Will There Be A Sherpherd Boy at the Open?

Tennis is an individual sport. One may argue that there is a "doubles" side to tennis. This is true; but the primary coverage focuses on the singles matches. Because of this the eras of professional tennis tend to sort out in terms of the primary players.

When I chose to be interested, eighteen years ago, those players were Sampras and Agassi plus a few more who kept them humble. Today tennis writers speak of "The Big Four" - Rafael Nadal from Spain, Novak Djokovic from Serbia, Andy Murray from Scotland, and Roger Federer from Switzerland. (As of today Djokovic has moved to the third round and the other three are in the second round and scheduled to compete tomorrow.)

Of interest to men's tennis enthusiasts this year is the question - will Juan Martin del Potro ("The Gentle Giant") from Argentina, redefine the era in terms of "The Big FIVE"? (He, too, will compete for a third round place tomorrow.)

Our Sam Querry from San Francisco, is not on anyone's radar; but, for the record, he has moved on to the third round, defeating Gulbis of Latvia 6-2 6-3 6-4. 

You have probably not wondered who my favorite players are. That's okay. I'll tell you anyway. :-)

With both Pete Sampras and Tim Henman having retired, my enthusiasm turned to Andy Murray at a time when the pundits were still not sure he was going to make any significant stir. I have had the privilege of watching him play up close in the outer courts of the US Open in Flushing Meadows, NY, and have watched with satisfaction as he has grown both as a player and as a person. Besides, we Scots have got to stick together.

Other players I follow include Richard Gasquet from France (a childhood friend of Rafal Nadal), Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia (who was a teenager when I began following the opens).

However, I also have a faceless player I look for. I always wonder if a major event like the Australian Open will be the place where a player no one gives any credibility will explode on the scene with an epic match for the history books or the surprising upset of a big name player. That is where, for me, tennis becomes fun. That is where, sometimes, we discover a man or woman who has something called "heart." They may never have the professional tools to follow their moment of fame and become one of the "greats;" but they demonstrate something which the greats may lose in the success of their winning skills.

Those momentary celebrities are the players whose biographies I would like to find. God spoke of a certain shepherd boy, saying he had given him a heart like his own. To be sure that boy eventually became a king and not all shepherd boys become kings any more than all tennis qualifiers become stars. Nevertheless, when we consider that God looks on the heart of a man, maybe we are on track to understand why it was to shepherd boys and not to kings that He gave the announcement of the arrival of Jesus to walk among us.