Federer: My priorities for 2005

[david aames]

"My priorities now are to defend my Wimbledon title and to defend my No. 1 ranking. That's what I'm aiming for."

I sort of blinked when I heard that during his post-match interview yesterday. It looks to me like he has much more to defend in Melbourne or even New York. And forget Paris!?...

A way to acknowledge that he is going right after Sampras' record?

 

[rafael]

Come on of course he is going for the grand slam. The guy is modest, the things he mentioned are the obvious ones. wimbledon is his favorite tournament and holding No. 1 ranking is above all the most important thing to him, which he has stated several times.

 

[Dirky]

Rogi tries to win every event he enters. He knows that the more titles he defends and the less points he loses the better his chances are to maintain his number one ranking. Rafael is right, Rogi is just being modest.

 

[NoBadMojo]

interesting david. i wouldnt make much of this. maybe just something said w.o time for real thought. i'm sure fed would love to win the french, since not so many have won all the majours, and fed is often compared to samps who never won it, and i am sure he would love to win the us open again. off topic, but i would love to see them quicken the conditions at the french, so more players might have the chance to win, and to make the play less boring. they did it a wimby by making the courts slower and higher bounding which definitely helps many of the whining spaniards and other claycourters

 

[Metzler]

Fed fibbed about caring about the Olympics in '04, why tell your opposition what's coming?
French is only interest for year 2005, he'll go for the slam in 2006.

 

[alienhamster]

but i would love to see them quicken the conditions at the french, so more players might have the chance to win, and to make the play less boring. they did it a wimby by making the courts slower and higher bounding which definitely helps many of the whining spaniards and other claycourters

I kinda agree with you there, NoBadMojo. I'm annoyed at how the tour seems to be perfectly fine with adapting surfaces that formerly favored big servers but not speed up the surfaces that favor slow dirt ballers. Even if they sped Roland Garros up a bit more--made it more like , say, Rome--it would be a more competitive surface for Roddick, Federer, the Australians and other Americans. Either moderate both grass and clay at the majors, or else leave them both alone so they can more properly be the "extreme" surfaces.

And yeah, I think Fed is playing down the French so he doesn't build his expectations up too high too soon. But he'll make the lifetime slam as soon as he wins it, so of course it's a prime goal for him.

 

[davey25]

I think Roger knows he likely will win the grand slam next year. It just isnt neccessary to brag about it.

 

[The tennis guy]

but i would love to see them quicken the conditions at the french, so more players might have the chance to win, and to make the play less boring. they did it a wimby by making the courts slower and higher bounding which definitely helps many of the whining spaniards and other claycourters

I kinda agree with you there, NoBadMojo. I'm annoyed at how the tour seems to be perfectly fine with adapting surfaces that formerly favored big servers but not speed up the surfaces that favor slow dirt ballers. Even if they sped Roland Garros up a bit more--made it more like , say, Rome--it would be a more competitive surface for Roddick, Federer, the Australians and other Americans. Either moderate both grass and clay at the majors, or else leave them both alone so they can more properly be the "extreme" surfaces.

And yeah, I think Fed is playing down the French so he doesn't build his expectations up too high too soon. But he'll make the lifetime slam as soon as he wins it, so of course it's a prime goal for him.

French open is already the fastest clay court tournament in the world. The condition becomes quicker if the weather is warmer and drier, which no one has control of it.

 

[@wright]

I was a little dissappointed when I first heard him say this, but the other replies have made good points. He said a month or two ago that RG is a major priority for him next year, and why shouldn't it be? He has the weapons to beat the best clay courters in the world here, and he has won big clay titles before, hell, he grew up playing on clay...I would rather see him win RG next year than win wimbly again. That said, I think it's easy to see that he will do his best and see what he's won at the end of the year. That's really all anyone can do. You can prepare more for certain tournaments, but Federer plays a smart schedule and takes a few tournies off to prepare for the ones he really wants. I can't wait to see what he can do in '05.

 

[NoBadMojo]

tennisguy somehow knows that the french open has the fastest clay surface of any tourney in the world? that's pretty funny..i wonder how he knows this to be true?. he must somehow have some technical info on the speed of every clay court tourney in the world. he evidently doesnt know that har tru is faster than red clay..he also doesnt seem to know that you can speed up the conditions of clay courts by watering less and rolling more which has very litle to do with weather. absurd.

 

[Brettolius]

ed's out here bustin' some balls lately!! watch your backs!! but i'm with ya' on pretty much all your points ed, you pretty much know your stuff. you have just been bringing the facetious thunder lately, and i like it! just don't smack me with it... btw, the t-10's are BUTTA!!

 

[PJVA]

i wouldnt make much of this. maybe just something said w.o time for real thought.

He has had plenty of time to think about the answer because he's been asked that almost every time he gets interviewed. I think that he was just saying what his very top priority was....which makes sense. Grass is his favorites surface and Wimby is his dream tournament. He no doubt would like to have a string of Wimby wins just like Pete.

I think his secondary priorities would be to defend the rest of his titles, and his third priority would be to try to win the FO. He states that winning the FO would be very difficult for him. He seems to like a challange so I would bet he's working on it secretly but to state openly that he really really whats to win the FO this year would not be smart. It would just put a little extra pressure on himself that he doesn't need. It's better to sound casual and give himself an out if he looses early.

 

[NoBadMojo]

bretttolius some posters just like to argue for the sake or argument and often do so with non relevant or completely wrong info..it's actually pretty funny they feel the need to bust my chops. it;s kind of fun to have a healthy discussion with people that know what they are talking about, but some of this stuff is just ridiculous....thanks for the props by the way..exceeding rare on the tw board. i've been involved in tennis for a long time at all kinds of different capacities..i'm not a poster that just makes stuff up.. i try and do thoughtful respectful posts but plenty of people dont seem to like that and are compelled to come back at me with a bunch of really non sensical crap, and then they turn it into a personal attack and they insult me or follow me around the board to snipe me..it's pretty dysfunctional and pathetic.....and a definite pattern..they dont seem to know that it is actually a reflection on themselves and really doesnt matter to me. thanks again for the nice words and i agree about the t10mp's.....happy thanksgiving. ed

 

[mlee2]

tennisguy somehow knows that the french open has the fastest clay surface of any tourney in the world? that's pretty funny..i wonder how he knows this to be true?. he must somehow have some technical info on the speed of every clay court tourney in the world. he evidently doesnt know that har tru is faster than red clay..he also doesnt seem to know that you can speed up the conditions of clay courts by watering less and rolling more which has very litle to do with weather. absurd.

I generally agree with your comment but RG is a really huge venue (read: exception to your rule) and not your typical club courts. I would imagine that an event as big as RG has set standards and rules to WHEN you can water a court.

If the weather is hotter than usual, that's tough luck. The organizers can't water the courts for the sake of keeping things slow. These guys do it on a set schedule, regardless on how crazy (or not crazy) the weather is. And it DOES get really hot sometimes. Ask Sampras.

 

[NoBadMojo]

absurd post mlee...good work...not even worth a retort

 

[mlee2]

takes one to know one...na na ni boo boo