Loneliness, balance, and Roger Federer

Tennis is the loneliest sport. That's one of the reasons I love it. It's a lot like life, I think: we all have people in our corner - in our boxes - who share in our triumphs and defeats, who we look to in delight in victory, and in exasperation in failure, but in the end, we're out here, out on the court, on our own.

I've watched tennis for years. I came of age in the Pete Sampras era; he was my guy. But no one has looked more at home, more comfortable on the court, all alone, than Roger Federer.

Tennis, to me, is about balance, like so many things in life. The balance between mental and physical, between passive and aggressive. The balance is precarious. Elusive. Federer found it. He mastered it. When I think of tennis, and balance, I think of Federer.

Federer cruised past Milos Raonic on Friday. It was clinical. It was a match that couldn't end in disappointment, the way only a tennis match can. Had Raonic won, he'd have joined Eugenie Bouchard in the Wimbledon final, and during a time when the world raptly watches men kick a football around fields in Brazil, it would have made for a wild weekend in Canada. 

(I dream of a day Canada plays in the World Cup because I so badly want to care about this football tournament, and so badly want to be invested in it on such an emotional level, and Wimbledon, well, it's been the best tennis tournament in Canadian history; it's been fun.)

But to root against Federer is to root against balance. Hell, to root against tennis.

Related: Wimbledon 2014: Roger Federer's best chance at winning 1 more major

To watch Federer at Wimbledon is to watch him strike that balance. The All England Club is where he plays the best tennis of his life. He's going for a record eighth title, at almost 33, which is incredible, with Novak Djokovic - who Federer is 18-16 against - left in his way. And who could not want to see that? Yes, one of the Big Four will once again win Wimbledon, for the 12th straight year, but that's how it should be. They are tennis' greatest generation. When Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray are through, they'll let us know. Until then, sit back and enjoy.

Yet that's what so many can't seem to do. Undeniably, the focus will shift to Federer's legacy and retirement in the coming days. It's the same every slam, and has been for years. Federer's legacy is what it is: 17 slams, maybe 18, we'll find out Sunday. He's the greatest of all time, and he's earned the right to go out on his own terms, whatever those terms may be.

Related: Appreciating Roger Federer as underdog

I don't worry about Federer's legacy anymore, or how many slams he'll end up with, and whether Nadal will catch him, and overtake him. I don't worry about when Federer will leave the court for good. I simply want to watch the man play tennis, and watch him attempt to find and strike that balance on the court, the way no other player, it seems, can. 

I watch Federer, and appreciate what I'm seeing. That's it. I suppose you can say I've struck a balance of my own.