[Merged]Stick a fork in Roger! Done and should retire

[devila]

The overvalued, overinflated # of Slams means
nothing to me. He's a parasite; insulting to all my senses, and
annoying to his opponents. I never get
excited over a media tool and crying, spoiled brat. Who needs his scowling,
ungraceful, frozen egomaniac face? Always begging for worship
because he thinks everyone should play with injury and illness in the hot
weather. I don't care about him beating Sampras. Neither of them is beautiful to me.
Watch the weasel force his son or daughter to play tennis. He left his home and quit everything else to play tennis 15 years ago.

I'd rather watch an immature Roddick improve his quickness, game and brain development. Nadal's ok, but I don't desire annoying 30-shot bashing and 15-second time delays.

I don't need 10 more years of selfish commentators moaning and slobbering over Federer.

[S H O W S T O P P E R !]

Originally Posted by egn

This is like the second one compared to the 30 Fed should retired threads..

It's simply a preemptive strike.

[SoBad]

Originally Posted by devila

The overvalued, overinflated # of Slams means
nothing to me. He's a parasite; insulting to all my senses, and
annoying to his opponents. I never get
excited over a media tool and crying, spoiled brat. Who needs his scowling,
ungraceful, frozen egomaniac face? Always begging for worship
because he thinks everyone should play with injury and illness in the hot
weather. I don't care about him beating Sampras. Neither of them is beautiful to me.
Watch the weasel force his son or daughter to play tennis. He left his home and quit everything else to play tennis 15 years ago.

I'd rather watch an immature Roddick improve his quickness, game and brain development.

I don't need 10 more years of selfish commentators moaning and slobbering over Federer.

That's a really good, well thought-out, eloquent comment. Did you write that or are you quoting?

[veroniquem]

Originally Posted by vtmike

That's the thing you can never tell...you could not tell when he was dominating and you cannot tell now...he is very good at hiding or keeping his emotions to himself...I certainly cannot tell if he had given up based on his emotions because he doesn't show any just like Sampras...but if you have some sort of sixth sense that can read his mind then good for you

But his body language looked negative and he had a constant frown on his face. I think he shows more than what people say, you can tell when he doesn't believe in it. You can tell pretty much with every player actually, including the least expressive ones (from the way they walk, sunken shoulders, the level of energy, etc...)

[vtmike]

Originally Posted by veroniquem

But his body language looked negative and he had a constant frown on his face. I think he shows more than what people say, you can tell when he doesn't believe in it. You can tell pretty much with every player actually, including the least expressive ones (from the way they walk, sunken shoulders, the level of energy, etc...)

He always had a frown on his face and so does Nadal during matches...Maybe its a sign of them trying to focus on the point...Try looking at some old Federer matches on youtube and you will see what I mean about him not showing any emotion with both his body language and facial expressions...Federer plays the game more like a poker or chess player...don't give anything away

[ESP#1]

I havent even bothered to read any of those threads cause you know its complete nonsense, I wouldn't say Fed needs to retire but he really needs to change his attitude, he seemed really over it at the end of the murray match, almost like he just quit when things werent going his way, the tennis season is very demanding maybe he's pulling a Pete and just focusing on Slams now

[luckyboy1300]

Originally Posted by ESP#1

I havent even bothered to read any of those threads cause you know its complete nonsense, I wouldn't say Fed needs to retire but he really needs to change his attitude, he seemed really over it at the end of the murray match, almost like he just quit when things werent going his way, the tennis season is very demanding maybe he's pulling a Pete and just focusing on Slams now

the thing is, even things are going his way now he suddenly tanks deciders for no reason at all. he was just doing fine until murray slipped, then he began spraying balls left and right.

[THERAFA]

Did you just see that crosscourt backhand! Rafa is more powerful than Agassi off the ground now:
Oops
Wrong
Thread

[Bassus]

Originally Posted by hotseat

it boggles my mind why anyone would even suggest federer should retire. ya, he's not the undisputed best player in the world anymore like he was for such a long time. federer fans will (or should at least) readily admit that. bottom line is, he's one grand slam away from tying pete's record, two slams from breaking it. he's 27 and is never going to consistently dominate and win 3/4 slams EVERY year, but guess what!?

HE DOESN'T HAVE TO..........

Sampras won a slam at what was it? 31 or 32? Roger's only 27. yes, that's a lot of years compared to guys like Nadal and Murray, but quit fooling yourself.

Roger won a slam last year. he made the FINALS of all the others. nearly won wimbledon, nearly won this last aussie.

retirement? oh, please........ take your biased, fanboi hat off and give a guy credit where it's due. just because he doesn't win 3/4 slams every year anymore doesn't mean he's done you silly little geese.

That is all true. Federer is still the second best player on the planet. He has been, along with Nadal, the most consistent in the big tournaments.

But he has to beat Nadal. If he is to regain his lost luster, then he has to beat Nadal. And beating him at a non-major doesn't count. He has to beat Nadal in a grandslam final.

Ideally, Federer would beat Nadal in the French Open final. That would pretty much silence all of his critics (even though it wouldn't be part of a calendar yr grandslam...something he should have accomplished but now never will), but that now seems an impossibility. In fact, I don't think Federer will ever make it back to the finals there, so he has to pin his hopes on facing Nadal at Wimbledon and the US Open, and then he has to actually play the big moments like a champion, like Sampras, like Nadal.

[rich01]

It already feels like the end of an era (when Fed dominated and guys like hewitt and safin were still up there), maybe it's best he slowly declines and retires near the top? I mean it sucks seeing him going out so early in tournaments, and there's new faces now (djokovic and murray.. yawn). I'd rather remember him from 04/5/6/7 than seeing what he's like now. Does anyone else feel the game has changed?

[tudwell]

I think Federer's problem is mostly mental. He feels too much pressure to match and break Sampras's record. If he continues to spiral downward (and his fall is not as fast as some people would like to think - he's still number two in the world after all), he'll eventually reach a point where he'll no longer feel so much pressure. Plus, with marriage and a child, it might give him a little perspective. Make him realize winning (and losing) isn't the most important thing in the world. Which will help him relax and win more than 3/17 break points in a Wimbledon final. I hope.

[icedevil0289]

all these posts of what fed should do to improve his game or what's going on in his head probably add up to an entire book.

[P_Agony]

Originally Posted by tudwell

I think Federer's problem is mostly mental. He feels too much pressure to match and break Sampras's record. If he continues to spiral downward (and his fall is not as fast as some people would like to think - he's still number two in the world after all), he'll eventually reach a point where he'll no longer feel so much pressure. Plus, with marriage and a child, it might give him a little perspective. Make him realize winning (and losing) isn't the most important thing in the world. Which will help him relax and win more than 3/17 break points in a Wimbledon final. I hope.

Hmm...in which Wimbeldon final did he win 3?

[RalphNYC]

This thread is a touch different because it's not about what Fed needs to do, it's about whether his fans would be happier if retired soon and could just forget the last year and a half and fondly remember the rest of his career.

Not a bad idea, but yes, a bit tired and overly discussed topic.

[Kaptain Karl]

<Mod Mode> Hey!!! No spoilers in this section. </Mod Mode>

- KK

[ps2dcgba]

LOL at all the suggestions that roger should retire, he has at least 2-3 more slams in him, maybe more. I think Pete had a tournament dry spell for 2 years before his magical run at the 2002 US Open.

A good run at Wimbledon , maybe even winning win will certainly boost his chances at the US Open, don't forget he has won 5 consective US Opens, he is the defending champion, I don't think he should retire on the account that he isn't winning as regular as he was during his prime.

[Benhur]

I suppose most of the other top players, and their fans, would be rather happy if he retired, as this would mean one less major force to deal with. But of course he would be crazy to do so, when he still has reasonably at least 2-3 years to play at least at his current level, which means his chances of winning one or two majors and thus equaling or surpassing Sampras' record are not insignificant.

The only possible danger is a kind of existential crisis of the kind Borg, suffered where gradually the discipline of keeping up with the training, the sacrifices imposed on family life, the apparent one-dimensionality, and even insanity, of a life dedicated to hitting tennis balls, begins to make you wonder what it all means and if it’s really worth it.

There is no doubt in my mind that:

1. He can still maintain a top 4 or 5 level for at least 3 more years, and therefore he can still win some majors.

2. The era of his unearthly domination is over. But there is nothing surprising in this. Age does not forgive. The neural connections fray ever so slowly, and even a tiny decay can translate in a significant difference in performance, especially for someone who relies on such exquisite timing. In fact, what is really extraordinary, is the level of his domination during the four years he was at the top, which is pretty unmatched in the history of the game for that period of time. You can argue forever about the "weakness of the field" but this is neither here nor there, and it is completely unprovable and subjective. If anything, it could be argued that, to the extent that the tennis pool worldwide has become larger with the passing decades -- in other words, more players worldwide grow up playing tennis and trying to be pros -- it would be extremely odd if the field should get weaker as the decades go by with an increasingly larger pool of youngsters. In the 70s and 80s, for example, there were few players from the former Eastern block. Today those countries are a power house. There is no question that tennis has gradually moved from being a minority sport played by elites in selected countries, to a much more popular game with a much larger pool. How this should make the field “weaker” is by no means clear.

Anyway, even though I am no fan of Federer, I think his greatness, even if he were to quit tomorrow, must be recognized as extremely awesome. Several of his records are already pretty incredible, and his domination during his four years at the top is yet unsurpassed. He probably feels he had the misfortune of having his career overlap too much with that of a guy like Nadal, who is by all measures another freak of nature with a quite different style. And maybe Nadal felt the same way all those years he played second fiddle to Federer.

Personally, I would like to see Federer continue to play into his 30s, even if he sinks in the rankings as he will inevitably do at some point. I never liked Connors much while he was at the top, too much of a jerk, but I grew to like him well enough when he was an old legend still giving tough matches to guys that could be his sons.

Federer should not retire. But he should accept the idea that having a 90%+ winning record year after year is probably going to be a thing of the past. To help him accept this, he should take succor in the fact that even a guy like Sampras, great as he was, never had a 90% winning record on any single year of his career. He should realize that the level of domination implied by his 93, 95, 95, and 88% winning record for 4 straight years is something unique and freakish -- the only thing that comes close to it in he open era being Lendl’s record in 1982, 85, 86, 87 and 89, all of them just above 90% -- and that Sampras never matched any of those numbers in any single year of his career.

Sampras winning percentage as year-end #1

1993: 84%
1994: 87%
1995: 82%
1996: 86%
1997: 82%
1998: 78%

Federer winning percentage as year-end #1

2004: 93%
2005: 95%
2006: 95%
2007: 88%

Federer should not retire.

[GameSampras]

It will be interesting to see what Fed's winning percentage will be this year. He cant even win a tournament these days

[vtmike]

Originally Posted by Inner Game

Sad to say Rogers done.....too much jet setting, endorsement appearances and not enough attention to tennis...Now he's lost a step and he'll never win another major....I bet even Tsonga could kick his butt now!

Originally Posted by Nadal_Freak

I agree. Fed should've retired by now. What's the hold up?

Originally Posted by thalivest

Come on now, would you want to be denied the privilege of seeing Nadal and Murray beat him over and over again, and his obvious frusteration and angst in experiencing that.

Originally Posted by Nadal_Freak

Fed will never win another slam so why keep playing? Retire now.

Originally Posted by Nadal_Freak

Where Nadal fails Murray will pick up. This year is the year of Nadal and Murray.

Originally Posted by SoBad

He can't retire the way Henin did, because she was the top player when she retired. He could still save some face by retiring now, but I doubt he has the sense to do it. Instead, he'll keep trying and crying, dropping out of top 10 by the end of this year, leaving top 100 next year, etc. A few years from now he'll probably be unranked playing qualies in futures and begging for wild-cards into challengers, getting blown out in every match, and giving weepy interviews afterwards. What will take for him to finally retire is a mystery to me.

Originally Posted by SoBad

It's a very quick downward spiral in the case of a player of his ilk. Once he is no longer seeded in tournaments, he will have more and more first-round losses, and there just won't be enough points to maintain a ranking. He will get some wildcards at first, but as he loses more and more first-round matches, those will become increasingly more difficult to come by. As losses mount, he will become increasingly fragile psychologically, and may turn to drugs and/or gambling in order to keep his mind off the tennis fiascos. The increasingly frequent conflicts with law enforcement will trigger cancellation clauses in his sponsorship contracts, and he would be in the negative territory financially as he departs the top 100 or so ranking. I don't have a crystal ball, I'm just saying that's the kind of thing that could transpire down the road.

Originally Posted by SoBad

Well you are missing the key point. If Federer had retired Sampras-style after winning a slam, perhaps some would still remember him for a few more years. But looking at some of the likely scenarios we have outlined earlier on in this thread, sponsors and greater tennis community would be embarassed by association with Federer by the time going gets rough.

Originally Posted by rich01

It already feels like the end of an era (when Fed dominated and guys like hewitt and safin were still up there), maybe it's best he slowly declines and retires near the top? I mean it sucks seeing him going out so early in tournaments, and there's new faces now (djokovic and murray.. yawn). I'd rather remember him from 04/5/6/7 than seeing what he's like now. Does anyone else feel the game has changed?

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[JeMar]

Yes, this thread is full of comedic gold.

Did you really have to go and revive it, though?

Edit: GameSampras too... did ALL the good trolls get banned?