When (Sports) Men Cry

It’s painful to see a man cry. As a child, I never saw my father or brother crying; brother obviously had cried in his teenage but hadn’t seen him crying after that. I grew up with the well-spread and well-known notion that men don’t cry, and then one day I saw my father shedding tears over a situation very close to his heart and I couldn’t believe my eyes for a very long time. I saw my pillar losing its strength. Some incidents in our lives made my brother cry uncontrollably one night. I still couldn’t generalize it to Men. Later, I left my home for good and met friends (that includes my husband as well) who were family away from family. We shared and cared for each other and it was then that I found that these male friends of mine were equally sentimental about many a things in their lives and shed tears. It thus sunk in: it’s a myth - Men Don’t Cry although it’s still always painful to see men cry.

Our society has shaped our minds so strongly that anything against it is kind of unbelievable.

Yet again, after loosing to Rafael Nadal in a long four and half hours match yesterday, Roger Federer gave-in to his emotions. I would not say it was unbelievable that he lost. He has lost many a titles this year and every time he played and lost, I could feel the amount of efforts he was putting to win against his opponent. It was like he was trying to gain back his undefeated position, but something was working in his psyche and he wasn’t living up to being Roger Federer. It pained me whenever I saw him loose. It showed in his body language that he knew that if he kept loosing like this, eventually he won’t be able to retain his No. 1 position. And his strive to preserve it failed this year; although this was also the year when he closed to Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams. But, yesterday, his dream of winning 14th Grand Slam shattered.

With his amazing performances and records and after being named the best Tennis Player in history, it’s not that he will not have chances in future…

Well, thought provoking point is that sportsmen are the strongest breed of men; they are ones with lot of attitude, style and charisma. But what I have come to realize - that’s their exterior. We tend to forget that internally, they are also humans with emotions and sentiments close to their passion – their sports. We common folks, kind of idolize them because sportsmen of Roger Federer’s caliber seem so perfect in what they are doing and what they are known for.

It was sad to see him fall every time and it was a disheartening to see him dethroned this year. And at moments like yesterday even sportsmen lose their “Sportsman Spirit” and cry like a baby, as if their toy - their trophy is being given away to someone else.