POLL: Federer out of Roger's Cup in Toronto - is it wise?

Should Fed have pulled out ot Canada or Cinci?

  • Pull out of Cinci - he needs the slower courts to prepare for the USO

    Votes: 5 7.9%

  • Pull out of Canada - he needs the confidence building of faster court

    Votes: 35 55.6%

  • MuryGoat

    Votes: 17 27.0%

  • It doesn't matter. He's a weak era mug and should never have played after 2008.

    Votes: 10 15.9%

  • He should play both cause he needs the points and he'll never win the USO.

    Votes: 6 9.5%
  • Total voters
    63
Federev

Federev

G.O.A.T.
“I’m so disappointed not to play at the Rogers Cup this summer,” said Federer. “I had a fantastic time in Montreal last year and always enjoy playing in front of the Canadian fans, but unfortunately with scheduling being the key to my longevity moving forward, I have regrettably decided to withdraw from Toronto this year. I wish the tournament every success and am sorry to miss it.”

I think most agree he should not play both Canada and The Real Slam in Cinci.

But is this wise?

Aren't the slower courts in Canada a better prep for the Molasses of New York?
 
He should enter both because Canada is before Cincinnati, and he is now risking an early loss at Cincinnati leaving him short of match practice heading into New York. But he could have withdrawn from Cincinnati had he gone deep in Canada.
 
helterskelter said:
He should enter both because Canada is before Cincinnati, and he is now risking an early loss at Cincinnati leaving him short of match practice heading into New York. But he could have withdrawn from Cincinnati had he gone deep in Canada.
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In 2015 Federer skipped Montreal and played Cincy.And he won the tournament by beating Djokovic in straight sets so I dont think skipping Montreal will give him early loss at Cincy
 
helterskelter said:
He should enter both because Canada is before Cincinnati, and he is now risking an early loss at Cincinnati leaving him short of match practice heading into New York. But he could have withdrawn from Cincinnati had he gone deep in Canada.
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makes sense. Playing Stutt and Halle was dumb given his recent history of being only good for 2 tournament wins in a row and then needing break/ or having injury.
 
No it is not even close to being a good decision.

He needs matches and he needs to play against the very best. 14 matches in 4 months is apparently overkill on this forum. Saw shouts of “he shouldn’t have played Halle”. How thick can one be? He hadn’t played for 3 months, and seemingly 4 *GRASSCOURT* matches was too much. He didn’t lose at Wimbledon because of tiredness or injury, he lost because he wasn’t clutch enough.

He will now tumble down the rankings I’m sure, because he’s been seeping points since March and there’s no chance defends all of Shanghai-Basel-AO-Rotterdam. He needed to play Toronto to give himself match toughness and if he went deep, just skip the God-forsaken Cincinnati and have more rest before the USO.

And another thing. He has not “learnt” from last years “mistake” of playing Montreal, as it was his fault for deciding to play it on the Wednesday before the draw. No preparation meant he was always susceptible to injury.

Someone here said he’s getting bored of tennis. Maybe he is. And I know maybe only 1 or 2 others here share my opinion so I’m in the utmost minority but I don’t care. He’s not playing like 2015 so if he loses early in Cincinnati don’t say I didn’t tell you so.
 
StANDAA said:
He needs to stop Djokovic from winning the career Masters 1000 in Cincy
Click to expand...

I hope we see Federer-Djokovic final.Djokovic always underperforms in the Cincy finals especially the ones with Federer.Even in 2015 when he was at its peak he couldnt take a set from Federer there.
 
Wise decision. He got injured against the Ziraffe in Montreal. Later, he was subpar from the very first moment at the US Open, he almost lost to Tiafoe!
 
NBP said:
No it is not even close to being a good decision.

He needs matches and he needs to play against the very best. 14 matches in 4 months is apparently overkill on this forum. Saw shouts of “he shouldn’t have played Halle”. How thick can one be? He hadn’t played for 3 months, and seemingly 4 *GRASSCOURT* matches was too much. He didn’t lose at Wimbledon because of tiredness or injury, he lost because he wasn’t clutch enough.

He will now tumble down the rankings I’m sure, because he’s been seeping points since March and there’s no chance defends all of Shanghai-Basel-AO-Rotterdam. He needed to play Toronto to give himself match toughness and if he went deep, just skip the God-forsaken Cincinnati and have more rest before the USO.

And another thing. He has not “learnt” from last years “mistake” of playing Montreal, as it was his fault for deciding to play it on the Wednesday before the draw. No preparation meant he was always susceptible to injury.

Someone here said he’s getting bored of tennis. Maybe he is. And I know maybe only 1 or 2 others here share my opinion so I’m in the utmost minority but I don’t care. He’s not playing like 2015 so if he loses early in Cincinnati don’t say I didn’t tell you so.
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He is a 37-year-old grandpa playing against guys in their 20s and early 30s though. How long do you want him to play in Montreal? Until he is 38? 39? The older he gets, the more possibilities he has to get injured.
 
Sport said:
He is a 37-year-old playing against guys in the 20s though. How long do you want him to play in Montreal? Until he is 38? 39?
Click to expand...

True.

This brings up a bigger question for me:

How do these guys know what the balance is?

When is playing too much as a geeezer going to wear you down too much?
When is playing too little going to leave you without the endurance and match fit level you need?
 
Federev said:
True.

This brings up a bigger question for me:

How do these guys know what the balance is?

When is playing too much as a geeezer going to wear you down too much?
When is playing too little going to leave you without the endurance and match fit level you need?
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In my judgement, warmup tournaments are a bit overrated. Djokovic won Wimbledon in 2014 and 2015 without any previous warmup tournament. Nadal reached the Wimbledon SF and played great without any previous grass warmup tournament.

Roger played too much before Wimbledon. He should have played either Stuttgart or Halle, not both.

I think playing just Cincinatti and then the US Open would be fine.
 
Last edited:
Many doubters on the Fed news page about this awhile back. He already made it pretty obvious back at his pre-Wimbledon presser that he wasn't going to bother with Canada. Good call!
 
BeatlesFan said:
Many doubters on the Fed news page about this awhile back. He already made it pretty obvious back at his pre-Wimbledon presser that he wasn't going to bother with Canada. Good call!
Click to expand...
I've always wondered though if the Cinci courts are too fast for a good tune up for the USO.
 
Backspin1183 said:
He is turning 37 soon. May retire by next year.
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No chance unless he's sustains a career-ending injury. The Uniqlo commitment basically guarantees he'll play until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He's repeatedly said this year he has no plans to retire for "several years." He just won a slam in January, why would he retire? Oh-- and got back to #1 twice in 2018.
 
Obviously there's a need for a balance between hard physical training, practice, matchplay and recovery. If he only plays one M1000, it kind of makes me think he can't get in enough matchplay to peak for a Slam without having recovery issues.

Having said that, there's obviously no 3 month break this time, so it's not as big as only playing Stuttgart or whatever.
 
Sport said:
He is a 37-year-old grandpa playing against guys in their 20s and early 30s though. How long do you want him to play in Montreal? Until he is 38? 39? The older he gets, the more possibilities he has to get injured.
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As Edberg said in 2015, the best practise is match practise. I also think the more breaks he has the more likely he is to get injured, as strange as that sounds. His body needs rhythm, not three matches and then a long break, then two matches and then a long break. Canada plays more like the new US surface than Cincinnati, so I don’t buy that’s its better prep. I don’t expect him to play everything, I’m not stupid, but I also don’t expect him to say things like “I’ll play a full schedule for the rest of the year” and then not, and stay on entry lists only to pull out. He lost considerably early at Wimbledon, so under no circumstances would he have played Canada anyway. So why on earth did he put himself up on the entry list?
 
Backspin1183 said:
Sounds like he is losing interest in tennis. Can't blame him. He is turning 37 soon. May retire by next year.
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Honestly, as much as I would hate to see that, I have to agree that I think 2019 might be his last year on tour. Unless he really wants to push for one more shot at that Olympic gold in singles, (Tokyo 2020) but I really don't think that's a priority for him at this point and I kind of doubt that he believes he'd be able to win it at 39 years of age. I mean he couldn't win the singles gold on his best surface at his best event 6 years ago when he was 30/31, which was far and away his best shot.
 
BeatlesFan said:
No chance unless he's sustains a career-ending injury. The Uniqlo commitment basically guarantees he'll play until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He's repeatedly said this year he has no plans to retire for "several years." He just won a slam in January, why would he retire? Oh-- and got back to #1 twice in 2018.
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Yeah, those are good points, but look how fast Djokovic fell from grace after winning the French in 2016 over Murray. If something like that happens to Fed, I just wonder if he'll have the motivation/desire to come back.
 
i cannot believe people think him pulling out means he lost interest in tennis i cannot at some fed fans who are so offended that he dare not play a tournament. some fed fans need get over themselves. if he is playing well, he defend his final points that he got from montreal. if anything this tells me he really wants to go for the USO since he didn't get wimbledon this year.
 
NBP said:
No it is not even close to being a good decision.

He needs matches and he needs to play against the very best. 14 matches in 4 months is apparently overkill on this forum. Saw shouts of “he shouldn’t have played Halle”. How thick can one be? He hadn’t played for 3 months, and seemingly 4 *GRASSCOURT* matches was too much. He didn’t lose at Wimbledon because of tiredness or injury, he lost because he wasn’t clutch enough.

He will now tumble down the rankings I’m sure, because he’s been seeping points since March and there’s no chance defends all of Shanghai-Basel-AO-Rotterdam. He needed to play Toronto to give himself match toughness and if he went deep, just skip the God-forsaken Cincinnati and have more rest before the USO.

And another thing. He has not “learnt” from last years “mistake” of playing Montreal, as it was his fault for deciding to play it on the Wednesday before the draw. No preparation meant he was always susceptible to injury.

Someone here said he’s getting bored of tennis. Maybe he is. And I know maybe only 1 or 2 others here share my opinion so I’m in the utmost minority but I don’t care. He’s not playing like 2015 so if he loses early in Cincinnati don’t say I didn’t tell you so.
Click to expand...
A. every time he plays 3 tournaments in quick succession he plays a terrible match in the third one.
B. Who gives a crap about rankings. All you have to do is stay in the top 4 and really probably only the top 8.
 
Federev said:
“I’m so disappointed not to play at the Rogers Cup this summer,” said Federer. “I had a fantastic time in Montreal last year and always enjoy playing in front of the Canadian fans, but unfortunately with scheduling being the key to my longevity moving forward, I have regrettably decided to withdraw from Toronto this year. I wish the tournament every success and am sorry to miss it.”

I think most agree he should not play both Canada and The Real Slam in Cinci.

But is this wise?

Aren't the slower courts in Canada a better prep for the Molasses of New York?
Click to expand...
then why didn’t you make that a poll option?

I think this decision is fine. It was embarrassing how he looked in the final last year. Don’t need to see something like that again.
 
merwy said:
then why didn’t you make that a poll option?

I think this decision is fine. It was embarrassing how he looked in the final last year. Don’t need to see something like that again.
Click to expand...
Sorry if this is bonehead - but I'm confused by your question.

The poll assumed this position by asking WHICH of the two he should have pulled out of.

So it started w: He should not play both

Then it asked - which should he play?
 
BeatlesFan said:
No chance unless he's sustains a career-ending injury. The Uniqlo commitment basically guarantees he'll play until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He's repeatedly said this year he has no plans to retire for "several years." He just won a slam in January, why would he retire? Oh-- and got back to #1 twice in 2018.
Click to expand...
As far as I am concerned, Roger has a contract with Uniqlo until 2028 or so.

Do you think Roger will play until he is 46? 39-40 at least?
 
Roger appears to be moving very well for his age. But we have seen his form drop as well as some
fitness issues arise when he plays weeks in a row (I’m thinking of last summer with that weird back issue). So he knows best obviously. It’s hard to imagine being in top championship form when skipping so many events, but the man keeps defying the odds.
 
As someone who's planning on attending the event live, hearing about Roger's withdrawal sucks big time, but it's understandable why he would choose to withdraw given what happened to his body last year around this time.
 
Roger has better chances to go all the way in Cincinnati, especially now that Djokovic is getting his mojo back. That would mean more practice before the USO, and also winning a title would be a confidence boost.
 
I don't feel great about Fed's chances at the USO, to be honest. If he can win 2 out of 3 of Cincy, Basel and Shanghai, and make it to the SF of the USO, I would be pretty happy.
 
clout said:
As someone who's planning on attending the event live, hearing about Roger's withdrawal sucks big time, but it's understandable why he would choose to withdraw given what happened to his body last year around this time.
Click to expand...

It's so hit and miss what he will play these days. He is already semi-retired from the tour. I wonder if the fact that Nadal and a revived Djokovic are starting to encroach once again on his Slam record is the only thing still keeping him going? But for how much longer can he keep that up? Time is on their side, not his.
 
Mainad said:
It's so hit and miss what he will play these days. He is already semi-retired from the tour. I wonder if the fact that Nadal and a revived Djokovic are starting to encroach once again on his Slam record is the only thing still keeping him going? But for how much longer can he keep that up? Time is on their side, not his.
Click to expand...
But even before 2017 - wasn't he usually skipping Canada?
 
Mainad said:
But for how much longer can he keep that up? Time is on their side, not his.
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Time has been on their side since the beginning. Credit to Fed for staying in the mix such that when his opportunity came, he took it. Honestly, Roger is the perfect role model in life. Work hard, don't give up, sometimes you work hard and you lose, but if you are persistent you will reap some rewards eventually.
 
helterskelter said:
He should enter both because Canada is before Cincinnati, and he is now risking an early loss at Cincinnati leaving him short of match practice heading into New York. But he could have withdrawn from Cincinnati had he gone deep in Canada.
Click to expand...
He most likely wouldn't have done that as Halle proved this year.
 
Mainad said:
Pretty often. He played it regularly until 2011 and then he started skipping years. In the last 7 years he has only played it twice: 2014 and 2017.
Click to expand...
And people say he has lost interest in tennis all of a sudden. He has just done what he has done regularly for the last 7 years.
 
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