Fed skipping the clay season....

[smoledman]

Obviously his goal is to be 100% fresh for the grass season and peak for Wimbledon. When is the last time you had a GOAT-level player strategically skip either the clay/grass to peak for the other surface? This hasn't happened since Sampras' semi-tanking on clay in the late 1990s when it was all about Wimbledon for him.

Federer has honorably put 100% effort on clay through 2015, making 5 RG finals(2006-2009, 2011). Hell he even made the 2013 & 2015 Roma finals as well 2014 Monte Carlo final, proving that it wasn't all about RG for him in recent times.

I wouldn't dismiss what Del Potro said about this:

http://www.**************.org/news/...-to-be-tough-to-beat-roger-federer-on-grass-/

'If you had the ranking to do that and you have the game to quit some tournaments and then come back and keep winning the tournament, it's a good decision. Roger is very smart. His team are smart. For sure, it's going to be difficult for us to beat Roger on grass court because he's going to be in good shape, he's going to be free mentally, and I think he's doing in good way his career at this time.'

I think you can't underestimate how dangerous Fed is going to be at Wimbledon this year having won #18 earlier. Before, if he was chasing #18 at Wimbledon it would have put HUGE pressure and he probably would have failed again. Now he's playing with house money like in Palm Springs & Miami earlier this year. You saw what he did in Indian Wells to Nadal when Fed is in 'house money' mode.

Roger Federer is your 2017 Wimbledon champion. It's a done deal.

 

[MasturB]

Zverev could do some damage at Wimby this year if his confidence continues to go up.

 

[smoledman]

Zverev could do some damage at Wimby this year if his confidence continues to go up.

Yeah I actually would be afraid of Sascha simply because this guy doesn't know what fear is yet.

 

[MasturB]

Yeah I actually would be afraid of Sascha simply because this guy doesn't know what fear is yet.

I honestly would say right now Kyrgios and Sasch would scare me the most at Wimby. Not any of the other Big 5

 

[Waspsting]

I like your analysis but don't entirely agree with it

I agree with you about how dangerous Federer is when he's mentally free... but I suspect his early season success has changed that.

By winning everything worth winning in the early season, I'd think the pressure of expectation has likely returned

I'm thinking of self-expectation here more than any other kind

And by skipping French, pressure for Wimbledon has gone up still more... would he have skipped if he didn't feel strongly that he could take Wimby?

Pressure or not, he has good chances at Wimbledon, and like you, I have him as favourite. .. though not to the degree you do

And funnily enough, I think the adjustments he's made to his game improves his chances at US open and fast hard courts in general more than it does Wimbledon and grass

Reality is, he never stopped being on the shortlist of possible Wimbledon champions - though it's even shorter now

 

[KINGROGER]

I like your analysis but don't entirely agree with it

I agree with you about how dangerous Federer is when he's mentally free... but I suspect his early season success has changed that.

By winning everything worth winning in the early season, I'd think the pressure of expectation has likely returned

I'm thinking of self-expectation here more than any other kind

And by skipping French, pressure for Wimbledon has gone up still more... would he have skipped if he didn't feel strongly that he could take Wimby?

Pressure or not, he has good chances at Wimbledon, and like you, I have him as favourite. .. though not to the degree you do

And funnily enough, I think the adjustments he's made to his game improves his chances at US open and fast hard courts in general more than it does Wimbledon and grass

Reality is, he never stopped being on the shortlist of possible Wimbledon champions - though it's even shorter now

Totally agree regarding USO. In theory, he should play as awesome as he did at AO but even better on the faster courts.

On grass, his return hasn't been as good for years for whatever reason. I'm still stoked to see how his aggressive game translates to the grass though and if he can avoid becoming too passive like he did vs Djokovic in those finals.

 

[Standaa]

Zverev could do some damage at Wimby this year if his confidence continues to go up.

Oh I think that right now his problem might be too much confidence..