Gabbu Singh Diaries 8 | From Nishikori love to 'call me Roger'.

There are fewer things in life that give you more pleasure than your favorite sporting hero doing well, that happiness is surreal. Be it Tendulkar notching up those memorable hundreds or Dhoni finishing tense humdingers with a monk-like poise or Federer winning those elusive grand slams trophies with the same aura of invincibility and unmatched grace. But hold on, there is something else as well that yields an equal bounty of pleasure and that is when your four old shows immense interest in these sporting extravaganzas. It’s blissful and kind of a guaranteed assurance that you have a sporting partner by your side for life.

So as much as he likes watching his Spidermans and Power Rangers on tele, he also savors watching a live cricket, football, tennis or an athletic bout without that whine to switch back to Disney Junior channel. And this has been the case ever since he was 2. So if you ask him, Avyaan who is the fastest runner in the world, he will be quick to shout ‘BOLT’, fastest swimmer, ‘PHELPS’, best cricketer, ‘DHONI, and his bday is on 7^th July’ (incidentally also Avyaan’s bday), favorite tennis player, ‘NISHIKORI’. Yes Nishikori, despite my repeated failed attempts to convince him to settle for any of Federer, Djokovic or even Nadal. He is stuck on Nishikori for last 2 years, for reasons best known only to him.

And such is his memory and interest in the game that he even knows the likes Jack Sock, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev quite well. So while we were recently following the Australian Open, his very 1^stquestion was ‘Dad, where is Nishikori’. I tried pulling him by saying, ‘he isn’t playing well these days, so they have not allowed him to play this time’. He was upset and unconvinced with this answer and quickly snapped back saying, ‘no, he is a good player, maybe he is injured’. So much for his love for Mr Nishikori, I had to give in to that. But even without Nishikori he keenly followed the open from 1^st week and had his clear favorites for every match. And the rules of the game were clear, he chooses his favorites and I can’t have them as mine. And if his favorite loses, that becomes mine. I wished Nishikori was indeed available for the Open :).

So when Dimitriov played Kyrgios in the round of 16, for some reason Avyaan was supporting Kyrgios which naturally meant that I had to support Dimitrov. But as Dimitrov won 1^st two sets, both Kyrgios and Avyaan started getting irritated, Kyrgios to an extent that he was breaking his racket and fighting with the umpire after every point. At this point, I told Avyaan, see he is so rude, so angry and nobody likes such people but you are still supporting him. He remained quiet for a while and after a thoughtful deliberation declared that he is supporting Dimitrov and Kyrgios is my favorite now. And the next morning he woke up saying ‘I don’t like Kyrgios, as he is not a good guy but you should not support him either, otherwise people will not like you too’. Another advice noted for life!

In the following days he supported Djokovic over Chung, and after Djokovic’s ouster made Chung as his new favorite, he then supported Dimitrov against Edmund and after Dimitrov’s exit made Edmund as his new favoritie, albeit he realized it a bit late that Mr Edmund is from London. Further to that and much to my relief he supported Berdych over Federer and ensured that Federer prevailed :). But when Federer stormed past Chung, he was very upset and cried after the match saying ‘Federer snatched away my favorite Chung’. I somehow kept my delight under the wraps and consoled him by saying that Chung was injured otherwise he would have won. But he was quite determined to support Cilic in the finals against Federer. I was quite happy with this arrangement as it almost ensured my all time favorite his 20^th grand slam but I was wary of Avyaan’s mid match flip. And that’s what eventually happened, right at the start of the 5^th set he declared that I am supporting Federer now and my already feeble nerves headed towards the ultimate breakdown. Something had to be done and I cajoled him saying that ‘Cilic is a better player and Federer won it last time so it should be Cilic’s turn this time around. And isn’t sharing and taking turns a good habit?’ Somehow it struck the right chord with him and he belligerently said ‘ok, I will support Cilic for the big trophy’. And that was it, Federer broke Cilic’s serve and broke it again. The coveted no. 20^th was in :).

So when Federer cried in his customary style after clinching his record equaling 6^th Australian Open, so did Mr Gabbu Singh, as ‘Federer once again snatched the trophy from his favorite player:)’. But he somehow made peace with this by the evening and quietly came to me and asked with a sheepish smile ‘Dad, when I grow up can you call me Mr. Roger?’:).

The joys of following your favorite sport with your sweetheart are unparalleled indeed!

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