Hard year for Federer fans

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It started great with AO and the win in Dubai, and it looked like Fed had not lost any steam from that great performance in last year's Shanghai masters. Indeed many of us thought this year will be year he'll win FO and possibly the Grand Slam.

But then came Indian Wells, and Miami and Rome and Monaco, and Paris. He had to really fight to win the Wimby finals.

Its not that he's any less of a tennis player, but he has been very up and down this year. One day he serves great and bails himself out of trouble and another day his serve fails him on crucial junctures. So with his FH and BH. Especially the BH - seems like it is becoming more and more vulnerable depending on the wind conditions, surface and opponent.

As a Federer fan, I hate to see him lose when he *has* his chances (like today going into set 3). Obviously he cannot win all the time, but I haven't seen the Federer that came out swinging from the blocks since he defeated Hewitt in the USO finals. Nowadays, the first set is always a struggle with his serve or something else.

I tell you, its hard on us Fed fans, but I congratulate Djoker on a great win. Here's hoping Roger gets his mojo back.

P.S- I'd also like to see him get a good coach and stop trying to pinch pennies. Come on Federer, you can afford it.
 
fellow fed fan here, i'm not worried at all. all the credit to djokovic he played amazing out of his mind tennis the last week. fed will do his homework and comeback, that mental lapse in the first game on the 3rd set cost him. the way i see it not bad for his first tourny since wimby with good wins over stephanek and hewitt.
 
Stepanek and Hewitt are hardly threats at this point. Those guys just aren't "great" players in the slightest. I think it's funny that it's a "hard" year for Federer (his wins have zero bearing on his fans, their lives don't change) includes winning 2 of 3 slams though.

But this is going to happen with more frequency. He has just turned 26, and he is going to start losing agility, energy, fitness etc etc. It happens to everyone of course.
 
As a huge Fed fan of course i am dissapointed, but big props to Djoko. He was the better player today, particularly at big points.

One thing I kept wondering since March is what Fed's agenda is like for the coming years. I do not think he's stupid to believe he can repeat the insane dominance of the game like the last three years, and he would expect youngsters would try non-stop to get his steak. Knowing this, it's surprising to know that he's been playing substantially fewer tournaments than his competitors while at the same time playing multiple exhibitions (he's probably the pro that plays the most exhibitions this year).

At time it appears he doesn't care about the ranking anymore - otherwise why would you choose not to play for points, until he comes out and say staying at number one is the second most important goal for his agenda (after winning the big W), which seriously left me wondering what his plans are.

Understandably Fed's been playing the less "inspired" game for a while - still fun to watch, but more like a "i am the king and i can crush you without moving" type of attitude, rather than going all out trying to win every point. I would probably have done the same if i were him - if this is working 99% of the time, why not? but it seems once you're use to that pace, when u realize the person stand across the net is a tough job, it'd be very hard to "switch on" instantly, as we saw multiple times this year...

anyway...i think it'd be premature to pronounce the end, but wishful thinking is that he's in the sampras mode and waits to turn on when chips are down (the slams). I'd honestly be happy if he wins one or two slams every year for the next couple of years....that'll give him very solid (and somewhat necessary) argument for his place in history..
 
fed can not keep this pace up forever. he dominated his era, but new blood is coming to eventually replace him. time stops for no man.
 
nikdom said:
I I haven't seen the Federer that came out swinging from the blocks since he defeated Hewitt in the USO finals.
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I honestly doubt we'll ever see again the blazing movement and intensity of the 2003-4. Fact of life.

What bothers me is his lack of reliance on more S-V, that would be good for his body too. Yesterday he used it in 2nd set, then he gave up on it.
 
I think federer is just having a little bit of an off year. I think the early losses to canas had an impact on his confidence a little bit and thats y i think that if he had a coach or even a 1/2 time coach it would be a good move for him cause it will help him prepare for matches better and it will help him get over losses too. Just my 2 cents
 
nikdom said:
P.S- I'd also like to see him get a good coach and stop trying to pinch pennies. Come on Federer, you can afford it.
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I doubt his lack of coach has anything at all to do with money saving!
He wanted Roche as a full time - Roche couldn't commit.

He just hasn't found anyone yet who he feels can bring something new or valuable to his game.
Which to be fair...is a very good point.

But the more he relies on himself and Mirka etc. the less open he is likely to be to other people telling him how to get better.
He needs to find someone he really respects, and who will be there with him day in day out...all year round.


sorry to have gone off topic - but yes it is a harder year for Federer fans...but it has in many ways been the most incredible.
The AO (entire tournament) and Wimby final were sublime...and I look forward to more such.
It's quite clear he still has it in him.

And frankly I'm okay with him losing...as long as I feel he at least tried to win.
The only time I was annoyed this year was the french final, where I feel the real Roger Federer never turned up. :roll:
 
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If Roger's year so far is a disappointment for his fans then he has a very demanding fan base. Give the guy a break! He won the Australian without dropping a set then won his 5th consecutive history-equalling Wimbledon and broke the all time record for consecutive weeks at No.1. Tough stuff indeed for Federer fans to stomach.

I too wish he would come out with all guns blazing in every Masters series event in the season, but fact of the matter as one commentator put it, they are a step below grand slams in importance and this shows in Federer's game and occasionally in his attitude during the matches. With 11 grand slams and counting, who can blame him i suppose. At only just 26 he should breeze past Sampras's 14 Slams and Agassi's 17 Master's shields. he has after all got 11 and 13 already, respectively.

As a Federer fan myself, yes it would be very nice if he won everything in sight every year, but that just ain't realistic and surely Federer knows this and accepts it as he is a great sportsman, and all great sportsmen know that to be a winner you have to know how to lose. So it's up to his fans to accept it as well.
 
wow if this is a hard year for Fed Fans imagine what the fans are saying about Roddick, Safin, Henman, Blake, Grosjean, Coria, etc....
What Fed has done for the past 4-5 years is nothing short of amazing. Most players would love to have at least one GS in a career and Fed is taking 2-3 a year. Fed had Montreal in his pockets at 6-5 40-love and "Joker" played some amazing tennis.
Fed will redeem himself at Cincy and be well prepped for US Open while Nadal will con't to hobble on into the Open and "Joker" has not shown he can win a big match yet at a GS.
 
Give me a break he won the AO and his 5TH STRAIGHT WIMBLEDON, not to mention reaching the RG final. Its not a hard year. Hes winning majors, thats what matters. In 2 years, no one will remember who won the 07 Canadian Open but Fed will have surpassed Sampras.

Fed deserved to lose vs Djokovic. He played like a guy that didnt want to be out there, as Cahill said, very listless. He also underestimated Novak, it looked like he thought he could just turn it on anytime and beat him which he wont make the mistake of doing again. Fed will win Cincy and the USO in dramatic fashion.
 
he can't always stay on top. in this point in his career, i'm sure he's setting his goals on majors rather than the lesser tournaments. he's got to pace himself.
 
Fed has built up such a great career recently, that anything short of dominance is below standard for him. It's true that Federer is not as dominant as he once was, but that doesn't mean he still can't compete to be the best player in the world. If you look at Pete Sampras, he was in the same position 10 years ago in 1996. In fact, he was in an even worse position. He had won 6 grand slams in the past three years and finished #1 in all three of those years. Then in 1996, he lost in the 3rd round at the AO, had a good showing at the FO for his abilities on clay by reaching the Semi Finals and pretty much skipped the rest of the clay season. He lost to Krajicek at Wimbledon, which was probably a big mental blow for him. He didn't win a single masters tournament the entire year. But he pulled himself together and won the U.S. Open as well as the year-end championship. He finished the year #1 for the fourth time and did it again the next two years. I don't see why Fed can't do the same.
 
kicker95 said:
... Understandably Fed's been playing the less "inspired" game for a while - still fun to watch, but more like a "i am the king and i can crush you without moving" type of attitude, rather than going all out trying to win every point. I would probably have done the same if i were him - if this is working 99% of the time, why not? but it seems once you're use to that pace, when u realize the person stand across the net is a tough job, it'd be very hard to "switch on" instantly, as we saw multiple times this year...
..
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Couldn't agree more. Here are my arguments for getting a full-time, dedicated coach -
1. Roger will not have to do the heavy-lifting as far as strategizing for each opponent. A coach can be a very valuable asset when it comes to reading the recent form of a player and coming up with a game plan.

2. There will be someone to share his goals and help him be motivated to get there. Especially if he *wants* to beat Sampras' all time GS record. Sometimes I really think he believes he can improvise on the court. He cannot do that against the likes of Djokovic or Nadal. He has to come in with a gameplan that addresses how he will attack and what he needs to defend against.
 
akv89 said:
Fed has built up such a great career recently, that anything short of dominance is below standard for him. It's true that Federer is not as dominant as he once was, but that doesn't mean he still can't compete to be the best player in the world. If you look at Pete Sampras, he was in the same position 10 years ago in 1996. In fact, he was in an even worse position. He had won 6 grand slams in the past three years and finished #1 in all three of those years. Then in 1996, he lost in the 3rd round at the AO, had a good showing at the FO for his abilities on clay by reaching the Semi Finals and pretty much skipped the rest of the clay season. He lost to Krajicek at Wimbledon, which was probably a big mental blow for him. He didn't win a single masters tournament the entire year. But he pulled himself together and won the U.S. Open as well as the year-end championship. He finished the year #1 for the fourth time and did it again the next two years. I don't see why Fed can't do the same.
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Sampras' game was inherently different. He was an S/V player from the beginning to the end. Look how hard Agassi had to work as a baseliner, to keep up with the younger players later in his career and with noticeably less GS wins than Sampras.
Also, with the slower courts now, I don't think Federer can become a successful S/V player (I mean like Sampras) even if he wanted to.
 
He was an S/V player from the beginning to the end.
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No, he wasn't. Pre '97 Sampras & post '97 Sampras were very different players(partly due to Annacone's influence) Pre '97 Sampras didn't S&V consistently on anything other than grass.

akv89 is right, some of you are so spoiled with Fed's success, you can't think clearly. No one remembers who wins masters series(look at how often Sampras didn't win any events in the summer hardcourt season, yet still won the Open. I doubt he lost any sleep over those losses)
Amazing how obsessed with Fed some of you are, that you think 2 slam wins out of 3 slam finals is considered a 'hard year." Rod Laver lost 15 times the year he won the Grand Slam, get some perspective, people.
 
Federer has spoilt us. :D

We expect nothing but the best from him. I'm sure he does of himself too (if he does not then he has something to worry about).

Also keep in mind that all these historic examples of how Laver and Sampras had many losses during their years of dominance is of no consequence at all to Federer. Who is to say that a few well-placed defeats later a player will not lose their self-belief? (Not that I wish that is the case; far from it). It has already happened to a certain extent with Nadal getting into his head.
 
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Hey, I bet there are a lot of other players wishing that they were having as 'hard' a year as Federer!!!

(cough, cough, Roddick, cough, cough)
 
Topaz said:
Hey, I bet there are a lot of other players wishing that they were having as 'hard' a year as Federer!!!

(cough, cough, Roddick, cough, cough)
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We're not comparing apples to apples are we? ;)

Roddick would love to take anything he can get at this point. With Djoko now in the picture, even hard courts are no longer of any comfort to him.

BTW, I must say I thought Roddick actually improved this tournament. I liked how he was patiently slicing from his backhand and also his net play. Unfortunately for him, the field is getting tougher.
 
nikdom said:
We're not comparing apples to apples are we? ;)

Roddick would love to take anything he can get at this point. With Djoko now in the picture, even hard courts are no longer of any comfort to him.

BTW, I must say I thought Roddick actually improved this tournament. I liked how he was patiently slicing from his backhand and also his net play. Unfortunately for him, the field is getting tougher.
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I'm not sure, but I just ate an apple not too long ago! :)

I agree, I think Roddick looked as good as he is going to get. I almost feel bad for him and some of the other players...I feel like they've gotten as far as they are going to get, and they just aren't as good as the top tier we have, which used to just be Fed and Nadal, but I think we can put Djokovic in there now, too.
 
the last 3 or 4 years he has played was just really amazing that a lil short of that will makle us wonder if he is going down .

the guy is getting a little older , what matters most for him now is to be able to win slams .
 
I agree with the dude who said that Roger is playing uninspired tennis. I think he's not focusing as well as he should, and this is simply because when you've been so dominant how can you not relax and take things for granted a little. I think two things are at play here:

1) Roger does not really have a great fighting spirit. He's never had to develop one because when he started winning, he was winning with so much style and dominance. He hardly ever had to fight it out in five sets and win ugly against a strong opponent (Wimby '07 was the first time he had to do that). He doesn't have Agassi's mental fortitude that's for sure. But his talent and skill have been more than enough to compensate for it for the most part.

2) He's accomplished so much that, as the other person said, he can win most of the time with 50% effort. Why double your effort if all it does is increase your winning percentage from 85% to 95%. Seems like a whole lot of effort.

I have a feeling that Roger's motivation will continue to go down, unless he wins the Australian each year to give him a chance at a Grand Slam. Otherwise, there really isn't much left to accomplish.
 
I think Fed's game has not changed at all but what has changed is the games played by Nadal and Djokovic which has come on greatly. Possibly a little bit of boredom also may have crept in from Federer - sort of been there done that - what he needs now is to win the French Open and fulfill his aim
 
Just a matter of time

prince said:
the last 3 or 4 years he has played was just really amazing that a lil short of that will makle us wonder if he is going down .

the guy is getting a little older , what matters most for him now is to be able to win slams .
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Agreed. Roger is pacing himself for the big ones which is really what matters to him and which will determine his ultimate standing in the game.
His friend Tiger Woods is the same, they are primed for the big 4, anything else is nice, but it ain't the be-all and end-all. Federer will easily surpass Agassi's all-time Masters series win tally of 17, he will probably have well over 20 by the time he is done. Surpassing Sampras' 14 is the real milestone he needs to pass to solidify his legacy. Even if he never wins Roland Garros, if he collects 2 more each of the Australian, US Open, Wimbledon titles (well within his grasp at just age 26) he will have 7 Wimbledon, 5 USO, 5 AO... 17 Grand Slams.
If he manages to add a French in there the argument will be over. If he doesn't he will have been the second best claycourt player to the best claycourter in the history of the game. Not bad for the master of grass and hardcourts.
 
He needs a coach. This is for sure.

I think his performance was rattled a little by Canas, or indirectly by the game plan that Roche devised for him but didn't work.

but he is still having a great year by other people's standard.
In Montreal, he played well, but Djokovic played better in tiebreaks.
 
Novak and Nadal are only 2 who got any kind of chance to beat Federer, thats all. no1 else comes close
 
Nadal is the only 1 who has any chance to beat Federer in a Grand Slam over a best of 5 set match. No one else including Djokovic comes close. Anyone can be beaten over 3 sets, as Federer showed in Hamburg, but what happened at the French? Roger is the man in Grand Slams on hardcourts and grass until someone can beat him on these surfaces over 5 sets.
 
If and when Djoko can beat Nadal or Federer (or both) over 5 sets in a Grand Slam then he will have arrived and will be a true contender to No's. 1 and 2. Nadal's beaten him at the French and Wimbledon SF's this year. He cannot match Nadal over 5 sets, yet. Rafa is just too strong over the longer distance, and so is Roger.
 
If you notice he's played the least tournaments out of anyone in the top 50. It's pretty risky since Nadal is biting at his heels and no1 in the race, with djoker catching up, but he probably feels this is the best way to save his body and endurance for the slams. Nadal also got most of his points from the clay season so he's not as much of a threat during the last part of the year. Quite a gamble, but he definitely feels confident he'll take the USO again and take year end no. 1 with it, unless djokovic really breaks through and can last those best of 5 matches.
 
Federer is currently holding 3 of the slams + the Masters Cup + a final of the French and his fans are having a bad year? Please stop this nonsense.
 
wangs78 said:
I agree with the dude who said that Roger is playing uninspired tennis. I think he's not focusing as well as he should, and this is simply because when you've been so dominant how can you not relax and take things for granted a little. I think two things are at play here:

1) Roger does not really have a great fighting spirit. He's never had to develop one because when he started winning, he was winning with so much style and dominance. He hardly ever had to fight it out in five sets and win ugly against a strong opponent (Wimby '07 was the first time he had to do that). He doesn't have Agassi's mental fortitude that's for sure. But his talent and skill have been more than enough to compensate for it for the most part.

2) He's accomplished so much that, as the other person said, he can win most of the time with 50% effort. Why double your effort if all it does is increase your winning percentage from 85% to 95%. Seems like a whole lot of effort.

I have a feeling that Roger's motivation will continue to go down, unless he wins the Australian each year to give him a chance at a Grand Slam. Otherwise, there really isn't much left to accomplish.
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Federer is mentally a lot tougher than Agassi. He won tough battles with Agassi at the USO 2004 and 2005 with thousands of screaming Agassi fans watching.
A lot of Federer haters let their hate cloud their judgement. You are one of them.
 
The trouble is that Roger has spoiled his fans with near total dominance for some time, now when he loses some of them behave like spoilt little kids who just had their toys taken away from them.

When Roger lost in the Roger's Cup final I was pretty disappointed too, but then I remembered he is human after all just like anyone else and can also lose on the day. He played well below par and wasted many chances; and in sport sometimes if you don't take your chances, you lose, even if you are a great player. Any great sportsman knows how to accept losses and Roger is no exception.

Incidentally Tiger Woods hadn't won a major before this year's PGA and finished 2nd in the 2 majors before it. Was he all of a sudden on the way down? Was he any less of a player because of this? No. Losing is part of sport, even at the highest level.
 
Hey cueboyz....for someone who thinks the whole premise of this thread is ridiculous, you have one too many posts here to sit on a high-horse ;)

For those of you completed disgusted by the notion that some fans may have been having a hard year and for the ones among you who will self-righteously get off their high horse to admonish us lowly humans for entertaining any ideas of disappointment, here are a few things to think about. (was that enough sarcasm for you?)

- No one suggested he's any less of a player. We always wish Federer the best and understand he can lose on a given day like any other player.

- Federer was great at the AO, which was 1 of the 2 GS titles he has won this year. But we are talking about his losses *SINCE* then - go read my first post.

- Federer losing to a qualifier in back to back hard court events has never happened. If you are a Federer fan, you were surely disappointed that he lost twice to Canas, when in fact pretty much everyone in the tennis world was expecting Canas to get a whooping in the second match. Don't tell me its normal for a dominant world no.1 to lose like that twice in a row to the same guy without his fans feeling more disappointment than a regular loss.

- Same goes for the loss to Volandri. In both cases, credit has to be given to the opponents Volandri and Canas, but c'mon, no one would have bet their house before hand that those two would win against Federer. Again note that I refer to his *UP and DOWN* game this year we are lamenting - this is not to say he has not played any good tennis at all since AO.

- He got to the FO finals alright, but certainly with his losses to Rafa the last two years, the win in Hamburg before Paris, we were expecting it to atleast go to 5 sets if not a win. He also did not shift tactics until after the first set. So of course, this FO was more disappointing then previous years.

- Wimby was weird this year. With all the rain delays and Fed not playing for a long stretch in-between, and his walkover on Haas- obviously by the time he came to the finals, Fed did not get a chance to peak like he usually does. The final itself, anyone would agree, was very close until the 5 set 3rd game. Of course he played brilliantly to win it his 5th time, but we no one can say he won it outright and with his usual dominance on the surface. All in all - wimby was a great success for him - one of the big UPs of the year.

- Against Djoko, he had many chances. A win over him would have put some fear into the minds of all the challengers that he was still King on hard courts. Now he will have to slay that beast again at the USO. If he was extremely tired or not playing well or rusty, I would have not felt that bad. But according to his own admission, he was playing great all week. So yes, there is valid grounds for disappointment here.

- Finally about being 'spoilt'. Its very easy to compare Fed to virtually anyone below him and say 'how can you say you're having a hard time when player X did not even win a single title this year'. But you have to remember Fed is in his own class. He sets his own standards and we have come to expect a lot from him. Its no coincidence that he's being called GOAT *EVEN BEFORE* matching Sampras' record, simply because of the level of his tennis game. So don't go around comparing him to anybody else's year - no one comes close apart from Nadal.
 
nikdom said:
- Federer was great at the AO, which was 1 of the 2 GS titles he has won this year. But we are talking about his losses *SINCE* then - go read my first post.

- He got to the FO finals alright, but certainly with his losses to Rafa the last two years, the win in Hamburg before Paris, we were expecting it to atleast go to 5 sets if not a win. He also did not shift tactics until after the first set. So of course, this FO was more disappointing then previous years.

- Wimby was weird this year. With all the rain delays and Fed not playing for a long stretch in-between, and his walkover on Haas- obviously by the time he came to the finals, Fed did not get a chance to peak like he usually does. The final itself, anyone would agree, was very close until the 5 set 3rd game. Of course he played brilliantly to win it his 5th time, but we no one can say he won it outright and with his usual dominance on the surface. All in all - wimby was a great success for him - one of the big UPs of the year.
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These are what count in Federer's mind at this time of his career with 11 slam titles. The rest of his loss are "INSIGNIFICANT" in his own word.

Federer signaled change at the beginning this year, didn't play any warm up event at Australia, playing more clay court events, withdrawing from grass warm up events. He is focusing on slams, and he has showed he played better at slams this year than at other events.

Winning his 5 straight Wimbledon losing only 3 sets total, I can say he won by his ususal dominance. The courts bounced 18" higher this year than ususal. For him to win by losing only 3 sets without reaching his peak form is dominance on the surface to me.
 
One could not expect him to run through Wimbledon this year like previous years what with all those days sitting out cold, with the roof off which allowed a lot of wind to interfere, and with the walkover he got from Haas. He was beginning to play well against Safin, but then his schedule became a joke. Id be willing to bet that next year with the roof on and with things back to normal (if there is any such thing as normal at SW19 with the incessant bad weather) and with a regular schedule, that he will win next year with greater ease. He won in adversity this year at Wimbledon when many factors counted against him, and it shows just what a great player he is.
 
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