimbledon

Five players from India qualified for the Wimbledon 2009. Between them, they have over 200 ATP and WTA titles, including an impressive 18 Grand Slam titles (see below for the list)

In Round III, the Indian squad is due to plat against each other. Paes will face his erstwhile doubles winning partner, Mahesh Bhupati, but this time on the opposite sides of the net. The story repeats in the mixed doubles as the Mirza/Bhupati pair is pitted against Black/Paes.

After taking out an Indian player in the 1st round of men's doubles, (Devrama), the Bhupati/Knowles pair took out the India-Pakistan pair of Amritraj/Qureshi in the 3r round of the men's doubles.

Sania Mirza

Ladies' Singles - Out in Round-2 : Sorana Cirstea def Mirza : 6-4 6-4

Ladies' Doubles w/ Chia-Jung Chuang -

Round I : beat Jill Craybas/Carly Gullickson : 6-4 6-2

Round II: lost to Alla Kudryavtseva/Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-2; that's a dismal score

Mixed Doubles w/ Mahesh Bhupati

Round I : BYE

Round II: beat Colin Fleming/Sarah Borwell : 7-6 6-4

Round III: lost to Leander Paes/Cara Black (irony :) 2-6 7-6 3-6

Leander Paes

Mixed Doubles w/ Cara Black

Round I: BYE

Round II: beat Michal Mertinak/Mara Santangelo : Walkover

Round III: beat Mahesh Bhupati/Sania Mirza : 6-2 6-7 6-3

Quarters: beat Andre Sa/Ai Sugiyama : 6-3 6-3

SemiFinal: Stephen Huss/Virginia Ruano Pascual

Mahesh Bhupathi

Gentlemen's Doubles w/ Mark Knowles

Round I : Fought an early challange from Somdev Devvarman and Kevin Anderson to win in 4 sets, 6-7 6-4 7-5 7-5. Must've been some good play.

Round II: beat Philipp Petzschner/Alexander Peya : 6-3 7-5 6-7 6-3

Round III: beat Prakash Amritraj/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi : 6-4 5-7 7-6 6-0

Quarters: lost to Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman : 6-7 6-4 6-7 7-5 4-6 ; that must've been a lively 5-setter.

Mixed Doubles w/ Sania Mirza

Round I: BYE

Round II: beat Colin Fleming/Sarah Borwell : 7-6 6-4

Round III: lost to Leander Paes/Cara Black (irony :) : 2-6 7-6 3-6

Prakash Amritraj

Gentlemen's Doubles w/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi

Round I: The Indo-Pak pair of Prakash Amritraj and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi stayed united against Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins, to play out a 5-sets winning 6-4 6-7 6-4 3-6 6-3

Round II: beat Rameez Junaid/Philipp Marx : 7-5 6-4 6-7 6-7 8-6

Round III: lost to Mahesh Bhupati/Mark Knowles : 6-4 5-7 7-6 6-0

Somdev Devvarman

Gentlemen's Doubles w/ Kevin Anderson - Out in Round-1 : Mahesh Bhupati and Mark Knowles

For the record, here is the Grand Slam vicroty history for the Paes, Bhupati and Mirza:

2009 --- French Open ----- Mens' Doubles - Leander Paes / Lukáš Dlouhý

2009 --- Australian Open -- Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / Sania Mirza

2008 --- U.S. Open -------- Mixed Doubles - Leander Paes / Cara Black

2006 --- Australian Open -- Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / Martina Hingis

2006 --- U.S. Open -------- Mens' Doubles - Leander Paes / Martin Damm

2005 --- U.S. Open ------ Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / D. Hantuchová

2005 --- Wimbledon ----- Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / Mary Pierce

2003 --- Australian Open -- Mixed Doubles - Leander Paes / M. Navratilova

2003 --- Wimbledon ----- Mixed Doubles - Leander Paes / M. Navratilova

2002 --- Wimbledon ----- Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / E. Likhovtseva

2002 --- U.S. Open ------ Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / Max Mirnyi

2001 --- French Open ----- Mens' Doubles - Leander Paes / Mahesh Bhupathi

1999 --- French Open ------Mens' Doubles - Leander Paes / Mahesh Bhupathi

1999 --- Wimbledon ------- Mens' Doubles - Leander Paes / Mahesh Bhupathi

1999 --- Wimbledon ------- Mixed Doubles - Leander Paes / Lisa Raymond

1999 --- U.S. Open -------- Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / Ai Sugiyama

1997 --- French Open ----- Mixed Doubles - Mahesh Bhupati / Rika Hiraki

Wimbledon, Nike, Federer

This is the cool look on the court; only missing is the Wilson.

Pants have made a comeback this year; even the women are trying them on.

The military jacket.

"Undressing", was one of the bemused reactions to Roger's Jacket-Waistcoat-Pant ensemble.

Round I - Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) : 7-5 6-3 6-2 :: Match Stats

Round II - Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) : 6-2 6-2 6-4 :: Match Stats

A cakewalk for King Fed, with a surprisingly low UE value. His game today could have been perfect, if not for the missed serve-and-volley opportunities.

Round III - Philipp Kohlschreiber - 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-1 :: Match Stats

Didnt watch the match yet; but what happened in the 3rd set ? Did Fed fall asleep?

Round IV - Robin Soderling - 6-4 7-6 7-6 :: Match Stats

The tie breaks were close. Both had the perfect number of aces up their sleeves. It's getting closer. In the next match-up between Soderling - Fed, I expect Soderling will take at least a set.

We're already in week-2 at Wimbly! The Quarters have arrived.

Quarter-Final - Ivo Karlovic - 6-3 7-5 7-6 :: Match Stats

Despite the score, it was a sad play to watch. Karlovic had no game other than his serve, which, when/if Federer could manage to return, left Karlovic no chance of scoring.

Semi-Final - Tommay Haas - TBD

It wasn't supposed to be this way !!

Those who didn't know him labelled him a nihilist, to me he was just another young man, passionate about his beliefs and with a razor sharp mind that you did not want to face in a debate. He could discuss a point with total conviction, and when the other person started to relent, he'd abruptly switch his opinion leaving you bewildered. Not for him the mere win; it was the drawn out intellectual battle of wits that mattered.

Extraordinarily intelligent this young man was constantly on the look out for new challenges. No challenge was too trivial, no challange not worth mastering. I remember once he and his friend hacked into my Tetris score file so their score could be higher than mine. When I challanged him, he actually learnt to play the game as fast as I did, then gave up in utter disgust... but not without beating me first!

Whatever he did, he did it with determination and passion. He would criticise my thrown together mistmatched attire with as much fervour, as he would discuss his opinion of God and religion. Whatever he did that inadvertently angered, and even hurt others, he did with an almost childlike innocence. To him it was incomprehensible that anything could stand in the way of a logical deduction. It puzzled him, angered him and even saddened him to realize how people would rather stay deluded than accept a truth that is inconvinient.

Like all brilliant minds, his weakness was his vanity. His need to be recognised, appreciated and accepted for what he is. When he recorded his first song, he played the song for me over the phone to make sure I listened and gave my opinion. When he got his new Benz, he called me trying in vain to be modest about it. Being busy, I could not visit him immediately. He called me the next day saying the car already had a dent and I'd better hurry. Finally, he even offered to let me drive it around. All this from the person who few years ago had not let me sit in the driver's seat of his Ford!

Whatever his traits, I trusted him absolutely. Once when we had not been in touch for almost 6 months, he called me, asking for my credit card details! He had maxed out his card and needed to do some online purchasing. After that first time, he never called again asking for permission to use the info. I'd regularly see a mysterious deposit in my savings account, and few days later my credit card bill would show an equally suspicious entry.

It wasn't his impudence. It was his utter belief that having helped him once, I'd be willing to help him again.

I wonder, did I help help him enough? Did we all..?

I hope you had the last laugh Ligesh.