An Open Letter to Roger Federer from the TW Boards

Dear Roger,

As a group of dedicated tennis fans, we can no longer hold our tongues. After numerous discussions from the comfort of our keyboards here in cyberspace, we have decided to speak, and to speak candidly. You are too important a figure in tennis history for us to dishonor you with anything less.

While you are clearly enormously talented, a number of highly conspicuous (to us) issues seem to be hindering your (at one time seemingly inevitable) march to occupy the Exhalted Throne of 'G.O.A.T.' (that's short for 'Greatest of All Time' Roger, in case you spend more time practicing tennis than reading internet message boards) We shall attempt to catalogue them here, along with a brief consensus recommendation with regard to how the problem(s) may be best and most expediently resolved:

First, you are plainly wearing the wrong tennis shirt. Ever since you began wearing that red shirt w/ blue-ish green stripes your forehand has been a mess. Surely a man of your influence with Nike (not to mention personal resources) can obtain some more comely garb, yes? Our consensus: drop the shirt. Perhaps something sleeveless?

Second, your tennis frame is wholly inappropriate. It's head is too small, it weighs too much, it has too high a swingweight, and is painted in a ghastly hodge-podge of colors. The latter fact is probably distracting you during your swing, accounting for your recent struggles (please note that herein the term 'struggle' will refer to any and all matches not one in straight sets and in a totally dominating way) Further, no one else in the modern game (at least that we can think of off hand) plays at the ATP level with such a dated tool. We speculate, though we have no proof, (is there a theme?) it to likely be strung with an inappropriate mixture of materials at some ridiculously low tension. Roger, truly!! No wonder you are shanking so many balls and flying more than the Wright Brothers! Our Consensus: change immediately to a Gamma Big Bubba mold. Wilson can undoubtedly 'nCode or KFactor' it for you on demand, and given the larger string bed that big red 'W' should be visible even from the last row at Flushing Meadows!! But remember (and here's the top secret, TW only part) be sure it is weighted to SW 2. Don't worry, the folks at **** or Bosworth can help if you have no idea what that is.

Third, your girlfriend is fugly. Face it Rog, you never show her any affection and even by Central European standards she could stand to drop a few. We are totally OK with it if in fact you are living an alternative lifestyle, but do us all a favor and start dating some super-model, OK? I mean do you have ANY idea how much TV time your box gets in any given match?? Cut us a break. Our consensus: your course of action here should be self evident, don't make us humiliate you by spelling it out!!

Sincerely,

The Many Tennis Fans of TW Talk Tennis
 

Frodo Baggins

Semi-Pro
(Sneakin a Post!!)>Oh Pleazzzeee:rolleyes: Just because Feds Girl is not Up to your Standards!!! Geesh:mad: Fed can date Who he wants!!! An Love who he wants..Heck he can even Date me if he wants..That is if davide will let him;) :confused: what is this Tw Members Coming too???
 

armand

Banned
Yeah. Imagine if Federer did actually browse here, he would find it very funny until the last paragraph. He'd be pretty pissed off and may even condemn TW and shut it down with his influence.
 

skip1969

G.O.A.T.
nice letter, craig. honest, but not cruel. which is good, cos you know how sensitive roger is.

i'm glad you didn't have the heart to tell him that he's going out early at the french, his career is basically on the decline, he'll never catch pete on the slam count, and his days of number 1 are over cos he's 25, and old.

we'll just keep that to ourselves here on the board.
 

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Brilliant, just brilliant!

If I could add one thing >>> he needs to start practicing in adverse conditions more often. You know, climate controlled rooms with heat over 150 degrees, wind gusts over 200 mph, and surface made of broken glass with soft spots (quicksand). Oh, and don't foget 20 foot alligators in the ponds by the baseline.
 
...............and Roger Replies.................

Dear Roger,

As a group of dedicated tennis fans, we can no longer hold our tongues. After numerous discussions from the comfort of our keyboards here in cyberspace, we have decided to speak, and to speak candidly. You are too important a figure in tennis history for us to dishonor you with anything less.

While you are clearly enormously talented, a number of highly conspicuous (to us) issues seem to be hindering your (at one time seemingly inevitable) march to occupy the Exhalted Throne of 'G.O.A.T.' (that's short for 'Greatest of All Time' Roger, in case you spend more time practicing tennis than reading internet message boards) We shall attempt to catalogue them here, along with a brief consensus recommendation with regard to how the problem(s) may be best and most expediently resolved:

First, you are plainly wearing the wrong tennis shirt. Ever since you began wearing that red shirt w/ blue-ish green stripes your forehand has been a mess. Surely a man of your influence with Nike (not to mention personal resources) can obtain some more comely garb, yes? Our consensus: drop the shirt. Perhaps something sleeveless?

Second, your tennis frame is wholly inappropriate. It's head is too small, it weighs too much, it has too high a swingweight, and is painted in a ghastly hodge-podge of colors. The latter fact is probably distracting you during your swing, accounting for your recent struggles (please note that herein the term 'struggle' will refer to any and all matches not one in straight sets and in a totally dominating way) Further, no one else in the modern game (at least that we can think of off hand) plays at the ATP level with such a dated tool. We speculate, though we have no proof, (is there a theme?) it to likely be strung with an inappropriate mixture of materials at some ridiculously low tension. Roger, truly!! No wonder you are shanking so many balls and flying more than the Wright Brothers! Our Consensus: change immediately to a Gamma Big Bubba mold. Wilson can undoubtedly 'nCode or KFactor' it for you on demand, and given the larger string bed that big red 'W' should be visible even from the last row at Flushing Meadows!! But remember (and here's the top secret, TW only part) be sure it is weighted to SW 2. Don't worry, the folks at **** or Bosworth can help if you have no idea what that is.

Third, your girlfriend is fugly. Face it Rog, you never show her any affection and even by Central European standards she could stand to drop a few. We are totally OK with it if in fact you are living an alternative lifestyle, but do us all a favor and start dating some super-model, OK? I mean do you have ANY idea how much TV time your box gets in any given match?? Cut us a break. Our consensus: your course of action here should be self evident, don't make us humiliate you by spelling it out!!

Sincerely,

The Many Tennis Fans of TW Talk Tennis

Dear Fans of TTW,

Thank you for your candor. However I feel compelled to point out the following:

1. Despite having played numerous tennis matches in shirts featuring some form of red coloring or dye, I have persisted in dominating the ATP tour like virtually no other player, EVER. I have in fact in recent years nearly DOUBLED the points of my next closest rivals. Besides, I like red and it is the color of the Swiss flag. Oh, and I won today, including a bagel set on clay against a guy who is probably the greatest clay court player ever. My Consensus: I am sticking with red attire.

2. I know what you mean about my racquet. It IS kind of old school, very much like my game! You know what I mean by Old School, right?? I like to move the ball around, vary pace and spin, come to net, hit some volleys, maybe snap off an overhead or hit a stab volley. Sometimes I even throw in a dropper or two! On serve I like to mix it up as well, and use placement and spin to keep 'em guessin'!! So you see it's not like I don't have access to bigger headed frames (and thanks to you, some of the biggest heads of all have come marching right in my door!!) It's just that well, I kinda AM pretty good at this stuff, and I just plain like the frame I'm using. It works for me, you know? My Consensus: I will dance with the one what brung me, as your American Folk Lore says. Oh, and BTW, what the heck is SW2? I called Roman and Warren and they just started laughing. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that bagel set I threw down on your boy Rafa today? And that I did it on clay, with my too small, too heavy, too hard to swing, too flexy, poorly strung, antiquated, only for posers frame?? And that it was windy, sunny, and the clay was throwing me all kinds of weird bounces, not to mention his ridiculous lefty spin??

3. As for Mirka, well again I know this may be hard to believe, but there are things about people that are important besides their looks. And it's not like she's that bad looking, really. Did you guys check out the photos of her in the elevators with me in Doha? Look, the more I think about it the more rotten those comments really are. As for alternative lifestyles, well how about you guys get out from behind your keyboards and have a life, period. ANY life! My Consensus: I am sticking w/ Mirka. She's a cool girl and I love her. So p**s off. Oh, and BTW, she was in my box today when I bageled your boy and ended his 81 match win streak.

Sincerely,

Roger Federer

3.
 
Last edited:

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Excellent, well done.

Response to Roger:

Dear Roger,

No need to be an ass with all of us. Some of us on these boards have been sticking up for you. Now get more practice on those adverse conditions I spoke about earlier.

Sincerely,

Drakulie

PS: Thanks for the bagel today! I highly enjoyed it. :)
 

FiveO

Hall of Fame
Dear Fans of TTW,

....So p**s off. Oh, and BTW, she was in my box today when I bageled your boy and ended his 81 match win streak.

Sincerely,

Roger Federer

3.


How much would some of you want to wager that some of the TTW <ahem> "regulars" will 1/2 read this thread and point to this quote as evidence of Fed's continued arrogance.

Well done C.A.C..

5
 

psamp14

Hall of Fame
great CC, just great...i got a good laugh out of it....but the red shirt affecting his forehand....not so much today! :)
 

Mahboob Khan

Hall of Fame
Roger Federer: You victory over your arch rival Nadal on his favorite surface clay, yesterday (Sunday) in Hamberg, Germany, was cool. You did it because:

-- Previously you were concentrating too much on his backhand and he was killing you with his insideout lefty forehands!

-- This time around you followed a great tactical plan (well, refer to my article, The Tactical Universe, on www.tennisplayer.net under Strategy) and that was you weren't afraid to hit to his forehand first to create space for your winner to his backhand.

-- And then you would hit some 2-3 great shots to his backhand to pull him wide to his backhand side, and then you hit the next shot to his forehand wing which was quite open.

By following this simple plan, plus avoiding your own unforced errors in sets 2 and 3, you frustrated Nadal on his own best surface.

Read my article, The Tactical Universe, more minutely, follow it in the French Open, and you will win.

I did not contribute to Post 1, and I still do not contribute to it, thus ignore it. Your girlfriend, Mirka, has supported you through your career, she has a great soul, never ever abandon her. She is great for you. Yes, play with her 3-times a week .. on court that is.. to assure that she does not get bulkier.

Regards,

Mahboob Khan
 

Chicane

New User
Dear Roger,

As a group of dedicated tennis fans, we can no longer hold our tongues. After numerous discussions from the comfort of our keyboards here in cyberspace, we have decided to speak, and to speak candidly. You are too important a figure in tennis history for us to dishonor you with anything less.

While you are clearly enormously talented, a number of highly conspicuous (to us) issues seem to be hindering your (at one time seemingly inevitable) march to occupy the Exhalted Throne of 'G.O.A.T.' (that's short for 'Greatest of All Time' Roger, in case you spend more time practicing tennis than reading internet message boards) We shall attempt to catalogue them here, along with a brief consensus recommendation with regard to how the problem(s) may be best and most expediently resolved:

First, you are plainly wearing the wrong tennis shirt. Ever since you began wearing that red shirt w/ blue-ish green stripes your forehand has been a mess. Surely a man of your influence with Nike (not to mention personal resources) can obtain some more comely garb, yes? Our consensus: drop the shirt. Perhaps something sleeveless?

Second, your tennis frame is wholly inappropriate. It's head is too small, it weighs too much, it has too high a swingweight, and is painted in a ghastly hodge-podge of colors. The latter fact is probably distracting you during your swing, accounting for your recent struggles (please note that herein the term 'struggle' will refer to any and all matches not one in straight sets and in a totally dominating way) Further, no one else in the modern game (at least that we can think of off hand) plays at the ATP level with such a dated tool. We speculate, though we have no proof, (is there a theme?) it to likely be strung with an inappropriate mixture of materials at some ridiculously low tension. Roger, truly!! No wonder you are shanking so many balls and flying more than the Wright Brothers! Our Consensus: change immediately to a Gamma Big Bubba mold. Wilson can undoubtedly 'nCode or KFactor' it for you on demand, and given the larger string bed that big red 'W' should be visible even from the last row at Flushing Meadows!! But remember (and here's the top secret, TW only part) be sure it is weighted to SW 2. Don't worry, the folks at **** or Bosworth can help if you have no idea what that is.

Third, your girlfriend is fugly. Face it Rog, you never show her any affection and even by Central European standards she could stand to drop a few. We are totally OK with it if in fact you are living an alternative lifestyle, but do us all a favor and start dating some super-model, OK? I mean do you have ANY idea how much TV time your box gets in any given match?? Cut us a break. Our consensus: your course of action here should be self evident, don't make us humiliate you by spelling it out!!

Sincerely,

The Many Tennis Fans of TW Talk Tennis



wow, Craig. Your writing ability is on par with Peter Bodo's. Really good stuff, dude. Don't agree with everything you wrote, but mad respect for your writing skills...
 

TheTruth

G.O.A.T.
Mirka looks better than him. Take them out of the tennis circuit and people would be asking her what does she see in him!
 

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
ROTFLMAO!!! :lol:

That was truly hilarious, Craig!!

BTW, while we're at it, we should tell Roger to get rid of Roche as his coach and play without a coach like he did during his very successful '04 season. Oops...he already did. ;) LOL
 

GOD_BLESS_RAFA

Semi-Pro
A sleeveless shirt is not good on Federer ...too hairy arms ! :)
Mirka is a great help for him in his career so don't you think he will rid of her...:)
 

dh003i

Legend
Being serious for a moment, of all the criticisms against Federer, the one that pisses me off the most is against who he's dating. It's really disgusting, mean, and immoral to criticize some for dating someone that you think is "ugly". Btw, most likely, 99% of the people on this board would be lucky to date someone as good looking as Mirka. And since he's been with her so long, obviously there's something great about her, so you'd probably be lucky to be dating someone with that good a personality.
 

Richie Rich

Legend
Brilliant, just brilliant!

If I could add one thing >>> he needs to start practicing in adverse conditions more often. You know, climate controlled rooms with heat over 150 degrees, wind gusts over 200 mph, and surface made of broken glass with soft spots (quicksand). Oh, and don't foget 20 foot alligators in the ponds by the baseline.

you forgot that he also needs a racquet suited for the "modern game" :mrgreen: since he is the only one who uses a headsize that small
 

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
Being serious for a moment, of all the criticisms against Federer, the one that pisses me off the most is against who he's dating. It's really disgusting, mean, and immoral to criticize some for dating someone that you think is "ugly". Btw, most likely, 99% of the people on this board would be lucky to date someone as good looking as Mirka. And since he's been with her so long, obviously there's something great about her, so you'd probably be lucky to be dating someone with that good a personality.

lots of people on this board would be lucky to have a date with ANYBODY. ;) the ones with the sad constant cries out for attention
 

tamaj13

Rookie
Superb piece of Satire. Typically, good satire usually offends someone, and it appears that your pieces did :). I suspect both Roger and Mirka have better things to do than read our posts, and I'm gald of that. Imagine what both would feel like after reading the comments about her? But then, people typically don't care what others feel like as long as they get their jollies, no? It was a hoot!
 

rocket

Hall of Fame
From Federer: "...And that I did it on clay, with my too small, too heavy, too hard to swing, too flexy, poorly strung, antiquated, only for posers frame?? And that it was windy, sunny, and the clay was throwing me all kinds of weird bounces, not to mention his ridiculous lefty spin??"

CC, next time we reply to the Federer guy, can you ask him not to rack up so many ATP points with his poser's frame? Those points are meaningless to us, they're just a number, that many of us here will never know what it takes to earn ONE POINT in our lifetimes anyway.

Oh and, tell him to visit TW boards more often to learn one or two things about strategies, now that he's without a coach...
 
Nobody ever suggested that he should use an oversize frame. Many people think that because of his frequent UE, specially on clay, giving how a talented player he is, maybe a 95 would marginally help him in reduce its number.
95 inches is a headsize that is used for almost any other pro. Is it so crazy to think he can use it, and actually get some benefits of it?.

The SW2: I doubt pros use that name for their customizations, but I´ll bet almost no one uses the same weight of a frame that I can buy on a store. They (the pros) are different to us, and they can handle heavier frames and usually do.

Mirka; She is fat. And it is a shame because she was very cute not long ago. But you are right: Who cares?.

Roger won a great match, in a great way. But not everything changes because of that. ;)
 

jaykay

Professional
Craig: That was BRILLIANT; absolutely BRILLIANT. I did like your post (letter to Roger) more than your counter-post (response from Roger). Superb satire. Nice comment, Drakulie. :D

Enjoyed it... thanks.
 

a guy

Banned
Dear Roger,

As a group of dedicated tennis fans, we can no longer hold our tongues. After numerous discussions from the comfort of our keyboards here in cyberspace, we have decided to speak, and to speak candidly. You are too important a figure in tennis history for us to dishonor you with anything less.

While you are clearly enormously talented, a number of highly conspicuous (to us) issues seem to be hindering your (at one time seemingly inevitable) march to occupy the Exhalted Throne of 'G.O.A.T.' (that's short for 'Greatest of All Time' Roger, in case you spend more time practicing tennis than reading internet message boards) We shall attempt to catalogue them here, along with a brief consensus recommendation with regard to how the problem(s) may be best and most expediently resolved:

First, you are plainly wearing the wrong tennis shirt. Ever since you began wearing that red shirt w/ blue-ish green stripes your forehand has been a mess. Surely a man of your influence with Nike (not to mention personal resources) can obtain some more comely garb, yes? Our consensus: drop the shirt. Perhaps something sleeveless?

Second, your tennis frame is wholly inappropriate. It's head is too small, it weighs too much, it has too high a swingweight, and is painted in a ghastly hodge-podge of colors. The latter fact is probably distracting you during your swing, accounting for your recent struggles (please note that herein the term 'struggle' will refer to any and all matches not one in straight sets and in a totally dominating way) Further, no one else in the modern game (at least that we can think of off hand) plays at the ATP level with such a dated tool. We speculate, though we have no proof, (is there a theme?) it to likely be strung with an inappropriate mixture of materials at some ridiculously low tension. Roger, truly!! No wonder you are shanking so many balls and flying more than the Wright Brothers! Our Consensus: change immediately to a Gamma Big Bubba mold. Wilson can undoubtedly 'nCode or KFactor' it for you on demand, and given the larger string bed that big red 'W' should be visible even from the last row at Flushing Meadows!! But remember (and here's the top secret, TW only part) be sure it is weighted to SW 2. Don't worry, the folks at **** or Bosworth can help if you have no idea what that is.

Third, your girlfriend is fugly. Face it Rog, you never show her any affection and even by Central European standards she could stand to drop a few. We are totally OK with it if in fact you are living an alternative lifestyle, but do us all a favor and start dating some super-model, OK? I mean do you have ANY idea how much TV time your box gets in any given match?? Cut us a break. Our consensus: your course of action here should be self evident, don't make us humiliate you by spelling it out!!

Sincerely,

The Many Tennis Fans of TW Talk Tennis

Get over yourself mate. Roger doesn't come on these boards to read posts by pathetic little pubes like yourself.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Nobody ever suggested that he should use an oversize frame. Many people think that because of his frequent UE, specially on clay, giving how a talented player he is, maybe a 95 would marginally help him in reduce its number.
95 inches is a headsize that is used for almost any other pro. Is it so crazy to think he can use it, and actually get some benefits of it?.

Of course it is not. In fact, it is crazy to think otherwise, that somehow Federer is immune to racquet issues which affect other top pros. After all, even the great Sampras who is worshipped by the PS 85 users abandoned them! To add insult to injury, he said how much better the bigger head is! Some posters here never recovered from that and will need therapy.

Someone mentioned Sampras, Federer, Borg and Laver using 90 or less sticks. It is an opportunistic mixing of wood and modern eras. 3 of them have not won all the Slams. The only modern man to win all 4 Slams on all modern surfaces is Agassi, who used an oversize! So, yes, if Agassi with one of the best hand-eye coordinations ever used an OS, what about the low-level posters on this board? Oh, he won the Olympic Gold too!

Just yesterday I was at the club and saw a well-built elderly gentleman hitting with a partner. His strokes were fluid and had fantastic form and I could just tell this was not the average club Joe. I asked around, and turns out he was on the tour in his youth! Guess what racquet he was using? The NCode 95.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Get over yourself mate. Roger doesn't come on these boards to read posts by pathetic little pubes like yourself.

You are actually praising CC, do you understand ?! The posts are that convincing. Though the Roger letter mentioning K90 as "too flexy" kind of detracted from the sarcasm.
 

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
Nobody ever suggested that he should use an oversize frame. Many people think that because of his frequent UE, specially on clay, giving how a talented player he is, maybe a 95 would marginally help him in reduce its number.
95 inches is a headsize that is used for almost any other pro. Is it so crazy to think he can use it, and actually get some benefits of it?.

The SW2: I doubt pros use that name for their customizations, but I´ll bet almost no one uses the same weight of a frame that I can buy on a store. They (the pros) are different to us, and they can handle heavier frames and usually do.

Mirka; She is fat. And it is a shame because she was very cute not long ago. But you are right: Who cares?.

Roger won a great match, in a great way. But not everything changes because of that. ;)

nice post..and precisely describes how things are i think

if/when Fed does switch to a larger headed frame, i think some TW posters will start bleeding from their ears ;)
 

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
The only modern man to win all 4 Slams on all modern surfaces is Agassi, who used an oversize! So, yes, if Agassi with one of the best hand-eye coordinations ever used an OS, what about the low-level posters on this board? Oh, he won the Olympic Gold too!

Agassi went the opposite way of what you argue>>> he wen't to a smaller frame in his last few years. Bye, bye.

PS:
Sampras while on tour always played with an 85.

PSS:
The other day I hit with an ex davis Cup player from Russia>>> he was hitting with a Prestige Classic. Bye, bye.

PSSS:
A few weeks ago I hit with a pro who was in the top 50?? in the early 70's. Oh yeah, did I mention he hit was hitting with a Max 200 G??
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Agassi's smaller frame was a 103 instead of a 107. Anyway, none of the 85 and 90 guys won all the Slams while Agassi did. Sampras never even made it to the finals of the French. After retirement, he talked about how he could have won it if he had gone for a bigger racquet but he was too afraid to switch.

Federer should not be in that position a few years from now.
 
Nobody ever suggested that he should use an oversize frame. Many people think that because of his frequent UE, specially on clay, giving how a talented player he is, maybe a 95 would marginally help him in reduce its number.
95 inches is a headsize that is used for almost any other pro. Is it so crazy to think he can use it, and actually get some benefits of it?.

The SW2: I doubt pros use that name for their customizations, but I´ll bet almost no one uses the same weight of a frame that I can buy on a store. They (the pros) are different to us, and they can handle heavier frames and usually do.

Mirka; She is fat. And it is a shame because she was very cute not long ago. But you are right: Who cares?.

Roger won a great match, in a great way. But not everything changes because of that. ;)


Please allow me to clarify/explain:

This post is NOT about the size of tennis frames, nor their relative benefits and drawbacks. ;)

Best,

CC
 

a guy

Banned
Was there any need for the comment on Mirka though? What if she actually visited this thread and logged off crying? How could you live with yourself
 
Top