Olé, Nole!

I had a rare crisis of conscience watching tennis this weekend, when Novak Djokovic was suddenly the underdog again against a resurgent Roger Federer in the final at Indian Wells. For those keeping score or accusing me of being a traitor, I was the president of the Roger Federer Fan Club for a solid decade, losing sleep and suffering from bouts of depression over his occasional losses. But once he completed the career Grand Slam, I decided I was going to take a step back and allow myself to root for excellence on the court -- not just his. Well, this proved difficult when Rafael Nadal started to completely dominate him. But when Novak Djokovic proved he could dethrone Rafa, I allowed myself to root for Nole even against Roger -- if it meant he could take out Nadal. The plan paid off nicely for a couple years, but now that Novak seems to have lost his footing, I wasn't sure what to do. That it went to a third-set tiebreak kind of made it a little easier to be happy for either man. But in the end, I was kind of hoping Novak would come out on top. After his pathetic loss to Nadal in last year's U.S. Open final -- and Roger's even more pathetic loss to the Spaniard at this year's Australian -- I still feel he's the only one who can stop Nadal from catching Federer's Greatest of All Time moniker. This Masters 1000 win is just what he needs to get his confidence back.

UPDATE: I woke up this morning and realized this is kind of how I wound up loving Steffi Graf as much as I did. It started out with needing someone to beat Martina, who was killing my Chris. But over time, Steffi became my actual fave too!