Fed fans, what do you think of Fed’s current form?

As good as last year, better or worse?

  • Better

  • Same

  • Worse


Results are only viewable after voting.

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
To me RF at this point is a celebrity that also happens to be an exceptionally gifted tennis player. While that’ll get him deep into tournaments, it won’t get him through the challenging circumstances.

Great analysis. Brad Gilbert last night during the Fed-Stanimal match alluded to this. He was sort of joking but said something like, "if Roger can tear himself away from the endless Vogue photo shoots and Uniqlo commitments, maybe he can find a few hours to practice."
 
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Deleted member 733170

Guest
Great analysis. Brad Gilbert last night during the Fed-Stanimal matc alluded to this. He was sort of joking but said something like, "if Roger can tear himself away from the endless Vogue photo shoots and Uniqlo commitments, maybe he can find a few hours to practice."

Sounds like a bit of envy from Brad!

Though according to what passes as wisdom in these parts, his great age must prevent from practicing too much.
 

GoldenSwing

Rookie
Backhand still looks solid as hell..

The rest of the game is lagging behind a little, but thats only because Federer is really selective with his playing time now.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
It’s vexing seeing his mental issues. The grumpiness, the lack of aggression in critical moments, and yeah, this year, lack of competitive fire.

More great analysis. I follow the Swiss press regularly in order to get Roger info, and one thing that's clear is that his kids are a really big deal for him. It seems like is competitive fire has really waned in the past year and been replaced with a quiet appreciation of sitting back and watching his kids grow and change. There's lots of pics of him walking around town with the twins (usually the boys), the kids being at his practices and just being extremely important to him.

Maybe he's mentally transitioning to leave the game in 2020 and just isn't as committed anymore. It seems also the losses don't bother him even to a minimal degree anymore. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.
 

merwy

G.O.A.T.
Compared to last year when?
Compared to last year Cincinnati: He didn't play, so hard to compare..
Compared to last year after the back injury: he was terrible then so I think he's playing better now
Compared to last year before the back injury: he was playing some of his best tennis, so he's playing worse now
 

True Fanerer

G.O.A.T.
Nadal-Fognini H2H is 11-3. What's your problem? Ignorance?
H2H at UO:

FOG - 1

NADAL - 0

Mike-Tyson-clapping-and-laughing.gif
 

Steve0904

Talk Tennis Guru
To give a real answer, I'm not too impressed and don't expect a USO win though I still count him as among the favourites (a QF or SF run maybe, but not a win). The courts don't favour him there anymore, and his return game is getting progressively worse. He seems to have trouble breaking any decent opponent he plays these days, which I don't think was the case when he was healthy in 2017. His misses are seemingly getting worse and worse too (like the dumped volley and the missed swinging volley to go down 4-1 against Wawrinka in the first set TB). He's always had some head scratchers the past few years, but those were really bad, and in a TB too.
 

jklos

Professional
More great analysis. I follow the Swiss press regularly in order to get Roger info, and one thing that's clear is that his kids are a really big deal for him. It seems like is competitive fire has really waned in the past year and been replaced with a quiet appreciation of sitting back and watching his kids grow and change. There's lots of pics of him walking around town with the twins (usually the boys), the kids being at his practices and just being extremely important to him.

Maybe he's mentally transitioning to leave the game in 2020 and just isn't as committed anymore. It seems also the losses don't bother him even to a minimal degree anymore. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.
Maybe a loss to Novak or Nadal is what he needs to light the fire again. I hope so because it doesn’t seem to be there.
 

Badabing888

Hall of Fame
His play is around 6.5/10 for me atm. He’ll always have the serve, but his return game is not there compared to 2017 when he was back to around 8.5 or 9 by his standards. Agree that the hunger might not be there and that is natural and his priorities are now his family and just staying healthy. It’s us Fed fans getting nervous with Rafa breathing down his neck and getting closer to 20.

As Beatlesfan points out the competitive fire is not burning quite as brightly atm. It’s that competitive fire that really binds his game together, so when it all comes together it’s like a symphony.

I think Fed himself is just fine with how he is going atm.
 
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Mainad

Bionic Poster
Not as impressed as I was last year. What's happened to that fiercesome new backhand he developed? He seems to have regressed to chipping it back into play like he used to do. He's going to find it tough going against Djokovic tonight if he doesn't start to hit it like he did in 2017!
 
Imho he is attempting to conserve his body and unfortunately looks to not have enough match play. I don't think the actual schedule is horrible, however early losses have also compounded the problem. I don't think you can lay so little tennis and continue to be at the top for long. Hopefully he decides to play a few tournaments more next year.
 

Rhino

Legend
His form could be better but I still think he can win this final. It's a very successful event for him; he has held serve 97 times in a row there and counting.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Not as impressed as I was last year. What's happened to that fiercesome new backhand he developed? He seems to have regressed to chipping it back into play like he used to do. He's going to find it tough going against Djokovic tonight if he doesn't start to hit it like he did in 2017!
100% agree with you, Mainad. A Murray fan can be more objective about Fed than many Fed fans can be. :) Fed's BH has been abysmal all year except at the AO and Rotterdam. His BH showed signs of brilliance at Stuttgart, but hasn't been seen since. If Roger plays as he did against Stan and Goffin, he loses easily to Djokovic today.
 

prairiegirl

Hall of Fame
He's a great player and champion, but his best days are behind him. Nothing wrong with that. We've been blessed to have him.
 

flanker2000fr

Hall of Fame
Yeah. I am talking about THE NEO BH. Have you seen it lately? Have you seen it since Shanghai last year?
If yes then tell me. I am more than happy to change my opinion on this one. Afterall I want Rog to win.
And please don't give me 5 shots in a match. He was hitting 5 of such BHs in a rally in early 2017.

It's not the "Neo BH is dead" that I took exception with. It's the "Never to come back" part. I thought this was clear enough from my comment, but obviously not.
 

ak24alive

Legend
It's not the "Neo BH is dead" that I took exception with. It's the "Never to come back" part. I thought this was clear enough from my comment, but obviously not.
Yeah so what makes you think that it will come back? I took a year to conclude that it's not coming back.
It was something that he discovered. Had great results with it and then all of a sudden it was gone. There is no sign of it coming back.
Hopefully it does though.
 

FHtennisman

Professional
Yeah so what makes you think that it will come back? I took a year to conclude that it's not coming back.
It was something that he discovered. Had great results with it and then all of a sudden it was gone. There is no sign of it coming back.
Hopefully it does though.

It isn't such that the BH has disappeared and he's randomly started playing defensively or whenever he tries to attack he's shanking shots all over the court, he's not able to make the shots he was making in 2017 because of his slower footwork and the fact that his serve goes AWOL when playing the big points.

His footwork is off by some margin and at the elite level, that's enough for opponents to go from defence to attack - whether that's due to slower reflexes, age, weight gain or simply not having the same motivation, we can't pinpoint it tbh. He's also missing shots when he's in the correct position (I.e., easy FH put-aways), maybe there's something wrong with his stroke mechanics? I'm no tennis coach so maybe someone like @MasturB can chime in as to what's wrong technically with Roger.
 
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