Federer's First Major Title of 2008?
- Thread starter deme08
- Start date
tennis_guy
Rookie
I'll go for wimbledon. If not then montreal or cincinatti.
zagor
Bionic Poster
I hope Wimledon so I'll vote for that but nothing's sure with Fed this year.Nadal will definitely be tough on grass as the improvements he made on clay will translate to grass as well(maybe even on hardcourts but Nadal doesn't have half the confidence on that surface that he does on clay)and Joker will be a tough challenge at USO(he's probably even the favourite there).
tennis_guy
Rookie
I forgot about the olympics. If he was to win gold + wimbledon, US.. it would be a great year for him.
Bubba
Professional
???
Grass and Clay TOTALLY different surfaces. One of the biggest problems for Fed on clay is that the ball sets very high on his backhand (head level) and he has difficulty with the higher bouncing to his BH... He's very, very effective taking his strokes off low bounces and fast surfaces.
Thing that saves Raffa on grass is his speed and court coverage... plus a great defensive game when he needs it from Top Spin.
China will most likely be played on Hardcourt which should at least not disadvantages Federer.
tennis_guy
Rookie
At wimbledon and US I think his main threat will come from Djokovic, depending on the 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 draw if it turns out that way.
malakas
Banned
There's big chance that by the time USO comes Djoker will be no.2
bluescreen
Hall of Fame
wimbledon for sure. he's gonna be so pissed from coming up short at ao and the french this year he'll be itching for a major title.
Wimbledon is crucial if he wants to turn his year around, failing Wimbledon he will have no chance of holding the #1 spot.
luckyboy1300
Hall of Fame
i hope he does have that confidence, because that's what i fear the most especially in these moments.
W
William Lawrence
Guest
I think Wimbledon is crucial for him, too.
And speaking as a Sampras fan (so I'm totally biased), I'll go even further and say, if Federer doesn't win Wimbledon this year, I'm not so sure he'll even pass Sampras in majors.
Of course, a win at Wimbledon and all is well... for the most part, at least.
A loss, though... and look out.
He'll be 27 in August. And while not old, it's not young either, in tennis terms.
Next year Australia is going to be tougher -- and he lost Australia in 2005, at around his peak. And as everyone knows, you can never really say for sure what's going to happen in Oz. You have the aforementioned in 2005; a Safin finding his game again. An out of shape Serena winning another year. A Henin throwing in the towel in a final. It can get crazy down under.
And he's never going to win the French if he has to play Nadal in the final every time.
And next year Wimbledon is going to get increasingly tougher -- Tsonga, Isner. Neither of which I think will win Wimbledon anytime soon, but you don't want players like than on your side of the draw, either.
And the U.S. Open, this year and next (and as much as I can't stand him), Djokovic is only going to get better.
Yeah, if you ask me, this year's Wimbledon is going to be big. Because things happen fast in tennis.
ScovilleJenkins
Rookie
newport
10.
10.
Are you aware of the changes in Wimbledon grass courts that happened between 2001-2003 ?
Well, grass used to be totally different from clay but now the difference is reduced (since 2003). And they share common characteristics of "organic" surfaces: somewhat uncertain bounce compared to synthetic hard courts. We had same finalists on French Open and Wimbledon last 2 years after all and maybe this year too.....
zagor
Bionic Poster
The grass change happened in 2002(it was still quite fast in 2001 as evidenced by Goran serving people off court under painkillers)but it was getting gradually slower each year so IMO for example 2003 Wimbledon(Fed won playing a lot of S & V) was faster then the grass today.It didn't happen overnight IMO.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
To me it's like poker, either he gets Wimby and he can hope for other good results, if he doesn't though he will go downhill real fast, much faster than people think here.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Eh,most people here say that he's already finished winning slams(some even said he should retire or similar)so how can he go down faster then that?
I don't think Federer is finished. But I also think when top player goes down, it will be quicker than past, IMHO. Simply because you have less options in today's tennis. if your baseline game doesn't win, S&V or other all court tricks are much less effective than past.
IMHO, because of same reason, it's easier to dominate at higher degree but it's much tougher to extend your domination in today's environment.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
Sorry Zagor, I didn't realize that was the prevailing opinion. He needs Wimby to boost his confidence. At this stage, it's absolutely vital for him.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Tough times are ahead of Federer as the age gap between him and Nadal and Djokovic is big and today's baseline oriented conditions favour younger players IMO as there's a lot of running and defense involved.I still think Fed has a good chance at Wimbledon and USO this year but we'll have to wait and see.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Yeah,Wimbledon will be crucial for Fed this year.
I think people looked too much into the FO result. Losing to Nadal badly on clay was not unexpected especially Federer who has the "Nadal complex". The possitive thing was he once again reached another slam final after a subpar first quarter of year on hardcourt. Expect him to carry on the momentum on his favorite surface.
zagor
Bionic Poster
Yeah,I think Fed will regain his confidence once he steps on Wimbledon grass again.Also Fed actually had a solid clay season(two masters final and FO final),especially compared to the beginning of the year when he was losing to Fish and Roddick(normally,his regular punching bags).I really hope he takes Wimbledon,if he does I think he'll carry over his confidence to USO series.
Nadal_Monfils
Semi-Pro
He didn't even play a top-20 player until the final of the French Open, where he went on to get thoroughly demolished.
Whatever, quit making excuses to hate on the guy. He's been to 3 clay-court finals in a row. He's better than everyone else on clay except Nadal, including Djokovic (who he was convincingly beating in MC, until Djokovic got a sore throat or tummy-ache, or whatever).
using the same logic, if I win the lottery this year it will be a great year for me too:twisted:
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