I distinctly remember someone talking recently about dominating the ATP World Tour again. Ah yes - that was Roger Federer.
The Swiss stylist may have to rethink that statement after suffering a third consecutive defeat to defending champion Andy Murray (fourth if you count Fed's loss to the Brit baller at the Abu Dhabi exo that is) in Doha today. After winning the first set, Fed went down meekly in the last two and lost 7-6 (6), 2-6, 2-6. The 21-year will look to retain his title when he battles American Andy Roddick in the final.
But back to Rog: The 13-time Grand Slammer can now definitively count two ballers, Andy and top baller Rafael Nadal, who own him outright. The World No.4 now holds a 5-2 lead and Rafa can boast a 12-6 lead in their respective head-to-heads. Novak Djokovic, the remaining baller in the Top 4, is down in their series 2-7.
As I said before, I believe Fed's dominating days are over. Of course, someone of his caliber will always be in the mix as long as he continues to play and we, not to mention the game, will be better for it. But he'll most likely have to face Rafa, Andy, or both at any tourney he enters not to mention Nole and a plethora of young, up-and-comers who may hold reverence, but not fear, of the Mighty Fed.
Big winning is a hard habit to break and it will probably take a huge mental shift for the Swiss to accept it. But at this stage, I don't think he has a choice.
(image via Getty)
Friday, January 9, 2009
THE LOW DOWN: Fed upended by Murray again - will he finally face the inevitable?
Labels: Doha, Roger Federer, tennis
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He has to accept it. All these "youngsters" he's trounced on for years are now mentally stronger and physically stronger and it's not such a wash. I still say he won't win one slam this year.
ReplyDeleteFunny, nobody seems to remember Federer's 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 thrashing of Murray in '08 US Open final. Guess that doesn't count, huh?
ReplyDeleteHard to forget when Federer keeps reminding us of it at every press conference.
ReplyDeleteB-2012 hahaha...true..true..
ReplyDeleteokay kids break it up. yeah, right...love it.
ReplyDeletethings can happen fast in tennis - maybe fed gave andy the biggest gift he could give him in that final and the brit baller gladly accepted: motivation.
i like fed but the transition to "people's champion" has started a little slow. but i'm sure he'll come around - i mean they all did and do.
*gets in my corner*
ReplyDeleteI take nothing away from what Federer has accomplished. Of course he's done more than many ever will. But I have zero tolerance for his snotty attitude and his disgust at having to be a lowly number two. And I don't even say that as someone who's obscenely Rafa-biased as a tennis fan.
I can't help but find great joy in seeing the new kids on the block mastering the mental Federer hurdle. Seeing them not just crumble at the mere sight of him makes me want to make victory fists of joy in the air.
I saw parts of the match las night, and of course the story is about the down fall of the fed express, yet, what i saw is that andy is very much calculating his every move last night.
ReplyDeleteAnd for fed, he is just out of sorts, like he just gave up after the second set. I thought that fed's gonna win it in straight sets, but Andy was frustrated in the tie break, so Andy channels his frustration to make Fed hopeless.
I guess Fed has to regroup and take very big leaps to formulate plans or tactics to defeat his adversaries now.
But Fed is very different at the grand slams, I hope he can pull this off.
Good grief, Barcelona, you're saying he won't win a slam this year. 2009 just begun. Let's see how the rest of the season goes.
ReplyDeleteSpot on with the 'good grief, Barcelona' bit, by the way.
ReplyDeleteI'm an ardent, bitterly disappointed Federer fan. I think people are forgetting what he's capable of. Also disappointed in Federer though -- can't tell whether he's just not trying or he simply can't do it anymore.
What with Murray's back giving him trouble yesterday Roger should have been able to capitalize on that like he's capitalized on Rafa's injuries numerous times over the years. Somethings up with Fed - mentally.
Maybe Mirka's preggers and he's distracted with thoughts of impending fatherhood??
I wish.
;)
Poor Roger this is really starting to upset me. I wanted him to have at least another couple of dominating year he is such a gentle man and great champion I just hope he can turn it around soon. I really want him to take over the Sampras record.
ReplyDeletelol okay, good grief, I now remember why I keep my Federer opinions to myself.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Roger lost it yeasterday himself, not that Andy wasnt trying, but simply if Roger has got that break at the beginning of second set, it would have been game over for Andy. I see Rogers problem in his head, the forehand is working, contrary to last year French and sometimes at Wimbledon. It is like his patience gets lost, then he looses his first serve and there goes automatically the confidence. With a such good returner as Andy now, who is riding on high confidence, it is then inevitable to loose. I believe Roger must really gather his motivation for the Grand Slams, that he always did until now.
ReplyDeleteSo Barcelona I dont believe him not winning another Slam this year. If I have my doubts here about someone not making a grand slam this year it is Rafa, who is obviously trying to get quicker to points in changing his game. Good luck to him, wont be easy, to defend two slams, number one spot and change your playing style.
I agree with you anon - it will be a tough year for Rafa to defend everything. He's on a clay roll that's unimaginable. If he stays healthy I have every faith in him to take both middle slams, and it would be a dream come true to see him take the outside ones. But then that's the joy in the tennis season, isn't it - to see how it all plays out. :)
ReplyDeleteWho knows, we may have a year of four new slam champions. You just never know. I look forward to seeing it all play out...
hi rich.......
ReplyDeletei hate to bring this to you, but it seems that tennis, amongst all sports, are really just not embracing the equality of women or at the least the not keen on giving fair treatment for women.........
peter bodo of tennis.com is one of those people in tennis who singlehandidly thought that women is by far below of the men's standards.......
now the fed express is one of them, yeah, you heard it right roger federer himself treats women differently.....
read this news by bbc: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7821469.stm
i don't want to be unfair, but the matter of saying it the first time doesn't erase the meaning of all the statement's meaning, i guess fed and some others really look down on the women
and it is just not right!!!!
Maybe Roger should mix it up and play doubles with Stan again. After their Olympics gold he was on a high again and went on winning the US Open. Just an idea but maybe he will have more fun on a tennis court this way. He just doesn't seem like he is having a great time out there, even when he hits some amazing shots he barely cracks a smile...
ReplyDeleteI mean, Andy plays doubles as well and Rafa just won Doha!
It shouldn't be a fitness issue and he wouldn't have any pressure out there. Just playing for the sake of tennis, some fun competition and improving while playing!
Helen
ReplyDeletemaja - totally true. Roger seems to play so much better when he's loosened up and is ineracting with other people - like the crowd at the US Open and Stanislas at the Olympics. But even watching him lose a match you still see glimpses of the ol' Federer magic.;)
Phaura Reinz - I could happily murder you for that comment. Sexist people do NOT play mixed doubles.
Phaura Reinz-It's not sexist at all, it's good observation f how things are, but still things are not simple as that, Federer..Things defer in woman and mens game of tennis.And it tells A LOT.A LOT.But also, we shouldn't compare men and woman, in the same sport, cause things are different, and for the obvious reasons.So it was kinda lame more then sexist of Fed, (who's hihgly intelligent pal so wtf), to even make that comment, cause it was totally unnecessery.He should know(knows) that man and woman defer in physics a lot, and the reason not all can be strong as Williamses are physic again.And really, there have always been number ones in WTA who highly deserved it, not that Jelena didn't, but yeah it doesn't quite sink in beautifuly as Henin or Masha at N1.But it's just that time at WTA, can Fed quarantee it'll never happen at ATP N1 will get there without winning Slam?It can happen there too in different time maybe.So basicly it's for long disccusion, and Feds frustrated obviously on not just one level, one can see.
ReplyDeleteTessa - just remeber Marcelo Rios. He never won a slam and still got the No.1 ranking.
ReplyDeleteOk, it happend ten years ago but still...
I think it's just that Murray knows how to beat Fed, plain and simple. And it could just be that their head-to-head record against each other is just enough to mentally throw Fed off. Who knows for sure, but I think Murray just straight up knows how to beat Fed's game.
ReplyDelete**If I have my doubts here about someone not making a grand slam this year it is Rafa, who is obviously trying to get quicker to points in changing his game. Good luck to him, wont be easy, to defend two slams, number one spot and change your playing style.
**
If this is true about Rafa trying to end points sooner (I haven't SEEN matches yet bc the States makes it hard to actually watch some of these smaller tourneys) I wouldn't be surprised if this is something he's trying out on the hard-court surface in particular. He's been very vocal about this surface being the toughest on his body so he may just be experimenting with trying to ease up the pressure on his knees. Just a thought.
Roger should play doubles with Rafa. It would be the best thing ever. Rafa wants to, he's said so. I think it'd give Roger some fresh motivation at this point in his career, and he seemed to get a lot of pleasure from his doubles wins with Stan.
ReplyDeleteAnd anyway it'd be fun to see all the fans lose their minds. :)
Great point on the doubles play MAJA. In fact, more ballers - particularly top ones - would benefit from playing doubs (plus more fans, like myself would start to watch it more). It's probably a great way to mix up their training and practices by getting out there and working on stuff in a match environment but without the same pressure and intensity. The Sisters Sledge also play much better when they play doubs together.
ReplyDeleteFed actually seems even more brilliant when playing doubs. The stuff he came up with in Beijing was pretty sick - and beautiful to watch.
I agree that Roger isn't going to dominate this year. But I don't think Rafa will or Murray, either.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fascinating if, like someone else said above, we have 4 new Major champs this year.
As a Fed fan, though, I want to see Roger get a few more Majors!!!
I totally agree with B2012's comment of earlier:
ReplyDelete"I take nothing away from what Federer has accomplished. Of course he's done more than many ever will. But I have zero tolerance for his snotty attitude and his disgust at having to be a lowly number two. And I don't even say that as someone who's obscenely Rafa-biased as a tennis fan.
I can't help but find great joy in seeing the new kids on the block mastering the mental Federer hurdle. Seeing them not just crumble at the mere sight of him makes me want to make victory fists of joy in the air."
Nuff said.