Federer Fans: Is now the official beginning of the end?

Fabresque

Legend
Today’s final was nothing short of a fantastic Djokovic display. Scintillatingly dispatching Roger in straight sets, was never in doubt in my opinion.

As for Roger, hard to take any positives out of today other than his serve. Poor on groundstrokes and most of the time wasn’t clinical enough on volleys.

I ask you, Federer fans, is he finished? Is this the beginning of the end for Roger Federer? It’s been said numerous times over and over, and he proved everyone wrong. But this was his pet masters, as Wimbledon was also his pet slam. He’s now lost both of them, to Djokovic (well, he lost to Anderson at Wimbledon but still).

At the age of 37, is this finally going to be it for Roger Federer?
 

Rabin

Professional
Nah. He had an off day at the office. Bound to happen at 37. He'll be back. Grand Slams are probably easier for him now given the extra day of rest in between matches. One favorable draw and he's all set to frustrate me as a Rafa fan once again.
 
The beginning of the end was at birth

What it is... is a continuation of the pattern for the last year and a half where there is a really off day. Used to be no off days. Now there are days where he hits 30% of second serves in the court
 
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Deleted member 756486

Guest
I will never count Roger Federer out as long as he’s playing.

Terrible match today. Probably his worst all year but it’s not wise to doubt the GOAT.
 

mrravioli

Semi-Pro
He has gone downhill from later part of last year. AO 18 somehow made the illusion that he keeps playing like he did in early 17.

OTOH he still beats most top 10's easily, and AO just showed it's still possible for him to win slams even with the worse form (by his standard). After all Rafa and Nole are also not as dominant as they were. But yes, it only gets harder and harder with time.
 
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malbaker86

Hall of Fame
He plays so great that you lose grip of reality and forget that he's 37.

Ill never count him out until he retires
 

jimjam

Professional
His consistency dropped somewhere between the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018. Hard to tell whether he can pick it back up. I guess it’s unlikely.

On the plus side, he can still serve his way deep into any draw so even if he doesn’t rediscover his ground strokes we could see him snatch a couple more big tournaments.
 

Terry Tibbs

Hall of Fame
I believe so yes. I felt that the Australian Open was somewhat gifted to him without him having to play that well. Nobody challenged him apart from Cilic. It's really been downhill after that. Yet another choke in the Indian Wells final. Serving for it and choking it away after having match points. Then dumped out of Miami in first round. A decent Stuttgart showing albeit against average opposition but then more poor showings at Halle and losing another final. And then there was Wimbledon. Shocking loss against Anderson again from a winning position being 2 sets up. And now this truly awful display. Lets face it, most of us didn't truely believe he would add to his 17 slams but he has somehow reached 20. I just can't see him adding any more now though. It's also highly likely now that he will finish his career with losing head to head records against his 2 main rivals.
 

clout

Hall of Fame
I'm never counting any of Fedalovic out until they officially retire after what we've seen from them the past couple years now. I feel like we all take someone like Federer for granted since we always expect him to do nothing but win. And because of that it's easy to forget that the guy's 37 now and not 27. Plus, he got beat by the better player today.
 

mistik

Hall of Fame
The reality is both Rafa and Roger benefited from Djokovic decline. Fed even more because Djokovic can easily beat Fed in AO and Wimbledon as well on a decent form.He only beat Mug Rafa on RG in 2015.
 
His consistency dropped somewhere between the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018. Hard to tell whether he can pick it back up. I guess it’s unlikely.

On the plus side, he can still serve his way deep into any draw so even if he doesn’t rediscover his ground strokes we could see him snatch a couple more big tournaments.

His consistency dropped when he rightfully backed off the gas

I think he was shocked to win the Australian this year (not to mention two slams in 2017).

Without any info at all I would guess he his only playing as much as he is right now because he sort of fell into #2 as default worst. Why retire.

Do think he is spending more of his time not with tennis
 

dunlop_fort_knox

Professional
you're nuts. the fed faithful vehemently disagree your assessment. in fact, they would argue, he is just entering his prime and will win master's shields and Grand Slams well into his 50s.
 
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ik_ben_groot

Guest
Unfortunately I think so. His form this year hasn't been great imo
 

Soul_Evisceration

Hall of Fame
Unfortunately, I will also go with a Yes as well.

The Kokkinakis at Miami, Anderson at Wimbledon and this match showed me that these instances will happen more and more frequently and I have accepted that.

@BeatlesFan said yesterday that Federer seems more interested in being a family man and less about tennis speaks about what he feels about the game right now.
 

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
He still will have chances on favorable surfaces but right now it looks like he's lost his fastball.
 
Has nothing to do with age.
I am 46 and can run circles around most 40 year olds...

At least this proves that Federer beating Andre was not weak era

Although I contest the validity of a 6 year spread not mattering when the elder is at the top line age in the sport history. Simply being good let alone hovering #1 and #2 is not proof that age is not relevant
 

dr325i

G.O.A.T.
To be fair, the 40 year olds you compete against are plumbers with iffy backs and stenographers with carpel tunnel syndrome.
Actually, they play open tournaments and I hit a few times per month against the former (2011) 110 ATP...
So...I disagree
Of course, not talking pro level, however, none of them will either at 46
 
There's life in the old dog yet. I think he has a slam final or two left in the tank, and if the other two get injured or suffer an early exit-who knows!
 

dr325i

G.O.A.T.
At least this proves that Federer beating Andre was not weak era

Although I contest the validity of a 6 year spread not mattering when the elder is at the top line age in the sport history. Simply being good let alone hovering #1 and #2 is not proof that age is not relevant
It is Federer!
The guy has genes that we all wish we had.
That is why he is where he is.
Others, including Rafa and Novak will be long retired at 37
Roger is special
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Nah. He had an off day at the office.

Roger has had an "off day at the office" in every match he's played in 2018. He's not approached his 2004-2007 level since the Shanghai final in 2017. No confidence, no aggression, no SABR, no #99. It'll come... but he's reverted back to 2015 tentativeness. Sad for this.
 

zep

Hall of Fame
Roger has had an "off day at the office" in every match he's played in 2018. He's not approached his 2004-2007 level since the Shanghai final in 2017. No confidence, no aggression, no SABR, no #99. It'll come... but he's reverted back to 2015 tentativeness. Sad for this.

Do you expect him to keep playing at his top level forever? I mean at what age do you think he should slow down? I am sure 5 years ago you would have laughed at the suggestion of him still playing at 37, much less winning. Keep that in perspective.
 

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Do you expect him to keep playing at his top level forever? I mean at what age do you think he should slow down? I am sure 5 years ago you would have laughed at the suggestion of him still playing at 37, much less winning. Keep that in perspective.
Ehmmm that's exactly what we're talking about. This time has come.
 
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Deleted member 688153

Guest
I suspect it is unfortunately.
But the writing was already on the wall. Today was just the latest supporting data point.

That doesn't mean I think he should retire or anything. Even if he never wins anything again.
And he still could. Remember we were laughing at the idea of Djoker winning things again just a few months ago.
 

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Nah. He had an off day at the office. Bound to happen at 37. He'll be back. Grand Slams are probably easier for him now given the extra day of rest in between matches. One favorable draw and he's all set to frustrate me as a Rafa fan once again.
Too many this year. It's a clear pattern. He hasn't had one good day at the office in a big tournament since the AO this year.
 

Jaitock1991

Hall of Fame
The beginning of the end was at birth

What it is... is a continuation of the pattern for the last year and a half where there is a really off day. Used to be no off days. Now there are days where he hits 30% of second serves in the court

And also about 30 % of his groundstrokes.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
@BeatlesFan said yesterday that Federer seems more interested in being a family man and less about tennis speaks about what he feels about the game right now.
That's just one person's opinion. I have been wrong a ton of times: I thought Roger was done winning slams after Wimbledon 2012, AO 2017, Wimbledon 2017 and AO 2018. I thought Novak was done and would never win another major. Hell, I thought Lendl would win 13 slams instead of 8.

Roger is just AWOL physically and mentally. And no matter what anyone says, he weighs more now than he ever has as a professional tennis player. These signs of him pulling back emotionally from the sport were evident last summer when he said (pre-back injury), "I don't think it's realistic for a 36 year old to be the favorite for the USO. I don't think it's possible."

What professional athlete short changes themselves to that extent? He's clearly transitioning to his post-tennis life and that's OK and to be expected.
 
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