Federer wins the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the 11th time

uliks said:
This era is the biggest joke ever. All this so called tough opposition of peak Fed (Blake, Gonzalez, Bagdhatis, Hewitt) was first exposed and then heavily dominated in the later years by the new teen generation of Nadal,Djokovic and Murray. How some Federer fans can say with a straight face that 2004-07 is not a joke era is really beyond me...
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How anybody can say with a straight face that 2014-2015 isn't the weakest era ever is a total mystery to mankind.
 
A teenage Nole got hammered by an injury riddled Hewitt. Some great domination right there.
 
RF20Lennon said:
Yeah I agree with all of that except I don't get why he would be embarrassed.
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Because whether intentional or not (most likely not), Federer winning 11 times is making a mockery of the award, of the tour and this perverted notion of sportsmanship. No one here claims that Federer is unsportsmanlike, but there comes a point where you can no longer deny the ridiculous. And winning 11 times in 12 years is inane and has become trite and meaningless. Does anyone actually believe this is based on an exclusive criteria of sportsmanship? Is Federer in such a league of his own, or the rest of the tour so bogged down in pettiness, gamesmanship and ill-repute that there is not a single person besides Nadal that could have been considered the best sportsman in any season?

Frankly, this award has now become utterly pointless and, yes, embarrassing. Embarrassing for Federer and the silly people who gave him this award.
 
uliks said:
What is the H2H after that match in 2006... How many wins for almighty Hewitt against Nole since then...
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He nearly beat him as a 33 year old.


Or how about him taking a set off "unstoppable" Djoker at the AO the same year?







roflpuke2.gif
 
Let us play this for a second.. Obviously anyone not in top 8 is not really a contender as they are not playing high stake matches on a routine basis. It is easy to be a Smyzcek for 1 day. It is tough to be a Fed for a year.

Start with
- Novak : Ball girls are terrified
- Rafa : Time abuse, On court coaching, etc
- Murray : Mouths abuses every time
- Stan : We can give him a chance, but he plays like 4 tournaments good out of 20
- Berdych : Too biased towards Rafa, cannot be objective.
- Ferrer : Pushes Umpires
- Nishikori : When not injured, he is respectful.
 
Sabratha said:
He nearly beat him as a 33 year old.


Or how about him taking a set off "unstoppable" Djoker at the AO the same year?







roflpuke2.gif
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Nearly, if, taking one set or a game... Just hide yourself man in some corner. You're defending something that can not be defended. The truth is that Hewitt and all this mighty players from the so called Fed era, were being trashed by the new generation from the get-go...
 
tennisaddict said:
Let us play this for a second.. Obviously anyone not in top 8 is not really a contender as they are not playing high stake matches on a routine basis. It is easy to be a Smyzcek for 1 day. It is tough to be a Fed for a year.
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I could not disagree more. It is way easier for guys inside the top 10 to show great sportmanship compared to players playing challengers tournaments, like Smyczek. A match won in a grand slam means much more for the likes of Smyczek than Fed, Nadal or Djokovic.
 
tennisaddict said:
Let us play this for a second.. Obviously anyone not in top 8 is not really a contender as they are not playing high stake matches on a routine basis. It is easy to be a Smyzcek for 1 day. It is tough to be a Fed for a year.

Start with
- Novak : Ball girls are terrified
- Rafa : Time abuse, On court coaching, etc
- Murray : Mouths abuses every time
- Stan : We can give him a chance, but he plays like 4 tournaments good out of 20
- Berdych : Too biased towards Rafa, cannot be objective.
- Ferrer : Pushes Umpires
- Nishikori : When not injured, he is respectful.
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This perfectly echoes @ScentOfDefeat 's theory of the concept of sportsmanship being perverted into popularity, contender-ship, and athletic ability. There is no such restriction in the minds of any rational person that would say the people who demonstrate the best sportsmanship need be a great tennis player or even a good one. Playing high-stake matches and qualifying for the Year End Championships is entirely divorced from the merit of sportsmanship. And this is demonstrably what you, the larger public and the voting body of players seem to abuse without even knowing it.

This is the evolution of what a tennis fan calls sportsmanship. One sparkling ideal absolutely crushed by an avalanche of stipulations and caveats until you can't tell what the hell the award is for anyways. In your mind you can't be sportsmanlike if you're not good enough to be in the top-8, if you don't consistently play high stake matches, if you don't perform well in most of the tournaments you enroll in, if you get injured to frequently, if you swear at yourself or if someone that you have no control over in the stands, is trying to feed you advice.

Does anyone remember what this award was in the first place?
 
tipsa...don'tlikehim! said:
I could not disagree more. It is way easier for guys inside the top 10 to show great sportmanship compared to players playing challengers tournaments, like Smyczek. A match won in a grand slam means much more for the likes of Smyczek than Fed, Nadal or Djokovic.
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If one finds a $10 bill on the road , they will donate that to charity.

The same person when they find a $100,000 cash bundle would not do the same (most of them at least).

People don't react the same way when stakes are different.
 
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uliks said:
Nearly, if, taking one set or a game... Just hide yourself man in some corner. You're defending something that can not be defended. The truth is that Hewitt and all this mighty players from the so called Fed era, were being trashed by the new generation from the get-go...
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He nearly took the match, LOL. That's way more than just a set or a game. He's taken multiple sets and given Djokovic multiple scares as a semi-retired tour veteran.

If he's a weak era player, then that's something to be mighty embarrassed about.
 
Sabratha said:
Agassi is one guy, what about the others? What makes them weak? They certainly weren't old, so what's your excuse?

Gotta love the weak-era Djoker defenders.
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Djokovic had a weak era.

But so did Federer :rolleyes:
ScentOfDefeat said:
I seriously don't understand this. Since when does sportsmanship mean "classy" and "everybody likes him"? I'm so done with this revisionism.

Why not change the definition of "basketball" to "the sport of tennis" and give him all the basketball awards as well? And a Nobel Prize where "physics" means "hitting the ball as beautifully as Roger Federer", which makes the award a lifelong award for Federer?
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what are you trying to say? What is your definition of sportsmanship then?
 
HewittAlwaysDisappoints said:
Yes, more idiotic tripe from you without any argument whatsoever.
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What's there to argue? You called me a stupid troll because I hold a different set of beliefs to you, so therein I replied accordingly.

You don't wanna get burned, don't put your hand in the oven.

depositphotos_29624649-Case-Closed-stamp.jpg
 
HewittAlwaysDisappoints said:
what are you trying to say? What is your definition of sportsmanship then?
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I refer you back to post #79, if I'm not mistaken.

And even if sportsmanship didn't mean what I say it means, the concept would still have to be encapsulated in what Stefan Edberg represented, or the award wouldn't have been given his name. I know it's hard to fathom because Federer has won it so many times, but the concept of the award was related to the singularity the Swede represented. Not everyone deserves that award precisely because it's almost impossible to have a career where you didn't disrespect anyone on court, where you didn't shout, where you didn't display your frustration towards the crowd, the opponent's coach or staff, where you didn't break a single racquet, where you were always gracious in defeat and in victory, etc. Just by virtue of all these things I've listed, Federer - in comparison with his current coach - wouldn't deserve to win a single one - and yet he's won it a zillion times more. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it in general, maybe one or two years, but eleven times? At the very least, it raises questions.
 
Sabratha said:
What's there to argue? You called me a stupid troll because I hold a different set of beliefs to you, so therein I replied accordingly.

You don't wanna get burned, don't put your hand in the oven.

depositphotos_29624649-Case-Closed-stamp.jpg
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You yourself know fully well Nadal is not in his prime this year at all, yet keep harping on that he is. If this isn't a sign of trolling and "weak forum era" then nothing is.
 
HewittAlwaysDisappoints said:
You yourself know fully well Nadal is not in his prime this year at all, yet keep harping on that he is. If this isn't a sign of trolling and "weak forum era" then nothing is.
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How come you aren't saying anything about the people "harping on" about Federer being at his peak at 34 then?
 
Sabratha said:
How come you aren't saying anything about the people "harping on" about Federer being at his peak at 34 then?
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Because there are 5930502865010482983 Federer defenders on this forum who are already very vocal about that. The same cannot be said for any other player :rolleyes:

And it goes without saying that it's more plausible to say that Federer is in his peak now compared to Nadal. Obviously neither player is, but again, I'll allure to the fact that Federer said he's playing better now than he did 10 years go. Compare this with Nadal who says he's out on confidence, not playing well, etc. They couldn't be a starker contrast. And ofc, compare their respective 2015 years and who was more successful.
 
HewittAlwaysDisappoints said:
Because there are 5930502865010482983 Federer defenders on this forum who are already very vocal about that. The same cannot be said for any other player :rolleyes:

And it goes without saying that it's more plausible to say that Federer is in his peak now compared to Nadal. Obviously neither player is, but again, I'll allure to the fact that Federer said he's playing better now than he did 10 years go. Compare this with Nadal who says he's out on confidence, not playing well, etc. They couldn't be a starker contrast. And ofc, compare their respective 2015 years and who was more successful.
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There's even more Djoker defenders, it doesn't stop you from holding his jockstrap.

Nadal has actually said he's playing better tennis now than 3-6 months ago. Confidence hardly equals ability so you can't use that card in your deck.
 
Sabratha said:
There's even more Djoker defenders, it doesn't stop you from holding his jockstrap.

Nadal has actually said he's playing better tennis now than 3-6 months ago. Confidence hardly equals ability so you can't use that card in your deck.
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Are you saying there are more Djokovic fans on this forum than Federer fans? That is truly laughable.

What is 3 - 6 months when we are talking about 2015 as a whole? World no. 2 for pretty much the whole year vs world no. 5 who only recently was as low as no.8... I think I know who is closer to peak, don't you?
 
HewittAlwaysDisappoints said:
Are you saying there are more Djokovic fans on this forum than Federer fans? That is truly laughable.
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Did I say that, or did I say there are more Djoker defenders? Half of dude's fanbase cries whenever someone makes a point about the current era being the weakest since 2002. I don't see that as much with Fed fans, even though there's more of 'em.

HewittAlwaysDisappoints said:
What is 3 - 6 months when we are talking about 2015 as a whole? World no. 2 for pretty much the whole year vs world no. 5 who only recently was as low as no.8... I think I know who is closer to peak, don't you?
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Nadal only slipped that low due to the time he spent off the tour in 2014, so it's not really a realistic comparison is it?
 
I think Federer fully deserves the award.
But I don't think Nadal is a cheater. Nadal is same type of great athelete who happens to beat Federer very often. And I also agree the fanboyism around Federer is somewhat uncontrolable level.
 
Inanimate_object said:
Because whether intentional or not (most likely not), Federer winning 11 times is making a mockery of the award, of the tour and this perverted notion of sportsmanship. No one here claims that Federer is unsportsmanlike, but there comes a point where you can no longer deny the ridiculous. And winning 11 times in 12 years is inane and has become trite and meaningless. Does anyone actually believe this is based on an exclusive criteria of sportsmanship? Is Federer in such a league of his own, or the rest of the tour so bogged down in pettiness, gamesmanship and ill-repute that there is not a single person besides Nadal that could have been considered the best sportsman in any season?

Frankly, this award has now become utterly pointless and, yes, embarrassing. Embarrassing for Federer and the silly people who gave him this award.
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THIS!

There is also an OBVIOUS conflict of interest with Moet Chandon, one of Federer's sponsor, presenting the award; why nobody seems to pay much attention to this fact is beyond me. This combined with the fact that he won it 11 out of 12 times makes you wonder if the whole voting process is not completely rigged.

Also another interesting fact nobody really seemed to notice is that the only year Nadal got the award was coincidentally his most successful year (2010). So we are led to believe he was the a better sportsman that precise year when he won 3 slams compared to other "less successful" years?

The problem I see is that being a good sportsman has nothing to do with the results (good or bad) you get or how popular you are, and yet it seems to reward those who are the most popular and/or get the best results.
 
Lol, I agree with those on here who question the validity of this result.

First of all, Fed is "classy" in many regards but so are a number of guys on tour. It is absurd for him to be the sportsman GOAT given some of the incidents we have seen over the years.

Secondly, when is Djokovic going to claim the Boris Becker Reward for Fashion or when is Rafa going to take home the Uncle Toni award for Tactical Excellence?
 
Sabratha said:
Did I say that, or did I say there are more Djoker defenders? Half of dude's fanbase cries whenever someone makes a point about the current era being the weakest since 2002. I don't see that as much with Fed fans, even though there's more of 'em.


Nadal only slipped that low due to the time he spent off the tour in 2014, so it's not really a realistic comparison is it?
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And have you seen the amout of Federer defenders that cry when someone mentions his weak era? Much more than Nole fans.

So now you're arguing that Nadal's 2015 isn't that bad? Ridiculous. Dude started the year at no.3, loses in straight sets to his pigeon Berdych, including getting a bagel. Goes through the whole clay season without winning a Masters title (only wins a few nothing titles), loses in the quarters of RG, suffers 2nd and 3rd round losses at Wimbledon and US Open, respectively... And has only recently started showing improved form. Even then, his rise up the rankings comes as a result of the poor competition this year (Nishikori and Berdych had poor years, Ferrer is 33 and feeds off lower tournaments) and Federer still has been playing better than him.

So to say Nadal is performing at his peak this year is far more inane than to suggest Federer is at his peak this year.
 
@ScentOfDefeat I appreciate your thoughtful posts and your reply to my comment. It seems that the thread has since moved on from what I was talking about, so I won't belabor my point, but I wanted to say that, like Nathaniel, I find your commentary very worth the time to read and I'd enjoy engaging you in conversation again someday.
 
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