A fitting finale

Three days hence, the greatest and much-awaited final was to be played. It was considered the acme amongst tennis tournaments played across the world. A win in this hallowed place was considered a high-water mark and much longed for by all professional tennis players.

Alfred and Benson, the two top-ranked players have been engaged in the rivalry to establish their individual supremacy over the other. They have held the top two rankings for the last three years continuously. Alfred led the overall head-to-head series at 10-5. Alfred, being senior in age by seven years to Benson, has been dominant all these years with none to come anywhere near him. It was only after the advent of Benson that Alfred met a true match to test his skill to the utmost. He had been hitherto winning in all the tournaments so effortlessly that the final always appeared a tame one-man show. It was no longer so.

These two had contrasting styles. Benson in mid-twenties has raw muscular power with amazing stamina, a bewildering variety of strokes and the agility of a cunning feline on the court. Alfred, with his rich and long experience at the top position, had the answer to every player. Quick-footed, calm and collected and with a courtcraft that never took him by surprise, Alfred had of course the age to contend with.

He wished to end his career with a convincing win in this tournament over his arch-rival. He had been working towards this end ceaselessly. But Benson is no easy pushover and in the last two final encounters, he had won easily over Alfred with his stronger physical endurance capability. Benson had a high regard for Alfred whom he deemed as his role model when he was young. He wished Alfred to make an exit in all glory and honours. But once he entered the court, the professional pride ruled, giving no room for sentiment. Though Benson felt sorry for the ageing Alfred, he tried to make him run across the field and tire himself to clinch the match.

Benson sincerely wanted Alfred to get all the honours in what was his last final. That he felt would be a fitting tribute to his friendly rival and a measure of regard he had for him. He, however, wished it to happen without himself having to lose, an impossible outcome with a tiebreaker.  

As luck would have it, Benson developed a temperature two days before the date of the match and the antibiotic injections did not help in bringing the viral fever down. He was feeling weak but felt inwardly happy that all the efforts of his physicians to make him fit for the final event did not fructify. The media was all agog on Benson’s fitness and speculating on an easy walkover for Alfred bringing him fittingly the championship in his last tournament.

Alfred was not happy at this denouement. He did not wish for a walkover. He wanted to fight and win a manly game over his rival to claim the championship by his prowess and not by default. He sincerely prayed that Benson would recover to give him a chance to snatch an honourable victory on the court in front of the adulating crowd that he was accustomed to. His mood was swinging between hope and despair.

It was on the morning of the final that an unexpected development took place when Alfred sprained his ankle when doing a workout. Not all the efforts of the physio and the doctor could give him any relief, as he was hardly able to walk, let alone run.

The tournament committee, in the absence of any rule or precedent where both players could not play in the finals on medical grounds, unanimously decided to declare both players winners and award the championship to both of them in what was considered an unprecedented step in the annals of the tournament. Benson breathed a sigh of relief that God had answered his prayers through this happy ending.

Perhaps there is a time  to decide for persons at their peak, especially in sports,  to quit gracefully when they can and not when they must.