prostaff18
Semi-Pro
I wanted to start this thread to get a discussion about the different pressures that the players over the years have faced.
I think that Federer is facing a different kind of pressure than everyone before him. Everyone says that Fed has to deal with the pressure of being number one in the world. He is past this pressure. He is now dealing with the pressure of history. He is passed the pressure of being number one. He is now under the pressure of being compared to the greats. He is being compared to Laver, Sampras, Tilden, and the many other greats to play the game. He is making history with every match. I think that most of the pressure he puts on himself because he respects the history of the game so well and he realizes what he is doing.
Laver was writing the history book. When he was making history the pages were somewhat blank. What I mean by this is that tennis was going through changes when he was doing what he was doing. Laver also had some very good competition. Think of the all-time greats to play the game and how many came from his era. If you compare that to Fed's era really thus far only one name comes to mind and that is Nadal. You could argue Hewitt and in five years Djokovic's name will probably be there. Laver was not only competing against history but against some of the greatest of all time. I think that this kept him sharp. I think that Sampras was the same way. He had many great players in his era. Also I think that Sampras was never really so far out in front of the field like Fed was. Fed, up until lately, has been so far in front of the competition that he didn't really have to think about his competition much. Sure he had to think about Nadal, and I think that when he was thinking about Nadal he played his best tennis. I think that until Fed can learn to deal with this new pressure he will continue to play poor tennis. By saying this I'm not trying to take anything away from what Djokovic has done lately. But if you watch how Fed is playing now and how he played when he was winning everything you can see that he is playing different. He just doesn't look as loose to me.
What do you think? What do you think about the pressure that Fed faces and the way he handles it? How do you compare it to the pressure the players in the past faced and the way that they handled it?
I think that Federer is facing a different kind of pressure than everyone before him. Everyone says that Fed has to deal with the pressure of being number one in the world. He is past this pressure. He is now dealing with the pressure of history. He is passed the pressure of being number one. He is now under the pressure of being compared to the greats. He is being compared to Laver, Sampras, Tilden, and the many other greats to play the game. He is making history with every match. I think that most of the pressure he puts on himself because he respects the history of the game so well and he realizes what he is doing.
Laver was writing the history book. When he was making history the pages were somewhat blank. What I mean by this is that tennis was going through changes when he was doing what he was doing. Laver also had some very good competition. Think of the all-time greats to play the game and how many came from his era. If you compare that to Fed's era really thus far only one name comes to mind and that is Nadal. You could argue Hewitt and in five years Djokovic's name will probably be there. Laver was not only competing against history but against some of the greatest of all time. I think that this kept him sharp. I think that Sampras was the same way. He had many great players in his era. Also I think that Sampras was never really so far out in front of the field like Fed was. Fed, up until lately, has been so far in front of the competition that he didn't really have to think about his competition much. Sure he had to think about Nadal, and I think that when he was thinking about Nadal he played his best tennis. I think that until Fed can learn to deal with this new pressure he will continue to play poor tennis. By saying this I'm not trying to take anything away from what Djokovic has done lately. But if you watch how Fed is playing now and how he played when he was winning everything you can see that he is playing different. He just doesn't look as loose to me.
What do you think? What do you think about the pressure that Fed faces and the way he handles it? How do you compare it to the pressure the players in the past faced and the way that they handled it?
