Had you tuned in the final minutes of the Australian Open men’s singles trophy presentation early Sunday morning, and you didn’t know who’d won and also weren’t aware which piece of hardware was given to the champ or runner-up, you might have quite understandably figured Roger Federer had been the loser.
After all, it was Federer whose lip was quivering as tears ran down his cheeks while attempting to address the overflow crowd inside Rod Laver Arena.
Then there was Marin Cilic, who had shed a few tears of his own after a loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final last July. Only Cilic’s scruffy face looked somewhere between bored and bemused this time as he stood perfectly straight and warmly acknowledged the polite applause directed his way.
Yet as much as Federer winning his record-extending 20th major singles crown at the age of 36 years, 173 days makes no sense, neither did his tears, except to note he has released them in significant amounts after both victory and defeat over the years.
Maybe there’s no crying in baseball, but when you are the most successful men’s tennis player ever, breaking your own records almost every time you step on the court, you can pretty much write your own rules concerning etiquette after championship matches.