Please do not complain!

It's funny, now that Roger Federer has emerged as the dominant men's tennis player on the planet, people are already complaining that his matches are boring because they are so one-sided. This is exactly the same argument that many people made in 1993, when Pete Sampras emerged as the dominant player on the men's tour. That year Pete won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and then the Australian in 1994. Why can't people just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show? I never found one of Pete's, or now Roger's matches to be boring. Why you ask? Because I'm a tennis player and I can admire the genius that these great athletes bring to the game. When Pete or Roger hit a shot that is out of this world, I grin from ear to ear. I don't care what the score is, I don't care who their opponent is, I enjoy watching brilliance in action.

You know, it never amazes me that people always find something to complain about. In the 70's and 80's people used to complain about the lack of sportsmanship in men's tennis, with Nastasi, McEnroe, and Connors. Then, in the 90's when Pete came along, they complained that he was boring because he didn't yell and act like an ass. He was just a dignified, sportsman, who played by the rules and gave everything he could on the court. Pete played so hard that he got sick on numerous occasions, and I'm not just talking about the quarterfinal match against Corretja in 1996.

Now, I'm hearing the same exact complaints and arguments that folks made about Pete, when talking about Roger. The fact is, either you like tennis or you don't like tennis. I love tennis. I feel blessed that I got the chance to watch Pete Sampras throughout his career, and I feel blessed that I will get the same chance with Roger Federer. We should all just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Every time Roger hits a shot that I haven't seen all that often, if ever before, I grin from ear to ear, and wish that maybe, just maybe one day, when I'm playing with friends out on the court, I will hit a shot like Roger Federer. Of course, that's not possible, but still that's what so great about it.

Many of my shots today are direct copies from Pete Sampras. Of course, they are a lot slower and not as pretty, but for that split second after a winner, I do feel like I hit the shot like Pistol Pete. I have learned many things from Pete over the years, and I'm looking forward to doing the same with Roger. I know a good thing when I see it, and I couldn't ask for more. If you don't like Roger, you better learn to love him, because he's the best thing going today, and barring injury, we will be seeing him in major finals for the next 10 years to come. Great players like Pete and Roger only come along once in a generation. Enjoy the show while it lasts.

I agree with you 100%, people should stop winging about nothing, id like to see them trying to compete with Roger, so people should shut up and also stop bagging roger's opponents on theyre lack of making the match interesting. Also Ball Machine i see a bit of ric flair about your quote "If you don't like Roger, you better learn to love him, because he's the best thing going today"

Good pick-up Aus Mosis. I've been know to "style and profile" on many occassions.

well said ball machine! thanks for the post. Ed

I hate one-sided matches that are one-sided because somebody plays badly.

One-sided matches that are one-sided because somebody plays brilliantly are like works of art.

I still marvel over McEnroe's 1984 Wimbledon final. He absolutely DESTROYED Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. As far as I know, it may have been the least closely contested men's final of the open era, but good luck finding a match with more raw tennis artistry on display. Nobody alive could have stayed on the court with Mac that day, and the privilege of knowing you were seeing greatness at its absolute pinnacle was more than enough to offset the fact that it was over before it started.

If Federer (or anybody else) can give us results like that with any kind of regularity, we'll all be richer for it.

Im not complaining - im enjoying.......

Grimjack said:

I hate one-sided matches that are one-sided because somebody plays badly.

One-sided matches that are one-sided because somebody plays brilliantly are like works of art.

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I totally agree with this and what Ballmachine has to say. But I can foresee that if Federer continues the level he is and others are not catching up, he's gonna get lots of critisicms for being boring. It doesn't help that he never shout or act dramatic on court. Federer is a sensitive guy and I hope that's not gonna come on badly to him. It's great to see a player who can fulfill his talent and capabilities to the maximum, so I don't understand why people are complaining. But I believe the media will play an important role here, Federer is much more a fun, likeable guy together with his tennis, I don't see how he should be portrayed as boring.

Ballmachine: I think you're taking my and others' comments about that last final a bit out of context.

I don't think Federer is boring at all, but I don't think Henman played particularly well in that match either. It was just a real short drubbing. Fed = good player, but final match = nothing too interesting.

I think we all like to see Fed hit the amazing shots, but he's only going to do them if he's pushed to do so. He's said himself that he likes to save energy; I wanna see him fight.

I was only stating concern about our community's imagined future of the outright dominance of Federer in coming years. In the past I respected Sampras's game, but honestly, tennis was getting really predictable (and thus boring) to watch every time he played. I think Fed's got more variety and adaptability than Sampras, but I really need to see him pushed (as he was in the Agassi match) to be really interested/intrigued by a match.

Bottom line: Tennis needs both talent *and* competition to be at its most appealing. The matches that came closest to this (that we could see on TV) were Roddick/Henman and Agassi/Federer.

Ball machine, i'm with you all the way
Tennis is a very dignified sport, so the players should be also. Thats why I hate when players are not sportsmanship like, when they overly argue calls, when they smash racquets (once in a while is understandable, but when its every match .. . ), thats another reason why federer and sampras are so great

*yawn* This thread is boring.

WRT Federer's game & current dominance.....frankly if you can't appreciate the sheer brilliance of Fed's all-round game you don't know much about tennis. We are seeing genius in action.

Free_Martha said:

*yawn* This thread is boring.

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Way to liven up the party.

its different. Sampras wasnt artistic. he was a juggernaut. Federer is an artist. Therefore I can watch federer slap people around because it looks nice. with sampras, i watch his service motion cuz it looks cool :>, otherwise its not that fun.

hey, man. one-sided is still better than no-sided. recall the Belgians recent choke-a-thon. Or how about when the sistas stage a gag-fest vs each other.

True that Federer is currently dominating and Sampras was dominate in his prime, but it's through two different methods. What makes Federer so interesting to watch versus Sampras is the variety of shot sans a weakness except his mental game. Now that Federer has his head together, the limits to what he can do with the ball seem almost endless. Sampras, on the other hand, relied on a simple and direct game plan with little room to improvise. Also, Federer's entire game is so liquid. He transitions from defense to offense to defense, etc. so effortlessly.

The problem is that of 100% of tennis "fans", only 5-10% are like us---we play the game, know the game, and can appreciate genius when we see it. We know the players and would rather watch Nalbandian play Henman that Roddick plow through some nobody. The advertisers have to get their money's worth and target the Roddick fans of the world.

How about people just stop complaining in general instead of just about Federer? It's always, "whaaaaa, Roddick this...whaaaaaaa, PMac that......whaaaaaa coverage this.....whaaaaaa....my butt hurts that." I mean come on people, get a grip on yourselves. Just because you like a certain aspect of tennis does not mean there aren't others who like other aspects, so quit being crybabies, quit being so damn butt hurt, and just enjoy the game.

irishbanger said:

We know the players and would rather watch Nalbandian play Henman that Roddick plow through some nobody.

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Safin is a nobody now?

This thread needs to be bumped at regular intervals.
People will complain about absolutely anything.

Damn how prophetic this was..

Poly, court speeds, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic are all to blame for tennis being boring today in that order.

Ballmachine said:

It's funny, now that Roger Federer has emerged as the dominant men's tennis player on the planet,

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How is 14-23 a sign of dominance?

sureshs said:

How is 14-23 a sign of dominance?

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Youre an effing genius, suresh

sureshs said:

How is 14-23 a sign of dominance?

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When you can hit a backhand without waiting for the ball to bounce TWICE then we can talk about dominance.