Vincible (2)

Roger Federer’s bid for immortality was frustrated by the victory of a lucky loser.

The current number one tennis player in the ATP Tour, Federer is so far ahead of his nearest competition that he can choose not to play for two years and he’d still be number one when he comes back. And to underscore his mastery of the game, even if second ranked Rafael Nadal wins all the tournaments he enters the Spaniard will still not overtake Roger.

With a 41-game winning streak- meaning his last loss came in August of 2006 in Cincinnati- and a four-peat already a given in Indian Wells- Federer has really set himself up for greatness. This greatness comes in the form of toppling the decades old record of Argentine Guillermo Vilas who was unbeatable in 46 straight games. (Each tennis player has to win anywhere from 5-7 games to win a particular tournament. It means Roger has won about 6-10 tournaments over the last seventh months to create that 41-game series of invincibility).

But now, the counter has been reset. By another Argentine. Another Guillermo. Guillermo Canas, lucky loser.

I went to the Pacific Life Open website and looked for the profile of this giant-slayer Canas. In the field of 90 or so men, Roger was at the top of the heap, world number one that he is. Guess where Canas’s name is located: polar opposite from Rogers. Dead last in the list.

Canas is what they termed as the lucky loser. He was the highest ranked player to have lost in the last stage of the qualifying round for the Pacific Life Open; in reality, he did not qualify. But a withdrawal from the main field of players opened a slot for Canas.

And the rest is history.

Canas is now an answer to a trivia show question lurking in the foreseeable future: Name the tennis player who stopped Federer’s winning streak thereby denying him the chance to topple the decades-old record of another Argentine and another Guillermo, Guillermo Vilas…