A great article about Roger Federer's grey army in "The Times of India"

[smoledman]

Federer = The Beatles
Nadal = The Rolling Stones

 

[Raging Buddha]

As for the article at the beginning of this thread, the writer has a point. Federer is kind of a "throwback" and it's perhaps easier to appreciate his style if you're a bit older and have seen a few generations of players. However, the traits that Nadal exhibits at first glance, the power, strength, athleticism, are almost "gladiator like". You notice them right away, and it's something that might be more appealing to the casual tennis fan. I think it takes a more thorough understanding of tennis in order to appreciate the nuances of Federer's style of play. That's not to say that you can't know a lot about tennis and prefer Nadal over Federer of course, but I believe the point is valid nonetheless. To use a film analogy, Nadal is more like a great summer blockbuster, while Federer is more like an arthouse film.

I and lots of other people I know are fans of Federer despite him being among the first professionals that we watched, but it does seem to have a slight trend with people who are more experienced with tennis. A similar thing for Nadal fans as well.

 

[roundiesee]

When Wimbledon draw was announced, it was clearly reported in many papers, that if:

Fed wins Wimbledon, he would be number 1 --- (it would automatically mean Djoker losing in SF)

If Nadal wins Wimbledon and Djoker lost before Semis, Nadal would be no. 1.

Vijay should have known it.

Agreed whole-heartedly! The article was well written, but for the life of me I can't understand his hero-worship of Vijay!
Vijay is easily one of the worst commentators in tennis ever (even though he may be a nice bloke and a fine gentleman). Just ask us poor tennis fans in Asia who have had to put up with him over the years on ESPN-StarSports. I mean, he can't even remember that it was Rudyard Kipling who wrote "If"!

 

[Sri]

That is because it is not his job remember those sort of numbers (this is assuming what you say is true). Unlike Wilkins he is an expert on tennis strategy and actual match-play, having played the sport himself. Wilkins is a presenter and it's he who keeps a tab on the statistics and other generalities.
If you're ignorant atleast don't demonstrate it in such a grandiose fashion.

ORLY?

Amritraj doesn't fail to bore us with useless trivia on Hollywood stars and the English elite. How is that relevant to tennis?

He is a tennis strategy expert? Laughable. He might have been at the past, not anymore. He doesn't even understand fan questions and answer them properly.

Look I don't hate Amritraj, I'm sure after may decades of being involved in tennis, his heart may be elsewhere. I get that.

I'm critical of the needless fawning over by this op-ed writer. Just because Amritraj is Indian, doesn't mean we should hero-worship him and ignore obvious flaws.

 

[Sri]

Agreed. Even in the final, contrary to what the article said, Vijay was getting more excited on points that Murray won. It seemed to me he badly wanted his prediction to come true

He's a secret Fed hater :twisted:

 

[Wuppy]

I thought the article was well-written and adroitly sums up Fed vs. Nadal.

 

[Sentinel]

Agreed whole-heartedly! The article was well written, but for the life of me I can't understand his hero-worship of Vijay! <img src="images/smilies/icon_sad.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Sad" smilieid="11" class="inlineimg" /> <br />
Vijay is easily one of the worst commentators in tennis ever (even though he may be a nice bloke and a fine gentleman). Just ask us poor tennis fans in Asia who have had to put up with him over the years on ESPN-StarSports. I mean, he can't even remember that it was Rudyard Kipling who wrote &quot;If&quot;!

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Where's the hero-worship ? No wonder you chaps get so worked up over Federer's fans because you imagine hero-worship so easily.

I went through a period when i didn;t like Vijay (he and Alan used to behave like little girls giggling away) but I think the program has improved in the last couple of years. That cheesy "Vee Jay on the spot" was quite a pain. And yes, he does seem to suck up to things British, seems he wants to go up in that society or become Lord Veej, lol, one day.

"The wonderful Mr So and so, and his lovely wife, xxx"

Vijay "No question about it" Amritraj, as i call him