Hey guys, I’ve created this post just for the discussion around Roger’s upcoming match against Sergiy Stakhovsky.
I’m travelling down to Wimbledon Wednesday evening to watch on Friday so unfortunately I won’t be able to post again until Saturday where I will recap that match and hopefully Fridays ;).
Rather than clutter up the Hanescu post with unrelated comments I thought they’d be better here and not confuse anyone.
I’m feeling confident about the Stakhovsky match for Roger so I think we can also use this post for Roger’s third round match against Jurgen Melzer or Julian Reister :D.
I will be able to read your comments while I’m away via email although I might not have chance to reply but it’d be cool if we can keep the discussion going like when I visited Halle. I will of course reply on my return.
As for tomorrows match, here’s hoping Roger turns on the style again, he’s 3rd on Centre court so I’d estimate around a 5pm start. Allez!
Yeah 🙂
Ah maiden title!
Yep Thanks Jonathan.. It was a long time comming just like Feds title drought. Anyway have a good time at Wimbledon and please takes some more pics as the Halle ones were good!!
Federer is too old… :))
Sneaky, Jonathan! 😉
Well done Serajul!
He he…..Thanks Thinker 😀
Have a fabulous time Jonathan, of course you will… looking forward to your first hand perspective when you return.
Cheers Thinker!
I think Fed should b ok but will probably have a slighter more competitive match. But i still forsee a straight sets victory for Federer. 😀
Yeah Stakhovsky is no mug on this surface but I think the GOAT matches up well against this guy.
This thread will be updates in your name. Have a great time 😀
*updated
Hey Jonathan. I’m going to Wimbledon on Friday as well! got tickets for court 2 only, sadly, but will try to catch Fed on Murray Mound. I might recognise you, but you won’t recognise me 😉 MUAHAHA
Haha true. Say Hi if you do 🙂
It’s Henman Hill man, it shall never be changed!
It SHOULD be a relatively easy match (maybe not as easy as the first round). If Roger plays great as he did in the first round he’ll have little trouble with Stakhovsky 😀
PS
Been watching and reading some stuff on ESPN and there seems to be a lot of Roger “hate” there. (Mr Mcenroe choosing Nadal as the GOAT, and being forced to eat his own stupidity only a few hours later, Garber aswell etc. ). Why are they trying so hard to push Fed out? hm… But hey , screw them. Let’s just hope Roger’s game does the talk during the next few weeks and he proves them wrong for the umpteenth time (although I know his main motivators are his love for the game, his family and us- his fans-, a little “prove those asses wrong” spicing can give him some additional fire 🙂 ).
BTW comments by those morons on espn should fire up our champion and GOAT.Something drastically wrong with Mcenroe he himself had predicted earlier that nadal would find it difficult to win wimbledon following his mental and physical exhaustion of FO. He also mentioned in the same breath that he would be not surprised if he won wimbledon.ESPN gang are ganging up against our champion, i hope our champ gives a fitting reply through his on court display.
McEnroe is a primitive clown. Roger has caught up with him in term of 77 tour titels (ex-equo third overall behind Lendl and Conners). I think that hurts McEnroe, so he decided to claim that Nadal was GOAT.
Yeah JMac is such a clown. No idea what he’s on about. Late 90’s and early 00’s he was an ok commentator the BBC but has gotten really poor these last few years. Brings no knowledge to the table and just jumps on any band wagon going.
Clearly Fed think he is a clown, always shuns him.
McEnroe is a geriatric. A little while after he announced that he thought Nadal is the GOAT, someone said that their anticipated QF match would be the first time Federer and Nadal will be playing on grass. To which McEnroe replied, “It’s been that long?”.
Well, a guy who has given such serious thought on deciding who the GOAT is, doesn’t even know that these two haven’t played on grass in 5 years. That goes to show his lack of judgment.
Besides, who would you believe, the great Rod Laver, or this clown McEnroe who has only 7 slams, has a history of bad behavior, poor judgment, and the only other thing he was good at was verbally abusing umpires and racquets? This guy can’t even be cordial with his fellow commentators. It’s just his hatred or dislike for Roger Federer manifesting itself in different ways ever since he was snubbed by Roger Federer about a coaching thing.
Your move General McEnroe.
🙂
Correction: their anticipated QF match would be the first time Federer and Nadal will be playing on grass since 2008*
Hey Jonathan, a stupid question from me. But is there a difference between leaving comments on articles or leaving them on this thread??? I don’t understand the difference.
Oh, have fun at Wimby and can you try to take some pictures with your old camera of Roger….
Hey Katyani,
There is no difference, this is just like a pre match article. Since the Hanescu thread has plenty comments already about that match I didn’t want it to get cluttered with Stakhovsky comments too so I created this post.
When I get back from Wimbledon I will be doing a post as normal 🙂
Jonathan
Olá Jon!
Have a safe and nice time at Wimbledon, hope you dont need to queue, but if you have to do it dont forget your sunblock!
We are waiting some great pics of you 🙂
Hi!
Ah yes I am queuing but it’s pretty cloudy for the next few days 🙂 still can’t be too careful, I am British 😀
Jonathan
Oh great! Thanks to Nadull (and maybe Wade, too). I won’t see Roger on Court 1 tomorrow 🙁 …..Although I’m happy the guy is out from Fed’s quarter, I ‘ll never forgive him. Obviously Fed is more worthy on the Centre Court than Murray. Since my dream doesn’t come true so you have to win the bloody title 8th time instead, got it Roger?
Have a great time in Wimbledon, Jonathan. Shame to miss you there but look forward to your post back in France. 😉
Maybe you could find someone to swap? I bet some fans have got centre court but want to see Murray instead of Fed…
Jonathan
I think Roger got a big lift when Rafael Nadal lost. I’m picking him to go all the way, now.
Hope so Ronald.
No no no Ronald, don’t jinx it !!! We all almost thought the same about RG !!!
He still as to go through Andy AND the crowd. No easy task, especially when the whole public wants you to lose.
Told you Ronald, not to jinx and think about Roger going all the way….
We cannot talk about winning finals or making finals anymore, lets literally look at it one match at the time, one point at the time and we will end up holding the trophy.
But…. one match at the time, one point at the time.
Hey Jonathan, Have a great time at the tournament. Do you get to see Roger? I heard McEnroe say he now thinks Nadal is the GOAT. He’s such an ass. His brother, Patrick, has more class. I hate that I have to watch ESPN for all the slams. They are so biased and can be quite nasty.
Anyway, I predict, Roger and Murray will meet in the semis for a blockbuster match. If Roger wins, it’ll be difficult to win against Djokovic. Murray is 6 years younger and could win the final. Not that I don’t want Roger to win his 8th.
Hope for the best for the GOAT.
Hey Sue,
Yeah hoping too, he has to win today and I also need to figure out which court he will be on for Friday.
JMac is a clown. He doesn’t deserve any air time.
Jonathan
I think this is why they released 2 shoes for him in Wimbledon
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2348612/Roger-Federers-bright-orange-shoes-banned-Wimbledons-second-round.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
have a great time in Wimbledon Jonathan!
Heared about Roger’s shoes beeing banned: maybe the organisation of Wimbledon should look outside England to see what is happening in the world today. Really, you then want to discuss bottoms of shoes while there is so much worse going on in the entire world? And it is not like Roger is wearing something totally orange…
Get a grib on important issues, Wimbledon organisation !!!
Ah so it was true, haha pretty funny. Apparently a few other players have been sanctioned too. I guess Nike will have some others ready with white pimpled soles.
Surely Wimbledon would have seen them before the tournament though? He practised in them! I bet someone in a position of power kicked off after round 1 and they had to move to appease him.
Jonathan
I did not like the orange shoes anyway. I could not see the orange on the shirt. I have to see Wimbledon on ESPN also. When John McEnroe is speaking I just mute it. Often I do it with Brad. Yes I heard the Nadal GOAT comment. It made me so mad. I was so glad he had to eat his own words. I have never been a fan of his. Patrick does have more class. I will not be buying John’s book. Why would I want to know about his business life. He sounds like a sore loser. Roger has been more successful than he has.. No tears from me for John or Nadal.
Gotta love this comment at bleacher report by a contributor. Cruel, but truth hurts:
Rafa – The Faker posted 1 day ago Contributor I
“Stop making excuses!! If the guy is good enough outside clay then he would have met roger in qf provided roger also kept his part of the deal which he has been for I don’t know how long 😛
It’s not roger’s fault that nadal is not there to ‘stop’him and this will not in anyway tarnish his win or for that matter anybody who wins.
This also confirms that ‘dull is the ‘greatest’ fighter but only on the battleground of his choice 😛
Bye bye fake goat. See you after 7 months. I hope you preserve your knees and by any chance if you plan some other adventures, keep it a secret :-P”
What’s so great about that post? That it comes from a Nadal hater who is sadly assumed to be Fed fan?
And the golden sentence
“This also confirms that dull is the greatest fighter but only on the battleground of his choice”
It is kind of true Manu, Dull has the most unbalanced resume going. GOAT debate isn’t even in existence.
People, dont you forget that Rafa will always “own” Roger. Whenever the two meet, Fed tends to choke. Rafa will always be on Roger’s head. Rafa owns Rogs.
Rafa is the GOAT on clay… 🙂
So that would mean Rosol owns Nadal. Nice!
Even you can see Nadal has the most unbalanced resume in tennis, he is the clay GOAT yes, but it’s a garbage surface.
Cmon Jonathan, dont let your emotions get the better of you. What i just said was true and you know that. One person “owns” another when in several matches he customarily wins them over the same guy. Rosol defeated Nadal only once. So you cant say he owns RN. Let me just say this: Goodluck to your idol Rog. Hope he wins Wimbledon. Id rather have him win it rather than Djoko 🙂
Well that must mean Davydenko owns Nadal since they have met 11 times and he has the superior H2H.
H2H statistics are are not objective barometers of anything.
Remember Na-dull benefits in his rivalries by having a disproportionate amount of meetings on clay and has not advanced in tournaments as often away from home turf. Had Rafa turned up at the USO and the AO during Feds years of dominance from 2004 to 2008, there is absolutely no doubting the head to head would be far closer than it is today.
A better statistic to look at would be weeks as world no.1, Fed made 302, Rafa 102, isn’t that a mere 4 years behind?…
Well pointed out AndyB. Sadly, Batman will keep on harping on about Nadal’s H2H against Roger, and yes, Nadal does ‘own’him for the most part, notwithstanding his clay court prowess dominating this H2H but this of course deflects greatly from the GOAT debate of which the H2H is only a red herring. But, as I say, Batman will refuse to accept this simple fact, sigh, sigh…
Have nice and memorable time Jonathan watching our Champion in action, Lucky you!
Cheers Ananth 😀
Mcenroe is correct. Rafa is GOAT right now but Nole is guaranteed true GOAT soon. Fed h2h with Rafa is not good. Rafa lost to Darcis because of knee problems. Nole will win 18 grand slams for sure, mark my words!
Are you bunking off school today son?
Just my opinion, when Roger was 26 years old, by the end of the season he collected 12 GS titles, Rafa was 11 GS titles, and Nole maximum will be 8 GS (if he win both Wimbledon and USO 2013). By looking at their playing style, i doubt that Nole and Rafa will win any GS after 30 (again, it’s just my opinion). They are too depending on their physical ability and fitness to win and we know that it is not gonna last forever.
If you want to name a player GOAT, you can’t just mention the player that ‘recently’ win the most, or ‘currently’ at ATP #1, otherwise there will be a lot of GOATs (when i believe AT means All Time). You need to see the record of the player in his whole career. You can have 1 GOAT player for 10 years until somebody break all the record and becoming a new GOAT, that’s possible.
So far what is the record that nadal break? 8 times GS on the same surface, with only 4 in other GS?
Do you actually know what GOAT means Amar? It’s not something you pass on like a baton in a race, you have to earn the right to be considered the greatest player who has ever held a racket,(or greatest of another sport) Most of the time a player holds on to this accolade for several decades before somebody incredibly special comes along who fans consider has surpassed even the greatness of a legend. Take Pele, nobody came along and said “ok now Bobby More must be the GOAT”, because this is what you are doing here right now. It took years for Messi to come along and take the GOAT consideration away from Pele. Amar I do get the feeling you are young coz If you’d watched sport regularly for years you’d get my drift here.
This is a mainly Fed fan based site, so how do you think most Fed fans will react to a guy who keeps writing Nole is the greatest of all time, without really researching the facts. I actually like Djokovic, I went to see him play last year, but come on mate, Nole himself does not even consider it at this point. I would place him somewhere in the top 10 of all time, and I know by the end of his career he will be even closer to Fed (I very much doubt he can surpass him) but at this present time the guy has won 11 grand slams less than Federer, he would have to be world #1 for another 4 years to catch up with Federer’s tally. Djokovic would need to get to every quarter final for 5 more years match Fed’s consecutive quarter final record, oh, and Roger’s streak is currently still active. Year end championships are 6-2 in Fed’s favour.
To be honest I don’t know why this discussion is even open to debate.
Apologies Amar, I have used your name in error, my message was meant for No1eTrueGOAT
Andyb,
That’s exactly what I said, please read again my comment carefully.
I totally agree that Roger Federer is GOAT, and until his record is break (or most of his records, because I think it’s almost impossible to break all of it since he have too many) he’ll remain GOAT. That’s why I said it’s possible to have one player as a GOAT for 10 years (or even more) until the somebody break it and become new GOAT.
Nole got only 6 and Rafa got 12, and I really doubt that even they can get 17. To show that just take a look at their records when they were all 26. The number of GS that they got definitely show who is more superior. And on top of that, Roger still play (and win GS) while he was 31, Nole and Rafa? I don’t think they can.
We are on the same side here (unless you are not Roger Fan)
Now I get it. But I already reply it 🙂
Cheers mate..
Darcis pulls out with shoulder injury sustained DURING the Nadal match. The media were so busy focusing on Rafa’s knees (the ones which were fine to win the French) that they failed to notice Darcis shoulder..
On day 1 Fed’s toughest potential QF opponents Nadal out Warwrinks both out, and today both their victors Darcis and Hewitt out.
If there was a hint of concern about a 3rd round Rosol II (return of the aces), well he’s out, and now Isner is out too…
This quarter is looking pretty good………
Has anybody else notice this? Roger and Rafa are getting bulkier, while Novak and Andy are getting thinner and thinner? I am watching the Andy match now, man he is thin. Sooner or later Novak and Andy will be so thin, you will not be able to see them !!!
By the way, Roger’s favourite umpire is umpiring, that Jake guy from USO 2009.
You know, as much as I like Tsonga, and really like him, he will not win a slam.
Monfils and Jo Willie are showmen, not willing to do the extra to win slams.
They rather entertain the crowd than go the extra mile.
Must be tough to be the coach of someone like that.
It is like coaching a little kid who wants to be more popular than get results.
Now…. Jo Willie is out, he was the one who could seriously challenge Andy.
Cilic, Darcis, Tsonga, Isner, Stepanek all retired.
What happen with this half of draw?
Stakhovsky playing out of his skin. I hear he harbours some animosity against Roger.
Now that’s unexpected… Stakhovski is playing good… I’m impressed… But why did feds ONLY UE come at that point in the tie break… How often do you see Rog hitting 75% of first serves, hitting 1 UE to 14 winners, and still lose the set? 😀
I am not getting a good feeling about this. I know Roger will win somehow, but…..
At that point Roger missed in the tiebreak, I went back with my memory to WTF final tiebreak against Novak.
Same story. After an incredible point, Roger hits a bad one and loses the set.
But he will come through……. HE HAS TOO, because Roger is not playing bad at all, the other one is just equally good.
Unfortunately Mac Enroe is also co commenting now….
[Unfortunately Mac Enroe is also co commenting now….]
McEnroe is probably secretly rooting against Roger… C’mon Allez Roger!
does Jmac really hate Roger that bad? And this match is good… 😀 at least he’s tested early on, not like FO.
Not hate, but very jealous 😛
The commentators mentioned that Roger wasnt allowed to wear his orange soled trainers, but the women are allowed to wear there colourful underwear!! What a joke!!
Ah, who cares? that made me laugh pretty hard. Before entering the court, he was speaking with somone and faked sulking saying “I can’t wear my shoes :(“. Too good!! 😀
Serajul, I thought exactly that. Only the bottom of Roger’s shoes are orange, but the girls are wearing purple, red, bright yellow, orange shorts under their white dresses. What is up with that? Why tell Roger he cannot wear his shoes and say nothing about the girls???
You don’t have to say to the girls to change it, but you have to let Roger wear his shoes too. Maybe that is the reason he lost??
[Why tell Roger he cannot wear his shoes and say nothing about the girls???]
Being the fairer sex, girls get a bit of leeway. Understandable.
Hey Sid, welcome back. Have you any comforting words???
Yes, I’ve already said that we should celebrate tennis in that we saw some very aggressive play from one guy and the other guy, a lifelong proponent of that art, refused to do the same. This result is exactly what Roger Federer advocated. Faster courts. Rewarding those who take the initiative. And so, that is exactly what happened.
I will hate my life for a day or two but then move on.
Uh Oh…
Now I’m starting to stress a little… Stakhovsky is playing too good, even though Roger isn’t at his very best…
Noooo 🙁
a break down in fourth set.
OMG this is bad now 🙁
Credit to stakhovsky… Lets hope Roger can save the house, but right now it’s looking like a 2nd round exit….
Can anyone say comfort words???
like, pray?
Frankly, with that kind of clutch play, Roger deserves to lose. Forehand error after forehand error on important points…
Well, if Fed loses at least we know Nadal isnt winning it 😉
!:@#&@~!*
FFS!! what’s that for a forehand on break point!?
Jonathan once again travelling to where Roger is…the curse is back on.
How did this tournament turn from the best (Rafa losing in the first round) to the worst.
Wimbledon 2013 needs a code violation. Cannot believe what I’m witnessing right now.
Jonathan should have gone. Jinx?
No guys, They are both playing equally, this guy is just as good as Roger. Seen the stats? He is not better.
Roger needs to I don’t know get mad or something.
Mac Enroe already is talking about THE upset of the history.
This is Benneteau al over again.
COME ON!!!
Yeeeeeeeeeees i life line :'(
a life line 🙂
What is happening to Mac Enroe??? He is giving Roger a few complements….
LOL, what’d he say? I’m on swiss TV where they are so fed biased there’s no real comments –‘
Well first of all he is talking about this beeing the biggest upset, but he did say Roger did not get to 36 QF and 7 Wimby without anything. Roger will find a way to reverse this.
He is speaking about some of his records and that Roger will find a way.
ROGER IS NOT LOSING GUYS…… ROGER WANTS TO WIN……
I HOPE ONE DAY ROGER WILL KNOW WHAT HE MEANS TO ME….
I was eating, totally lost my appetite. I am a wreck and nervous. Almost cannot watch the match.
That is why I am commenting now so much. Come on Roger…..
YEAH. NERVE. WRACKING.
Quit the caps!! that’s part of being a fedfan, shut up and watch 😛 just kidding. But yeah it’s stressful as fuck…
Haha sorry. I thought I would try it at least once 🙂
Sorry Simon, I cannot watch it. This guy is like Rosol. Possessed.
My stomachs churning …….
THis is toooooooo close
This is WHY Roger is SO LOVED….. At the Rafa match the crowd was for Rafa but a lot was for Darcis, you could hear a lot in the crowd saying come on Steve come on.
Do you hear here a lot for the opponent? No, they are all for Roger. Giving him strenght. HE NEEDS IT NOW.
Damn, Stakhovsky is controlling the net like a greyhound…
This guy is playing…. like Roger himself
!@~£$”~
fuck fuck fuck fuck….
Atleast it is not happening to him the second time and atleast this guy is not number 135.
And maybe Roger deserves to be “free” from that QF-streak burden
[And maybe Roger deserves to be “free” from that QF-streak burden]
Maybe, but man not here. But if it is fate then oh well :/
Scooter, that QF-streak is also a burden. Look what he had to do to keep the strike alive at RG against Simon.
Now he is free from his SF streak and QF streak, he can play freely and win.
O my God
OH MY GOD HELP
FFS….
Its over 🙁
I still love you Roger no matter what, nothing can change that and WE WILL BE BACK !!!
I feel the same
Oke, better this guy than to Andy or Novak, this guy deserves it.
Dont know how longer he will be able to push himself after this shattering loss at his fav slam..
Retirement is beckoning ..
Time to savour each match for us Fedfans we should no longer have any expectations other that just being able to see him play well and as beautifully as he does….
Murray might win it now easily.
yeah… that’s an all time low, in a pretty bad year already… Now there’s NO ONE to challenge murray, crazy how the draw changes… I’d actually like Murray to win it. I can’t stand his personality, but when he’s agressive I like his game… And I’d rather give slams to him rather than Novak 😉
Simon, if Andy wins, can you imagine the atmosphere at Wimby next year? No other player will have a chance against the England crowd. I am hoping for Novak to win.
Or better yet, Dimitrov. Show them that Roger might not be able to win Wimby, but his playing style will.
Anzhit……. Murray might win it now easily……. Don’t be so sure of that.
If this can happen to Roger and Rafa, it could also happen to Andy or Novak.
Did you think before the match that this would happen to Roger or before the Rafa match that it would happen to Rafa?
Nowadays, the top guys don’t get defeated by the numbers 1 till 20. When I saw Rosol play or Darcis play or this Sergey guy play, can you believe and can you still believe they are in the 100 rankings???
All three of them are so good, even that guy that defeated Hewitt.
No nowadays, there are actually no top 100 or 200 rankings. Everybody plays great, works hard and can beat the top 4.
And lets not forget, the top 4 are guys who are 31, 27 and two 26 years old. They are also not getting younger and are playing years and years and their bodies are taking it for so long.
Lets face it, last year each one of the top 4 won a slam, this year ALL FOUR of them have been struggling at some point.
This goes also for the women. The top seeds are also beeing ousted by girls in the rankings of 60 and further.
Hell be ranked number 6 now come next to next monday this loss ends two streaks not one cant suk more…….
I just can’t believe that Ferrer douche is gonna pass Roger…. this is trouble… He will have to beat the 3 others of the big 4 to win a slam… and will meet them as soon as quarters…
Terrible loss… Turning point was those two break point he missed in the second set, at 5 all or 6-5. He should have made both easily, but today he just messed up important point after important point….
What the f#######k !!! Cant believe what i saw Roger was simple poor today with so many errors. Sergey the meerkat deserved his win.
Cant imagine fed competing with tsonga , berdych etc. for ranking. This was beckoning though due to a extremely sub standard 2013. It just doesnt feel right imagining fed being the 6th seed at tourneys ….
I dont think he can recover from this loss after loss …….. How will he be able to make a dent anymore at slams having to go through maybe all the top 4 in a row ????
on a optimistic note though he’s hit rock bottom though it cant get any worse only can improve….
You know what Anzhit, knowing Roger, this will hurt as much as USO 2011. And we all know what happened after that. How he came back.
I still believe, Rafa falls, Roger rises. He will be back for blood after this. And he played really well today, no matter what you guys say. He played equally to Sergey. Look at the stats. Unfortunately, Sergey was better at the important points, thats all. Roger was not bad, not bad at all.
But….. he needs to work on many things. I am definitely not saying he did nothing wrong. Those stupid points in the tiebreak, where he hits the ball almost high enough in the crowd….. he needs to improve that.
And I thought when Sergey came to the net, Roger played very safe, he should have played aggressive, but he kept playing the bal back to Sergey. I thought Roger played too safe today, he was worried or scared to make errors or to take risks. I am not use to that of Roger. He ALWAYS takes risks. Today, I saw him take two risks at two of the last points at the match.
He played amazing, but he needs to play better. I am not saying that it was not his fault he lost, it was, but Sergey played great and more importantly, he did not fear Roger or was overimpressed by the great that Roger is. He saw Roger as his opponent, nothing more. You have got to respect that too. How many talk big about Roger, but when they are about to play him, they are impressed by the man himself and it shows.
No, Sergey deserved the win. I loved the fact that he did not make a big deal about winning. He did not rub it in Roger’s face, nor did his wife or his team.
Novak’s girlfriend and team could learn a lesson from that.
I am just “happy” Roger lost his QF-streak and the chance for an 8th Wimby to a deserving guy and not to Novak or worse Andy.
And people….. Roger was fighting to win….. he may not have done a good job of it, but he was fighting.
He did not want to lose. He really loves this game.
I’m sad about the end of the QF streak. But man 9 years What a crazy record! 😀
But in a way the burden is over, now Roger doesn’t have to play with that stress. It’s great in a way the last match he played to get to number 36 was the awesome match against Simon at Roland Garros.
Also, at the early stages of the match, I read on Twitter that Stak didn’t like Roger but by the end of the match and during the post match interviews It didn’t seem like that. He was respectful. Both of them were.
Also, at the early stages of the match, I read on Twitter that Stak didn’t like Roger b̶u̶t̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶d̶u̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶v̶i̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶I̶t̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶.̶ ̶H̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶p̶e̶c̶t̶f̶u̶l̶.̶ ̶
Did you guys catch his post match interview after his match with Melzer, what a tool.
Apparently Melzer said “Right now, I can definitely tell my grandkids I kicked the butt of Sergiy Stakhovsky” Good Man 😀
Haha awesome comment from Melzer!
True that Roger dug his own grave by missing those gilt edged chances but…respect to the other guy for coming to the net about 100 times and winning over 70%. That’s what Wimbledon is all about. It rewards the aggressive players. That’s what Roger always advocates. And that’s exactly what Roger wasn’t willing to do today. So, well done Stakhovsky, well done!
In my opinion, this has to go down as the biggest upset in the history of Wimbledon, perhaps even tennis. While I had hope Roger might win a slam this season, I did express my feeling a few months ago that 2013 will not be kind to Roger.
Where does Roger go from here? None of us are qualified to say that so we should collectively just shut up. Where do I go as a fan? Enjoy whatever time Roger thinks he has left in this game.
To me, today was NOT a disaster. Today was the day we may see the rebirth of tennis. That aggressive front court player. I hope the ATP has taken notice and decides to make the playing field level.
That’s what I think. What do you think?
Sid
[That’s what I think. What do you think?]
I’m sad.
I’m sad too but also happy for the other guy. In 2001, Roger caused a huge upset at Wimbledon. Today, we’ve seen a bigger upset. Look, that guy came to the next 100 times in 4 sets for crying out loud. He DESERVED to win it!
On the train guys, watched it on my phone. Wow, pretty disappointed right now. Stakhovsky was in the zone and Fed not clinical enough. Can’t argue with the result but sucks big time!
[I’m sad too but also happy for the other guy. In 2001, Roger caused a huge upset at Wimbledon. Today, we’ve seen a bigger upset. Look, that guy came to the next 100 times in 4 sets for crying out loud. He DESERVED to win it!]
His opponent played out of his skin, he was zoned in. I give him that.
Perfect answer!! I am defo pissed that he lost the match, but credit to sergiy, he played out of his mind and came to the net like 90% of the time. I have trouble seeing how Rog will recover here, but if he does, hurrah, and if not, give the guy a break 🙂 He (and Mirka and his kids) are the only ones who have a say in what’s next. And I totaly agree with you Sid, this is why we want fast courts: we can’t say we want fast courts but not for Roger. We want fast courts to see these upsets. Sure, it tough for fans, but tennis gains from it.
[we can’t say we want fast courts but not for Roger]
Exactly my man! We have been harping about fast courts all this time. The rules don’t change for Roger. Stakhovsky played the perfect Serve and Volley game. It was just like old times.
I really really want at least half of the tournaments with faster courts. It will make tennis so much more fun. Down with the grunters, and moonballers, and pushers, and deep baseliners 🙂 Tennis is about finishing points, not waiting for someone to make an error to end it.
“Tennis is about finishing points, not waiting for someone to make an error to end it.”
BINGO! I’d rather have this than watching the french open all year! 😉
Bigger upset than Rosol last year? I don’t think so. Wimbledon this year has been incredibly crazy to say the least! But people ask for shakeups in tennis…and now they have one.
Don’t know Roger is going to bounce back from this. And on the tenth anniversary of his first Wimbledon. Shocking but I’m not losing hope for another slam. I still think US Open will be kind.
I’m not confident for the rest of the year, at all. Better hope Roger is thinking the same as you, rather than me 😛
[Bigger upset than Rosol last year? I don’t think so.
Sorry, Alysha, but you’re wrong. Sure Rosol was outside the 100, but he beat a guy who was only a two time champion and is not a natural grass court player. Besides, Rosol was just hitting hard day. Stakhovky wa NOT hitting hard. He used pace and slice to his advantage and did I mention he came to the net a 100 times? He beat the greatest grass court player ever, the greatest tennis player ever in history, in his backyard, with old school mechanics. This is the biggest upset in the history of tennis (if you disregard the age argument).
“did I mention he came to the net a 100 times?”
Nope, just the last 20 comments 😛
Sid, Nadal just came off a FO win and Fed was definitely dealing with injuries just prior to Halle in 2012. Nadal hasn’t won Wimbledon 7 times but twice is good enough to be considered a good grass court player. Stak served and volleyed on a surface that’s meant to be S&V on. Roger is 32 man *nearly. Whereas Rosol beat Nadal in his prime.
This match just shows you how slowing down most of the courts has effected players like Federer- not used to such aggressive S&V done old school way. Plus the amount of shit that happened at Wimbledon over the past few days has downplayed Roger’s loss.
Nadal made something like 5 out of the last 8 finals at Wimbledon 2012, he was on a roll. Roger has been lingering in the QF/SF stages these last few years. Maybe it’s all personal opinion but to me Rosol taking out Nadal was much more unexpected purely because Rafa was in his prime and the way he played that 5th set. Nadal couldn’t do anything about it where Roger had multiple chances and failed to execute.
I see your point, Alysha. It will take some time to really understand the true meaning of what just happened. We will have to wait on the opinions of everyone, including past greats (and no, that does not include McEnroe. That guy took the ESPN mic at the start of the second and I knew Roger was doomed).
To me, this is devastating because I truly believe it was Roger’s last opportunity at winning his 18th.
I agree with alysha. Rosol had no pedigree whatsoever, had gone down 60 60 40 in AO first round last year, up against Nadal inhis prime, having just won french. Fed has won 1 of the last 14 majors, and has had a woeful year. 1 noteworthy match won all year, tsonga in 5 sets who is ranked below him. Fed is nearly 32, the other mighty from past fell in same wayt as fed, they just didn’t last as long as he has at the very top.
Don’t lose hope so fast Sid. US Open and 2014 is still a window of opportunity to get number 18 in the bag, except for the French.
we aren’t qualified enough to tell him to call it quits but im sure by the end of the season we will more or less certainly know whats going to happen. When youre roger youre accustomed to winning such losses you can only bear for some time until breaking free and winning or ……….
Never felt so sad as I do now! Agree with K, Fed actually played well but Stak did not blink. Fed will plummet down the rankings, so many points to lose and the Olympics! Big decisions to make I feel! Crazy tournament!
Couldn’t agree more, Sid.
Earlier in his carreer Roger would certainly have come to the net himself when his opponent started playing serve and volley (see interview below). But against Stakhovsky he clearly refused to do so. Instead he kept doing the opposite with his chip and charge tactics and continued to pull his opponent time and again to the net… and got tit for tat most of the time. Yet he continued playing the same way without adapting anything at all. It’s a bit naïve thinking he can pull it off in this way against a player – in the zone – playing serve and volley like Stakhovsky. Roger’s refusal to go forward unless forced to do so proved fatal. And not as much the key point as I read somewhere.
Concerns of conserving energy possibly might be one of the reasons he didn’t adapt his approach, as a few weeks ago, prior to Roland Garros, Roger conducted an interview with a Belgian journalist (of Télé Mourstique, may 24th) in which he said the following:
Journalist: « Vous pensez que si vous vous retrouvez à 5-5 au 5ième set face à un Djokovic ou un Nadal, le facteur physique ne va pas entrer en jeu ? »
Roger federer : « Je ne pense pas. Aujourd’hui, je dirais que je suis aussi fort, si ce n’est plus, qu’au pic de ma carrière. Je pense qu’on a tous progressé d’ailleurs. J’ai beaucoup moins de courbatures, de petits bobos. Mon corps a pris l’habitude de produire l’effort exigé.
Et le tennis a changé. Aujourd’hui tout le monde joue un peu de la ma même façon. Tu n’as plus un joueur avec un monstrueux coup droit et pas de revers. Tu ne peux plus te dire que tu vas jouer le coup faible de l’adversaire.
C’est plus explosif, mais comme ça demande essentiellement des pas latéraux, on a beaucoup moins besoin de se déplacer d’avant en arrière. C’est presque plus facile pour le corps. Avant, je montais beaucoup plus au filet, parce que l’autre montait aussi, et c’était épuisant. Aujourd’hui, tu peux vraiment te mettre dans un rythme, qui est presque assez agréable d’ailleurs. Le tennis d’aujourd’hui, c’est un jeu de mouvement òu celui qui bouge le mieux a le plus de chances de gagner. »
Wilfried
Translation of the Fed Telemoustique extract from Wilfried:
Journalist: « You think that if you find yourself at 5-5 in the fifth set against a Djokovic or a Nadal, the physical factor isn’t going to come into play? »
Roger: « I don’t think so. Today, I would say that I am as strong as, if not stronger than, at the peak of my career. I think we’ve all improved in fact. I have much less stiffness, fewer little aches. My body has taken the habit of producing the necessary effort.
And tennis has changed. Today everybody plays a bit the same way. You no longer have a player with a monstrous forehand and no backhand. You can no longer tell yourself you’re going to play your adversary’s weak shot.
It’s more explosive, but since it requires essentially sideways steps, there is much less need to move forward and back. It’s almost easier for the body. Before, I went much more often to the net, because the other (player) was going up too, and it was exhausting. Today, you can really put yourself in a rhythm, which is almost quite pleasant actually. Tennis today, it’s a game of movement where the one who moves the best has more chances to win. »
… hmm, interesting. What were we saying about his footwork, ie movement?
Sad loss. But I think I’m more depressed about Roger’s ranking scenario.
Federer is mentally so so bad. On nearly every big point he chocked. At 5-5 in the second, at 1-0 in the third, at 6-5 in the fourth…
At the end of the day, nothing lasts forever… :'(
Was expecting a come back real badly. 2 match points down and hits an insane forehand pass. I almost pissed myself. Next point, nervous times, he was holding well, but the backhand…oh oh oh, the backhand.
Nothing of consolation to be said. Stakhovsky played excellent, but Roger had his opportunities! On the receiving end, we are now; Roger didn’t play the big points right, one of those things that Roger is famous for, playing big point right!
Nothing, i just can’t say anything else. Nothing about retirement bullshit, nothing about low-motivation. ..Just…just nothing. Just living now, Bel18ving…
A terrible loss for Roger. He didn’t play that bad, but he played atrociously on break points, and deserved to lose (he also pushed the ball too much in the rallies and didn’t play with confidence). And I’m not so sure about the pressure of not having the streak (it also gave him confidence and his opponents something to think if they were to beat him prior to the QF/SF). Now, he’ll be ranked No. 6, and will have tougher draws, and he’ll have to go through 3 of the top 4 to win a tournament. And let’s not forget, he loses the Olympics points in a few weeks, and also has Cincy to defend…
I just don’t know what to thibk of Roger in 2013. A solid start to the season, than several bad tournaments in a row, followed by that ridiculous loss to Tsonga in Paris (with the easiest draw he had in a few years). than he rebounds in Halle, plays a perfect 1st round in W and now THIS! 🙁
[he also pushed the ball too much in the rallies]
Precisely! What adjustments did he make throughout the match? Nothing. I saw nothing. Not sure if you saw something. Maybe because Stakhovsky raised the height of the net to 6 feet 4 inches?
Stak has a great reach. Was once much more highly ranked! Gd player on grass. BP’s were tough as Stak usually put in a big serve and held his nerve. No 6! I am reserving judgement til end of the yr! Haven’t seen the post match presser, not sure I want to! Ps watch Stak lose next round! These early upsets always spoil the tourney!
It happens. Sergiy deserved to win, he was super aggressive. Feds barely served and volleyed, and you are totally right when you said he was just pushing the ball.
Swiss commentators also said that Rog’s back was hurting, but that is just bullshit: he lost, fair and square. Sergyi was the better player, period.
If Roger ever brings up the back arguments, I’m going to un-fan him. Back or no back, he had no answer to Stakhovky’s S&V. That’s the sad truth.
Yup. But he’d never say that. Not like a certain somebody 😛
if he doesnt defend wimbledon then he may even be relegated 8-9 if others perform well
sorry correction
if he doesnt defend cincinati then he may even be relegated 8-9 if others perform well
Don’t be too disappointed guys. It’s hard for us fans to take for sure, but all runs end at some point. He’ll be back though. He’ll be back with a vengeance. Maybe even in New York.
Top man Stakhovsky. He played wonderful tennis, they both did. It’s nice to see serve + volley and real variety, it made for a classic.
Again don’t be too sad, just marvel at all his achievements, how incredible this run was. 30+ slams with QFs certainly won’t be done again in a very very long time. And he’s not exactly done yet! I’ve agreed with Jonathan all year in that the US Open is where it’s all at. Allez!
Sorry, but Grand slam wins don’t just come out of the blue sky, you need to have confidence, you need to have a very good preparation, you need to win tournaments… He has done nothing of sorts this year. Had he at least reached the semis/finals of wimbledon, than i’d believe he could maybe win the US open. With this kind of performance in Wimbledon and frankly this entire season, I don’t think it is realistic to expect him to win in New York. Not to mention his ranking could possibly be as low as 8-9 by then.
It is not impossible but highly unlikely 🙁
Agreed. Roger is not winning New York. It is not going to happen. If that happens, as promised, I will gift Jonathan a Roger Federer polo. Right now, I’m not worried about saving for it.
Agree, he has had no form this yr. tough to generate wins with no form!
Well all good things must come to an end I’m afraid. Sucky day for Federer fans but it had to end eventually so don’t be too sad about it all. Only thing is the guy who took him out is a massive jerk. I personally had more attachment to SF streak.
I already said he wasn’t winning Wimbledon…to Nadal. Funny how both of them never even got close to that match. But if I might say, Roger kinda deserved to lose today. He wasn’t the better player and didn’t make the shots when he needed to. Mentally it was pretty disappointing but the guy is 32 nearly and yes he won Halle but he had little confidence coming into this tournament, when someone zones in on you like that you need to trust yourself and Roger was missing just that.
36 is a good number everyone, don’t be too disheartened. When I first saw that this was happening I was freaking out but I’ve accepted it now. Gotta take wins and losses. Wimbledon is where upsets happen and that’s what makes the tournament so special.
It’s going to be extremely weird not having Fed there in the second week of a slam, can’t believe I’m typing that but I’m still going to be watching. I think Murray’s winning it this year so congratulations Britain!
Jonathan jinxed it big time! Anyway enjoy…I guess? or not. Chin up everyone, I know it’s hard but it’s Roger Federer, you’ll see…
Jonathan why’d you have to go ??? …
Just Joking biggest jinx though like rotterdam
It really isn’t the QF streak that ended that’s disappointing, it’s the way he lost (playing timid tennis and barely going to the net, and playing some amateurish volleys (break point in the 3rd… awful, awful, awful)) …
Roger panics more in the important moments this year. No confidence whatsoever. Stakhovsky zoned in on him and on the grass which is pretty fast in the first week if you don’t take your chances when they come you’re out. Roger had set point in the fourth but clutch play on the other end.
Roger isn’t going to win slams like that. Don’t be too hard on him though. It had to end one day. He always talks about how there should be more upsets and that it’s good for tennis. Got what he wanted lol.
All about how he responds now. Hopefully this will fire him up for the remainder of the season.
I’m not sure how I should feel. Sad? because Roger lost! Or happy, because someone who used serve and volley, that I absolutely love, beat him? Either ways, I’m going to have some Sushi in the evening to celebrate my mixed feelings. What are you guys up to?
Katyani? Please don’t do anything crazy. It’s just a game.
Studying for finals, at least I have more time now 😛
Not happy about it at all Sid, don’t think anyone on this blog would be BUT I’m not sad/angry.In tennis if you’re not the better player, you don’t deserve to win and that’s my feelings towards the match.
Kind of think this will motivate him for the rest of the year. All I can say is i have never witnessed such a day in grand slam tennis that was filled with upsets and retirements. Wimbledon you are one unique slam!!
Sid, you don’t want to see me right now. I am heartbroken…. I am in my room looking at my Roger pictures
(yes, I have them, did say I was his die hard fan). I know I am overreacting, but it feels like a death.
And to make matters worse, today I asked my boss for a day off on 8th July (so I could celebrate Roger’s win)
and I got it too.
No Sid, for me it is also just a game, but Roger is to me…. I am really really heartbroken for him. He deserves so much… I cannot see him lose.
Sorry if I said something to make it worse. It’s great to be passionate about someone or something, and if it hurts, then it means you really mean it. But, time passes, which is usually what happens. Our universe creates stars, these stars thrive for a very long time. But with time, the star loses it’s lustre, and collapses. You need to be prepared for the inevitable. Once you accept the universal truth that nothing lasts forever, you will start feeling better.
The grass on Center Court belongs to nobody. And yet, it belongs to everybody. Everybody deserves their moment.
I dedicated almost four hours today for this match and I almost never watch his first three matches. But here I am. Feeling devastated.
Go out with some friends and get a drink. Watch some old Roger matches. Celebrate the fact that Roger is a 17 slam winner.
Katyani,
I understand how you are feeling.
It really hurts and I can also feel only sadness:
“…quand Sonne l’heure, Je me souviens Des jours anciens et je pleure…”
Hey Sid, please don’t apologise. I hope you know by now how weird I am with my Roger passion. Believe it or not, I do have a life outside of Roger !!! But I just cannot see that man in pain or beeing sad or losing or beeing trashed or going through stuff.
I know I have said it so many times, but to me , he is my hero.
Maybe you guys have hero’s you feel the same way about? A soccer player, a footballer or basketball player….
Of course I will get over this, I think Roger has already gotten over it, so we have to do the same. And you know, he will be back…. stronger, hungrier and proving a point.
I just read a sentence someone wrote in a comment on Ru-an’s site.
A lion is more dangerous when it is wounded.
A lion (Roger) is more dangerous when it is wounded (lost a match he should not have lost in the first place). So I am holding on to that…. This will be Roger’s USO 2011 wake up call…..
You know Sid, I don’t know you personally or have seen you, but you are so nice and funny, you say exactly the right things (except when you go on and on about changing rackets !!! Those comments seem to be never ending !!!) and you say extremely comforting things. But….. then I see your avatar of the dangerous and mean Joker and I don’t know what to think about you…..
You are nice and sweet but you want everyone to see you as a bad and dangerous guy???? Hmmm.
Hey Rahan, just read your comment. Thanks. But…. can you translate that sentence??
My French used to be really good, but not anymore…
God. I’m so disappointed and depressed. Wonder how this will affect Roger mentally 🙁
Hopefully not too bad…
Oh well it’s not the end of the world. On to the next tournament I guess.
–
Though It does seem the stars are aligning for Murray. Hope Djokovic or someone else can stop him. If he wins this whole thing I wouldn’t be able to deal with the fucking TV commentators…
Sorry for the language
–
Ps – TOMMY HAAS for Wimbledon. 😀
After today, watch out for Jerzy!!!
You know Susie, the first time I saw Jerzy play was against Roger in Rome. I was ready to write him up as only a big server, nothing else (kind of like Isner), but man did he impresse me big time !!! He is really good and more importantly plays smart.
He hits obviously big and a lot serves, comes to the net a lot, slices, plays aggressive, at that match against Roger he reminded me so much of Roger.
He really plays like Roger and plays smart like Roger.
I think Raonic and Isner are only servers and depend on their aces. When you leave that, what else do they have? Not much. Jerzy is not like that at all. If he works on his anger issues, he could be a threat to all and definitely later.
I do hope he will go deep in the tour.
And by the way, he is very tall, but man, he is one skinny dude !!!
The Ukrainian played greatly, we dont have to discuss it just congratulates him for the best day of his life!
I am very sad for today result, BUT this fact in no way diminishes what I feel and think of Federer, a genuine genius of the sport!
Sorry about you and others who are there to watch Rogi in laters round 🙁
A vida continua….
[A vida continua….]
Si, Si, verdadero.
(Si, Si, verdadero.)
Sim, sim, verdadeiro… in my language 🙂
I’m an idiot, a well rounded one at that. I saw “vida” and jumped the gun to show off the little Spanish I know.
Sim, sim, verdadeiro 🙂
Some humor in this hard day is very welcome!
NOOO, you’re not idiot, that’s is verdadeiro!
Oh well it’s not the end of the world. Next tournament I guess.
–
It does seem the stars are aligning for Murray. Hope Djokovic or someone else can stop him. if he wins this whole thing I wouldn’t be able to deal with the fucking TV commentators…
Sorry for the language
Ferrer to win Wimby! Vammooss! :-))
Read the first comment. Seriously, is this what the world has come down to?
[Link removed]
actually, a comment by user name “ANAYEBI”
Ah, ok, yeah I did read that. Al Anayebi. I was going to go an a racist rant but I won’t out of respect to some of our fellow readers here.
He must’ve lost some bragging war or maybe a bet. Was never really a fan I guarantee you.
[Was never really a fan I guarantee you]
Exactly. Fame hunter that. “A former fan”, really? That guy should lock himself up to rid the world of such stupidity!
Now, which comment is it exactly?
Alvi, what do you think I have been saying about so called Roger fans on his own site???
This is nothing, some are even worse. I leave comments too on his site and try to say things back, but it does not help.
When Roger wins, these same people praise him to the sky, when he loses they trash him and tell him to retire.
You cannot educate these people, because they keep coming back.
Telling them that this is Roger’s OWN site and that how will he feel when he reads these things from his own fans does not help. Telling them that he has enough money, records and titles for a lifetime but that he plays for the love of the game and for us his fans does not help.
Telling them that if they want players who only win, they are better of on Rafa’s site or Novak’s site or Andy’s site does not help.
They keep trashing Roger. Badly. After doing so much for his fans, playing so much for them, giving his all for his fans, this is how some fans thank him.
When he defeated Hanescu with 6-3, 6-2 and 6-0, do you think there was even one comment about retirement?? No, monday Roger was to them the Goat, up to 18th GS, up to 8th Wimby, unbeatable… and now.
Trust me, what this loser is saying is nothing, some are far worse.
And if you “try to educate them”, they will trash you too. You don’t know how many times I get trashed because I defend Roger, which I will do anyway and always.
After the loss today, I did not comment on this site for about 1,5 hours I think.
What do you guys think I was doing?? I was defending Roger from these losers on his OWN site…
For Katyani….Yep totally agree with you regarding your reply abt people wanting Fed to retire. You cant win these people as they r only happy when he wins but soon as Fed loses the retirement issue comes out. Like u said u cant even educate them as they will all gang up on u. Anyway like urself Katyani and true Federer fans although i was upset but its time to move on. 🙂
like Sid says ” Yippie kayai M##########r to all the part time/weather changing/fake Federer fans!!!!
I hope feds himself does not visit his own website. Seeing crackers like that, i don’t know what he would do!
+ 1 Serajul !!!
Alvi, ahh, he thinks about those fans, don’t worry losers, you will be back to suck up to me when I win.
Katyani, take a bow woman!! We all love you on this site, that is all that matters. And a liittle nugget of wisdom for you to peruse over: NEVER argue with drunks or fools, because you are simply wasting your time. Now, let’s concentrate on what IS important: your insightful comments – keep then coming!!!
Hey Paul Z, thank you very very much for your comment !!! I was just like all of us feeling a little down, but you just made my day (or in this case night, because it is two o’clock in Holland) !!!
Sometimes I think are you guys not getting fed up with my comments? It is so obvious that I don’t know much about tennis, I just write comments because of my love and passion for Roger.
Sometimes I see that I write more comments than all of you !!! Which is not what I do on purpose, I just love to talk about Roger.
Can you believe I am only commenting for a half year? Feels much longer.
Too bad there are not that many girls commenting. Alysha, Daria, Susie and some more.
But where is Natasja0409??? She has great comments.
You are right about not argueing with those so called fans, but sometimes you have to, they write too hurtfull stuff about Roger.
Anyway, I am not the one with insightful comments, but thanks for the compliment anyways and I will keep them coming !!!
Seen all the retirement comments on his official website. The fans there are bi-polar. Lol there is a reason why I don’t post there.
I am pretty sure these “so-called” fans don’t even watch tennis! Pouring out when Roger gets success, ganging up when he doesn’t. Wouldn’t be surprised if the same guys change faces after Roger makes a huge impact again.
So here are some text messages I wanted to share. Do you guys think I need help?
Me: Hey ____, I think I won’t be able to play doubles tomorrow. You still want to play?
Friend: Eh not really I only was going to bc it was w you. Are you just mourning Feds loss?
Me: Yup…I hate my life. And I hate tennis.
Don’t worry we all need help 😀
I need a massive group hug. GROUP HUG!!!!
And please, can folks on here stop with the retirement comments! We got enough of them all over internet. At least not here. This is supposed to be a federer supportive place.
I wish I could give him a big hug and confidence, bottled up for the tournaments to come in 2013. It really is going to be interesting how Roger is going to get up from this. Now the real work starts. He has never been in this position in his tennis career.
Anyone knows a link to his post-match interview? Part of me is afraid to see it. This Wimbledon has been one tournament on crack.
___ ____ ___
____( \ .-‘ `-. / )____
(____ \_____ / (O O) \ _____/ ____)
(____ `—–( ) )—–‘ ____)
(____ ________ \ .____. /_________ ____)
(______/ `-.____.-‘ \______)
Cr**! That hug did not go well at all. But you get the point, right? 🙂
Retirement comments…. you should check his own site. Some of his own fans tell him to retire. So discusting.
What? I know he is dominating in grass but to write him off completely after a 2nd round exit just like that. Come on.
That’s what they said in 2008 when he lost to Nadal in the epic of epics. Then he came back in 2009, winning back to back French Open/Wimbledon. Same thing in 2010 when he only won AO 2010 for a major. Again in 2011 where he did not win any majors and came back strong in 2012 winning his 7th Wimbledon title and his silver medal.
Point is, it’s not over ‘unless’ Roger says it is over.
The FEDS lost in the 1st round of the 2003 FO. 🙁
Yes!
Roger Federer: “I still have plans to play for many more years to come.”
Allez!
And now I really think he shld use the next few weeks to use the 95 width racquet! Can only get better from this low point! Needs to win either Rogers Cup or Cincy, hope for a few withdrawals post Wimby on the way to aid his seeding! Don’t forget Andy and Novak will hv big points to defend as well! Don’t reckon we will see that much of Rafa Pre New York either.
its weird to think that federer wields the power to depress so many people in the world at the same time. I bought a new RF cap and it arrived this morning. Its fitting that its black as ill be in mourning for a long time now.
I really thought it was gona be the best comeback of all time when he saved match point!
He can come back from this. It hurts but its not a disaster, the guy was playing exceptional tennis.
Also this is all dulls fault. These guys were beat in the locker room before dull showed them that they actually have a chance!
[Also this is all dulls fault. These guys were beat in the locker room before dull showed them that they actually have a chance!]
Epic comment! 🙂 But there is some truth to it. See what happens when all skills are rewarded, and not just the skill of staying on the baseline all your life? The ATP seriously needs to wake up and so should these Slam organizers. Let everyone have a fair shot. Let a young, big serving teenager get out there and make waves. Is that so bad? They have milked enough money with the status quo over the last few years. Time for a change.
But I think the opposite will happen. This Wimbledon will scare tournament organizers so much that they might actually over react and make it even worse.
I also think Dull started this as well. BUT as you say, high play, high reward.
Yeah Wimbledon will have lost a lot of money now due to the number of top players that have only been there for 3 days but Murray winning might make up for it… You think by over react they might slow down courts even more?
Yup, that’s what I meant. Tournaments will go through get lengths to protect their seeds. Faster courts will always put better players at risk. Roger vociferously advocates faster courts. So yes, they might slow it down a tad to protect it from weeds 🙂
Sid, you have once again hit the nail on the head – thamnks for taking the words out of my mouth, ha, ha!
Last night, I was reading an article somewhere, I think on ATPWorldTour.com, about the Darcis win. There were tons of Roger fans chastising Nadal saying things like, “A GOAT does not lose in the first round” etc. etc. and some other stuff. I was thinking to myself, “Calm down guys, it’s one thing to hate a player, but chastising them after a terrible loss shows poor character. Plus, what goes around, comes around. Your man is still in the bracket, so chillax”.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Now, I’m sure Nadal fans, who are, and a vast majority of them, by definition, obnoxious, will be all over the place. And why not?
Yes, if you have done something wrong in the eyes of a fanbase.. let’s say rafa.. they’ll swarm all over and eat anyone alive with their comments whoever is supporting roger. especially in the chaotic bleacher report.
Oh my god… The tears won’t stop…
Well, you’ve got to stop at some point. Feeling any better?
Feeling so bereft and as I predicted Stak lost tamely in next round!!!!!
Johan, Tomasso, it’s ok. Fed will come back from this. I don’t doubt it for a second. And hopefully it will make him a better player and person in the process.
After his AO, Roterdam, Dubai, and IW losses I (We) said he’ll be back rested and much much better after the break in April/May. Than came Madrid and a 3rd round loss to Nishikori. Than I (we) were sure this was just rust. After his terrible performance against Nadal in Rome we just accepted it as just another Nadal loss. When we saw the draw for the FO, everybody was crazy happy about it and we were sure (not 100%, budy pretty convinced) Roger would reach the final where he could possibly play Djokovic insted of Nadal. When he put up another bad performance against Tsonga (who btw didn’t play an astonishing match himself), we dismissed it as Roger shifting his priorities to the grass court season. After he finally won a tournament, we finally had something to hang on to, and had high hopes of at least a decent Wimbledon (SF). When the draw was announced, well there were mixed feelings (some wanted another shot at Nadal, and some wanted him as far away from Roger as possible). A few days later, Nadal is out in the first round, and majority of us fans were happy that Roger wouldn’t have to go through 3 of the 4 best players in the world (especially his nemesis), and were pretty sure Fed would be in the semis. Two days later he gets beaten by a guy, who although played the best match of his live, wouldn’t have beaten him had Roger used the things which made him the GOAT (aggressive, clutch play, great volleys…). We saw nothing of those today and that’s why he lost. The question now is, what to expect next? Should we do the same as we did this whole year, and say Roger will be back after the summer break and will be upping his game again? Or should we expect even more of these kind of performances? I don’t know. I certainly hope he raises again but do not expect it anymore. (By raise again I certainly don’t mean bring back 2006, but him being in the top 4 and reaching the very end of every slam and having a great shot at winning it).
🙁
Great attitude, Leon. You make it sound like his loss is your personal problem, which shouldn’t be the case. Neither should be your expectations.
I just enjoy watching him play at this point. I only saw the first two sets today, after which I had to run for a meeting, but he had some errors coming off of his racquet, particularly his forehand, he also placed some amazing shots. It’s the consistency and the confidence that are the problem, which seem to also be linked.
So no, I don’t know you (we) shouldn’t be expecting anything at this moment, which isn’t particularly a bad thing.
I definitely agree his main problems are consistency and confidence.
I didn’t wanna make it sound like Roger owes something to me and us. I just quickly went through the season and our emotions (ok I just mentioned the disappointments so that’s my fault). I’m just sad to see Roger lose the way he did today, and to see his ranking drop to 6. It just seems waaaay off. But, my moral has recovered a bit from yesterday, and probably Roger’s also. Let us wish him a great relaxing summer with his family and for him to find the fire necessary to up his game again.
I think it should be clear to all his fans, even the most relentless of cheerleaders among them, that the great tennis career of the greatest player to have ever played the game is now coming to its inevitable end. To have lost in 5 sets on his favourite surface against an opponent playing serve-and-volley – shades of 2001! (Not that Stakhovsky is going to go and win 17 grand slams – but the similarities are disheartening.) So there goes the grand slam quarter-finals streak, there go 2000 ranking points – he is now out of the top 4 and it will get harder and harder from now on to win tournaments. There is now no matchup in which a Federer win can be taken for granted. I can understand the disappointment but instead of wishing and hoping for something that cannot be, a true fan should reflect on the glory that was, should celebrate the man’s achievements, too numerous to count, should know that we shall never see the likes of him again – and let it go. It’s over.
Erm…the great man said he will be fine and will recover from this and that he plans on playing for many more years. So, who do we expect to believe? You? Or Roger Federer?
Besides, why are you so obsessed with how we feel about our favorite player? Are you Satan who wants us believers to lose their faith? I mean, what purpose does it serve you? A true fan is the one who can be critical but still have faith at the same time. You sound like someone who think that anyone who doesn’t have the same beliefs as yours, is an infidel. Until Roger decides to hang up his shoes, which he will once he realizes he doesn’t have it in him, then we will let go of our expectations. While I think he will not be able to win the US Open on current form, he is far from done.
Now, Mr. Arif, whoever you are, or wherever you are from, I had some choice words for you on your last comment in an earlier post. You would’ve loved them and probably even followed my suggestion. But Jonathan censored it citing respect for some other readers. So, why don’t you join your friend Al Anayebi who has been trolling on RogerFederer.com? I promise you it will be time well spent.
Sid
Arif, it is not over until Roger says it is and he says nothing has changed. He will play on for many years to come. Did he seem in pain to you, slower? No, he played great, the other guy just played better in the bigger and more important moments. Thats all. He was not crushed in straights with 6-2. Three sets went to tiebreak. Roger played well and will be able to play well from now on.
This may sound weird, but be “happy” the QF-streak is over. He can relax now and play free.
I really believe it was a burden. Did you not see how far he went to maintain the QF-streak against Simon at RG? Be glad it is over. And come on, man, 9 years making QF at slams??
That will not be surpassed, not even by Andy or Novak. Really.
And… when the SF-streak was over, did you know that after that he made 9 out of 12 SF at the slams??? How impressive is that without the burden of a streak?? Now, that the final burden is gone, I really believe he will play better, relaxed and free.
I mean, Arif, don’t you have examples in your own private life? Maybe you made best student or best employee for 5 years and your loved ones are counting/expecting you to keep that up. Is that not a burden? How would you act after that burden fell off your shoulders?? That is how Roger will play from now on.
To be honest, don’t see much happening for Roger this year, beeing his transitional year, will support him anyway, but next year, we will start all over again.
For Sid…. Well said and good points to your response to Arif. 🙂
Also abt faster courts and having players like Sergiy having the guts to serve n volley was great even though i really wanted Fed to win. But credit to Sergiy and Brown doing just that, itwas refreshing to see.
Sid, I guess Jonathan saved you from making a total ass of yourself with your “choice words”! What were they – more name-calling and insults like your earlier “Nada troll” comment. Ah well, verbal abuse is the last refuge of a failed argument. If you cannot persude people with facts and logic, baffle them with bullshit!
Yes, by all means, listen to Federer in his public comments. As we all know, the words of a professional athlete on how they feel, whether they are hurt, whether they are doping, how long they intend to keep playing, are absolutely to be relied upon as the gospel truth! Federer may WANT to play until 2016 – I have no reason to doubt his desire to do so – but whether he should if he keeps on losing in the first and second rounds to the likes of a Nishikori or a Stakhovksy is a different matter altogether. And a true fan (no matter how much he or she would still want to see him play) would say: no, man, give it up, go out in glory while you are still near the top, not when you are reduced to grubbing around for points in Hamburg and Gstaad. What’s next – the Challengers? You are a legend, you will always remain a legend – don’t tarnish that by becoming a Hewitt.
Oh no, Arif, you should personally thank Jonathan because my comments would’ve shown everyone who you really are.
While I see your point, you have no right to tell others what to believe in. It’s Roger’s right to go out the way he want to and you have no say in how it should happen.
[Grubbing around for points]
Tennis is more than just a player. An entire industry revolves around a players longevity and performance. Roger’s love for the game, his refusal to go down unless he has fired every bullet, and the fact that his sponsors also have a say in how long he goes are all good reasons he is still around. By the way, Nadal at 26 went grubbing around for points in South America too.
So pretty please, with sugar on top, stop with your negative comments. And that is all I have to say.
[If you cannot persude people with facts and logic, baffle them with bullshit!]
And the likes of you, Arif, have their own special way of baffling people. Let’s not even go there.
Thank you Leon for you very personal synopsis of Roger’s performances this year – I am sure all here appreciate it. My own view is that Roger will more likely than not struggle for a little while – perhaps the rest of this year – and then there will be a rejuvenation. However, my gut feeling says this rejuvenation will be short-lived and Roger will go through further periods of mini peaks and troughs, BUT, I still feel a slam or two will still be achieved by the Great One interspersed with some awful defeats. This will be the twilight era of Roger and one we all need to embrace – good, bad or indifferent! We WILL have more joys BUT also some lows, so let’s buckle ourselves in and enjoy the ride that will be the conclusion of a great career for as short or as long as Roger so decides…
Seen all the retirement comments on his official website. Lol there is a reason why I don’t post there.
Can somebody explain to me, if Roger is succesfull because of serve & volley, why did he lose to a guy who did play serve & volley??
Roger and Sergey played equal. They were pretty close in stats and numbers. I think Roger lost today because he did not expect the opponent to serve & volley that much or all the time.
I, who have no knowlegde of tennis, could see that Sergey came to the net everytime and Roger did not.
And even I could see Roger played safe, way too safe, not aggressive and actually….. just safe. He did not take risks.
And that is what Roger is all about, playing aggressive and taking risks. Today he played safe and lost.
But the good thing is, he now knows it and will not play this safe.
To be honest, from my point of view, Roger got beaten, because Sergey played like Roger, Sergey played like Roger should have played.
You are correct with your assessment. Roger’s problem wasn’t S&V. He was broken only once, well technically a one break differential. He lost because like you said, he played safe. Perhaps too safe. And that’s what I meant in my first post that he did not play aggressive at all. The conviction with which he hit his shots last year vs. Djokovic and then Murray, was missing. Especially in return games, where he could’ve added some risk by coming to the net a bit more.
It came down to a few moments in which Roger failed to get the ball over the net for a pass, or the times when he inexplicably committed forehand errors. The ones on break points, and the one I can never forget, at 5-5 in the second set breaker, when he shanked a routine shot.
So you’re right, today, the grass on center court rewarded the more aggressive player, and that’s how it should be.
Sid, Susie, agree with your comments. I think the reason Roger played safe is because he was immobilized psychologically: he could NOT shake the fact that Stakhovsky served bombs for both first and second serves, for the most part, AND that he rushed to the net after just about every serve. This in my view is Roger’s greatest weakness ( and always has been ) : to be able to change course in the middle of a set plan or direction. Stakhovsky’s plan worked throughout the entire match, he didn’t have to change direction because he didn’t have to. I am sure on reflection after the match that he was surprised that his plan was never challenged. Knowing Roger as we do, should we?
Agreed! Stak made Fed uncomfortable ( he said so in presser) and he cldnt turn the tables! And as predicted, Stak lost!!!! Fed needs the bigger racquet head and a sports psychologist! Still love him forever! Not the same tournament without him!
Its time for FERRER to win Wimby! 🙂
Nadal the GOAT on clay! Vammoosss!! No arguments!!!! 🙂
Oke people, I have some final things to say.
– Lets not forget, 9 years of straight QF at a GS, not just any tour, but a GS. Must not forget that right?
– When Roger lost the SF-streak, he did make after that almost every SF at a GS.
– So it does not mean that he will never make it to a QF of a slam again.
– I am glad his QF-streak did not end by losing to Novak or worse Andy or worse some other top 20 player.
– I am “happy” his QF-streak ended, no one will surpass it anyway and more importantly, now he is free.
– You did see what it took him to do to keep the QF-streak alive at RG against Simon.
– No, I am “happy” the QF-streak is over. Now he is free and can play freely and win.
– Trust me, he will make nearly every QF of a slam from now on.
– Afterall, he is still making SF and Finals of a slam.
– And no, he did not have backproblems today. That is not why he lost.
– This will be his wake up call like USO 2011. And we all know what he achieved after that.
– Roger lost today because he played safe, did not take chances, did not play aggressive, did not take risks.
– The opponent did and won. Plain and simple. Deservedly.
– Roger is still popular. look at the match today. No one was creaming Sergey’s name.
– They all wanted Roger to win.
– Not like Rafa/Rosol or Rafa/Darcis, where half of the crowd was against Rafa.
– The Rafa/Rosol match I will never forget, the crowd was happy that Rafa lost.
– Today that was not the case, they were not happy that Roger lost, but did give Sergey his deserved due.
– Roger is taking this loss hard, but he will bounce back and like he says he will be playing for years.
– I for one am not hopefull for USO or any other tour this year !!! Does not matter, as long as Roger plays.
– Next year he has many points to achieve, so he will be back to do some good.
– It is “good” that he is now number 5 or 6.
– Lets be honest, if you have not won that much, that is what you should get.
– But this also means, after more then 10 years??? he will have a ranking he does not want and that will make him more hungrier and determent to get back on the top.
– And didn’t you see? Roger is still fighting. He did not give up, he fought till the last point.
– He still loves the game and to compete and he still hates to lose.
– Although I am not expecting much this year, I do still believe when Rafa falls, Roger rises.
– Don’t be so sure that such an upset cannot happen to Novak or Andy.
– Do you know Roger is the 7th former world number one to be upset or injured today?
– You see, his loss is now not that bad right??
– Roger did play Hanescu perfectly, so he is not done yet. Roger will get back on track.
– Roger did not win his 7th Wimby right after he won his 6th right? So there is always next year.
And now, the most important point:
If Rafa wins next year his 9th RG and Roger does not win his 8th Wimby……… I wil…………
Oh by the way, to put it into perspective (also for myself) there are worse things that happened today or is happening:
– Withdrawl and Upsets Wednesday
– And unfortunately, Nelson Mandela who is in the hospital on life support. That is FAR WORSE than Roger losing.
I hope that the worlds TRUE LEGEND gets through and makes it to his healthy self…..
Also how wank was match point?
The tamest little bitch of a backhand I’ve ever seen. After that awesome passing shot aswell!
Reminded me of 02 final last year where he saved set point in the first set with the most unbelievable volley forehand combo got all pumped up and then chucked a pathetic backhand into the net to hand over the set.
Consistency Feds, consistency!
I know. That’s Roger’s specialty. One minute, he will put you on cloud nine, and the next you find yourself plummeting. Oops! Some drama queen, I’ll tell ya 🙂
Maybe the Big 4 death grip on Grand Slams will finally be broken. I hope Murray gets knocked out. That would be hilarious. As for this match, it’s a huge blow to Fed. He’s not getting any younger, and failed to match Nadal’s 8th RG. As long as he’s tied to Sampras in Wimby titles, he can’t be called the King of Grass. Which hurts his argument for GOAT. I just hope the quality of Tennis doesn’t drop. Most of these guys who pull off these upsets can’t follow it up. Take Rosol for example. But overall, it’s somewhat nice to see the Tennis world being shaken up. Something new for a change. However, I really hope Roger does better in the US Open. I am longing to see Djokovic vs. Federer (high quality shot making) or Nadal vs. Federer (curious, since they haven’t met yet).
So much for the GRASS season… (Yawn…) 🙁
I’ve always wondered, the moment a player outside 32 finds out that their first match is against one of the big four, what’s the first thing that goes through their mind?
a) Oh sh**!
b) F*** me!
c) I hate my life
d) It’s not the end of the world
e) Why me, God? Why me?
f) I’m going to finish this beer, then cancel my tickets
g) Should’ve listened to Dad and never taken up this sport
h) Wait…I’m playing Nadal/Roger on grass? Yippee ka yay ************!
Not so sure about point h Sid….
Dude you are so funny….
Go on Sid… You hav literally cheered me up with ur outburst!!! 🙂
I think there’s one thing that I want to bring up that nobody seems to be doing which is the Federer return of serve. I think he stands too close to the baseline. He couldn’t put more than a few decent returns in play. Something that happened in the Tsonga match as well. He could barely get into any of Tsonga’s games just because he couldn’t start the point off in a favourable fashion, thereby reducing the pressure on opponent’s game. Just look at how easily Ferrer (a guy with 1/10th of Roger’s skill) took apart Tsonga. At least he put every serve back into play with some amount of authority.
If Stakhovsky pushes forward, I’d like to see what a great returner like Murray does to him. It should be an interesting watch for Federer.
Roger’s game was always High Risk- and High Reward. That’s the way he’s always played. A positive no holds barred game, which is what appealed to us as fans. A low margin game rewards you with high rewards. That’s the way it works.
Over the past year, what I can see is that Roger’s game has become High Risk, and LOW margin. The worst conceivable possibility. This is why he gets outhit by the big hitters (Tsonga, Berdych etc.- He can’t outhit them, and ends up getting bossed around the court if he isn’t in the groove) and gets outlasted by the better defensive players (Rafa, Murray, Gilles etc).
I mean if you’re going to get bossed around the court by a Nadal, a Murray or a Simon who are traditionally defensive players (Low Risk – Low Reward), then you as an aggressive player have to sit back and rethink your game as to how that’s happening. Because as the aggressor, YOU’RE the one who’s supposed to be sending them scampering around the court. The match should revolve around YOUR racket. Instead I see Roger straight away on the defensive, with one shot to his backhand. If you’re going to let a Low Risk game translate into High Rewards, then you really have to start worrying….OR..or start playing like that yourself. I mean if Rafa can moonball all night long, with no risk what so ever and still have Roger making retarded errors, maybe it’s time to take a leaf out of his book. But that’s never going to happen with a guy like Roger at this stage of his career.
To start with, I think he should realise that he’s achieved everything that he wanted to achieve and start playing with the freedom that he did on winning the French, (uptil the Australian Open where he beat Murray) ROger’s at his best when he’s confident. Have a look at the way he plays, the serve percentages, the shots he doesn’t miss when he’s ahead in a match. It’s a stark difference to when he’s playing Murray and can’t find a first serve to save his life.
You can only “enjoy” your game when you’re winning. Nobody likes to lose, and nobody more so than Roger. It’s a circle. Confidence= Playing Freely= Goderer= Winning= More Confidence… (That’s what he/ we “enjoy”)
Either he starts winning to get confidence, or takes a break, hits the gym and figures out a strategy to get that confidence- he needs to figure it out. Cause right now, he’s just coming on court and trying to enter the circle by ‘winning’ and take it from there. It’s worked for him in the past, because he was always winning. Now, I feel, he needs to go home and try something radically new.
– Standing back for the return and getting better returns of serve in play (he’s definitely the worst returner of serve amongst the top 5, not because he’s inherently bad at it, but because he stands too far up)
– Either becoming ultra aggressive and realising that he is WITHOUT DOUBT, THE BEST volleyer in the game. Sure, he plays some retarded second volleys at time, but that’s becuase he isn’t there often enough. But this is obviously High Risk. He needs to ensure that it translates into High Reward. (Like Stakhovsky yesterday)
– Reduce the risk in his game. Play a little more like Andy Murray. (tough at this stage of his career) and start outlasting the big hitters (all the rest of the Top 5 have better results against Berdych, Tsonga etc just because they outlast them, whereas Fed tries to outhit them)
– A combo of all of the above. Smart aggression and better strategies. He has to realise that he can’t bank on his skills alone to waltz through matches anymore.
Well, Stakhovsky just lost to Melzer pretty tamely. And Melzer has a pretty average game. He just returned decently well and stayed in points.
This is what I mean when I say Federer needs to improve the return of serve and outlast players. It has nothing to do with becoming a contortionist like Djokovic. He is just the one example. There isn’t any reason to think that he will be bending and sliding around just because he improves his return/ defense abilities.
Gaurav, come on man, you know that there really isn’t much Roger can do with that small racquet he has especially as his reflexes deteriorate. Don’t forget that Melzer is a better returner because he is very good at doubles too, something that I’m sure helped him a lot today vs. that blathering idiot.
By moving back as you suggest, Roger will have to make tremendous changes to other aspects of his game.
Well, he’s gotta do something pretty drastic unless he wants to start getting comfortable exiting tournaments in quarterfinals. 😛
True. And I’m sure he will work on it. I don’t think he is ever going to chance the racquet though 🙂
Dude, we’ve had that return of serve discussion. I talked about it too. If Roger sacrifices service receive position, he will get aced and/or stretched more and start the point off in a defensive/off balance position. It will also increase his recovery time. Not where he wants to be. The other thing, moving a foot or two back ensure the server gets that much more time, however little it might be, to establish himself for the next shot. Sure, it’s a joke how many times we’ve seen his backhand return of serve barely make it to the net, but he trusts his eyes more than anything else to read the serves. If he changes his return style, so will his playing style. I doubt he is willing to make that big an adjustment.
But I agree with you that he should become more aggressive, something he refused to against Stakhovsky. I cannot believe how passive he was. He cannot play to outlast these guys. His racquet isn’t designed for him to be able to stay consistently in rallies. They will all end with a shank.
I do not know what kind of solution he is going to come up with. But he is the GOAT. He will figure it out.
Oh, I must have missed the discussion.
I get what you’re saying, but if I’m not wrong, he’s one of the most aggressively stanced returners (court positioning). Definitely compared to most of the other big guys.
He’s already getting aced far more than the other guys. His return of serve is also weaker (percentage returned, and the quality of return)… I do think a few steps back might put more balls into play… something he isn’t really doing.
Correct. He is very aggressively stances. Moving back will make him stretch and contort his body on returns (like Djokovic) so I’m not sure he wants to do that.
Needs that bigger racquet head! X
Notice most of these giant killings are players we know little about, who have nothing to lose adrenaline is pumping due to the enormity of the occasion, this is their cup final and they produce the performance of their lives, usually beginning with success in power of their service, this exudes confidence and every other part of their game begins to work. They must add extra pressure to the big name seed even by the fact that they should be causing little difficulty, and what the reaction would be if this minnow were to beat you. Funny how you rarely see a player ranked say between 20 and 50 do the major giant killing act, why at Wimbledon do you never see a Querry, Isner or Chardy, Seppi, Fognini type beat a Djok, Fed, Murray, Nadal. They are too predictable and the players know them too well for it to happen. The Doohan’s Rosol’s, Darcis’s and Stakhovsky’s are all stoppers and that’s it, they rarely go any further in the tournament, since come the next match the court atmosphere has gone, and now all of a sudden, the comfort of playing with nothing to lose, becomes pressure on them to prove their big victory was not a one-off, which it usually is. An ordinary player usually knocks them out at the very next hurdle. I’m cursing Fed’s luck a bit here because if you changed the draw and gave Stakhovsky to Murray yesterday, would he have been able to control him any better? I also think if you caught the guy even on a different day of the week, it would be completely different story. Fed wasted his chances in the big points which was very frustrating. When he got to break point, he often then took advantage during the vital point, then when you are screaming “go on” expecting the kill, he completely wasted the execution, I recall he did this twice during the same game on advantage both times.
I actually switched off once he lost his serve in the 4th set, my heart couldn’t take it. The I noticed he broke back but told myself I would switch it back on if he could get to 2-2 sets. I know that sounds daft but sometimes I think I jinx when I watch and the score seems to go in a positive way when I check it on a scoreboard rather than watching it live!!
I am so gutted I can’t put it into words. I so wanted to watch Fed’s matches all the way to the final and this has completely spoilt my enjoyment of Wimbledon with him out. I don’t know if I can continue to take as much interest in the rest of the tournament now. I wish someone would knock Murray out, I know that much. I am feeling a little sick how easy his half of the draw is looking. If you were Murray and a genie granted you the wish to be able to secretly eliminate players from your half of the draw, you couldn’t do a better job than has been already done!
I did say on here before the tournament that Delpo was my dark horse. So I’m going to cheer for him now! Go on Delboy!…..
I quite agree with you.
I was quite excited about Darcis’ prospects. I was really impressed with his sprit and game. Pity that dive was the cause for the retirement.
It will be interesting to follow Stakhovsky’s next game(s). Hopefully he can do well, and not become another Rosol. At least makes the loss a bit more acceptable. Imagine if he goes on to beat Murray and Nole. WOuldn’t that be quite the spectacle. 😛
If he goes on to win it all, I will pardon him for the sins he committed yesterday 🙂
If Sergiy beats Andy and Novak, I think we will ask Jonathan to make a quizz about him.
Let see what is more difficult, for him to come up with 25 questions or for us to find 25 answers???
Hi Andyb….. Man i do exactly as you when Fed is struggling i go deliberately to the mens room, i then go downstairs or upstairs and have a quick glance at the score. Normally when i go back to my bedroom and watch again, usually Feds broken back and has turned it around. But yesterday me and brother couldnt believe it. That last backhand was unbelievable, it was like watching a 5 year old hitting it, that you can excuse but comming from Fed it was…..i have no words and its even worse bcos the shot b4 it was amazing.
Haha, I’m not alone then by hiding if it gets too stressful!
Guys, do you think Novak, Ferrer, especially Andy, even Rafa and definitely John Mac Enroe opened secretly a bottle of champagne last night???
No doubt. They probably video skyped Sampras to join their celebrations as well 😀
I don’t know about all that but I know for sure that Tomic is jumping up and down in his hotel room because he is in Round 3 and Roger isn’t. At least he beat Roger at something, right? 🙂 Some condescending comments he made.
You know something that is really bad and not hopefull for Roger fans?
This year I have heard a couple of players say right in the camera that they watched Roger/Rafa-matches to figure out how to beat Roger on clay and outside clay.
Now maybe players will watch the Roger/Sergiy-match to figure out how to beat him on grass and even on hardcourt.
Roger really has to figure out soon how to overcome this all….
Katyani, seriously, everybody watches everyone else’s matches, particularly the ones where their rival loses. Their coaches in particular. That’s their job 🙂 Just because they said that on camera, doesn’t mean that they weren’t doing it till that point in time. The funny thing is, it’s only after they beat Roger that they admit they were watching tapes to make it look like their strategy worked brilliantly (Tsonga and Stakhovsky recently). Every heard a guy lose and say, “Yeah, I even watched tapes for hours and hours, but that didn’t help. He was too good”. No, they don’t
🙂
Sid, do you have interest now in watch Wimby??? What about the rest of you guys???
You kidding me? No way. Haas maybe if he reaches the SF. I’m a Federer fan first, then a tennis fan 🙂
Roger=lost to player ranked out of top 100=loss quarterfinal streak=No.5=old=retirement
(yeah i know…no shit)
Did any one read this news item in the Metro this morning, it did cheer me up a little.
AudioGo.com carried out a survey to test the knowledge of 16-18 year olds about this country’s great sporting figures.
The results revealed that Henry Cooper designed the 60’s Mini, Sir Stanley Matthews sells turkeys (with his brother Bernard) and racing driver Stirling Moss is Kate’s dad..
Anyone watching Dimi? Just tuned in, he is playing a 5 setter.
Lost too! JJ is the new danger man! Served 30 aces v Nico today!
Anyone think Novak will make the mistake of underestimating his opponent after seeying what happened with Roger and Rafa?
Not a chance, but it gives rookies more belief in themselves that they can cause an upset. Wimbledon seems to go in cycles with several predictable years (where the top players more often than not reach the latter stages) followed by 1 weird year where many seeds fall and suddenly a new crop of players appear in the latter stages, take 1992 and 2001. I wonder could 2013 be the next changeover year? Or is normal service likely to resume where Fed Nadal Djok and Murray all reach the 4 semi slots again in a later slam?
And on to a happier note….. Aren’t we all glad Roger won Halle, so he atleast has one title this year, keeping up that record??? Imagine if he did not have won Halle, we would really be stressed right now…..
I am stressed. Was glad about Halle but that is very little consolation right now, especially as none of the elite players were there. What I am very concerned about is Fed’s record since the year end championships last year when he lead 3-0 in the first set v Djokovic…
1 minute he is going for his 7th year end title and has got off to a flier…. and since that point up to now (some 7 months later), he has won 1 match of any pedigree, Tsonga in 5 at the AO.
Even that one you would have expected him to win and progress. It’s hard not to be a bit concerned about how it is going for him.
Andyb, Roger is still in the run for the WTF right??? Or is he again behind Simon or so?
Halle was great but it was the way Roger won Halle that made it even more special. He had to come down from a set not once but twice. Roger needs more of these matches to raise his confidence. And that’s why a lot of us said it was too soon to win a slam but will this match destroy all of that belief he mustered in Halle? who knows. Only thing is we sit and wait and hope Federer has a wake up call and give us another shock soon (a happier one).
Here is another thing that will cheer you all up….
Date-Krumm from Japan (or Germany) at age 43 I think won her first match with 6-0 (yes, a bagle) and 6-2 and today she won her second match….
So Roger has still atleast 12 years to go….
Oh yeah, if Roger plays that long, he will be divorced and fighting for child custody. I guess that will turn out well for you, Katyani 😉
No, please, Rio and done!
Sid, first of all….hmmm….
Second of all, atleast 2018. haven’t you heard? Rafa wants to play till 2018 so Roger cannot stay behind right???
Oh Jonathan, where art thou?
Haha! Jonathan is ubiquitous with his absence 🙂
Maybe we should ban Jonathan from going to see slams when Roger is playing.
He can only go see Roger play at 250 tours, not higher !!!
Girls, what do you think??? Good idea, but we will be missing photos of our own cute fellow Jonathan !!!
Sid, “ubiquitous”. I cannot even pronounce that word, I stopped after the fourth time !!!
Had the night to sleep on it and I was hoping it was all a nightmare and that Wimbledon 2013 could restart and all was restored in the world.
I rewatched the match (hurts more the second time) and tbh I think Dull started this. They say upsets are contagious and Stak was inspired by Darcis. These guys get belief once an upset happens and he definitely had belief and a clear gameplan which Roger underestimated.
What I’m disappointed in is the way Roger played the big points- and this has been a continuing thing this whole year and what separates 2012 and 2013. Roger had a tonne of close matches last year but he pulled through because he was confident in his game and played a high level when it mattered. Can’t say the same this year I’m afraid and that’s what’s missing. Credit to Stak, Roger only has himself to blame but this tennis and all I can say is we have to stick with him when he goes through lows like this because it makes it that more sweeter when it’s the opposite. I was so happy when he won Halle because of his year so far so it does make you appreciate the wins twice as much. Roger had a good draw as well after Nadal fell out so I think that’s what adds to the disappointment but Wimbledon this year has been incredible in terms with what’s happening over there so that’s good for tennis also.
If you are still feeling sad, take a moment and think about this incredible achievement:
36 CONSECUTIVE quarter final matches-137 consecutive match wins for 10 years from R1-R4. That’s never getting broken guys. One of the most amazing stats in sports history. Another amazing stat- 10 years of being in the top 4! So as Roger falls to 5 in two weeks, take a moment and celebrate this era of accomplishments and remember what the great man says himself: “when you fall, come back even stronger.” And believe me, he will turn it up. Everything happens for a reason. I personally feel this is the US Open semi 2011 all over again. Watch him rise after this, and for now just remember what being a fan is all about.
See you guys in Canada where I’m sure Roger will be ready to get in form for NY. Don’t be too disheartened, just rewatch Wimbledon 2012 and everything will be ok!
Peace
Cool information here to give you a bit of hope- Apparently Sampras lost in the second round 11 years ago to the day as Fed did to Stak. That day too in 2002 was also a Wimbledon black day with a tonne of shit happening as well.
Gold at the end of the rainbow: Sampras went on to win the next slam in the form of his last US Open/slam title.
A lot of us are pining our hopes at the US open, so this helps knowing this! Just hope Fed won’t pull the actual Sampras and retire if he did win it…
the last time fed lost early in a slam fo 2004 he came back to win wimby 2004 …..
i know thats not much to go by though
Yep just like when he lost out first round Wimbledon 2002, he came back to win it the following year…BUT I don’t think this is going to be the last first/second round loss we will see from this point forward. It was a good run but Roger isn’t going anywhere. I at least believe he will be more motivated than ever to win a slam now.
*Caution: long post ahead*
First of all, I feel really bad for you Jonathan. And all the other fans who traveled, spent money and time to watch Roger but could not.
I didn’t have it in me to come here and post anything on Wednesday or Thursday, was too sad! It hurt and still does. But I have had some time now to think about it. Well, it was just one match. A match in which Roger was not playing his best tennis and his opponent was. One of the first things that came to my mind when the match was going downhill was the QF streak. And I was not scared that it’d be broken, but was wondering how come he even had the streak in the first place. It goes on to show how utterly unbelievable he has been in majors for 9 years. It has happened before that Roger was playing his B, maybe even his C level tennis in a match in early rounds of majors and the opponent playing his best. But Roger found a way out. He always did. The streak had to be broken one day. That it happened at Wimbledon where it all started, was probably fitting, though in a negative sort of way.
Unlike me though, I hope Roger was angry, really angry at himself for having lost. I hope he was disappointed and mad. Because that would in a way guarantee a strong comeback. Like after USO ’11. If he just accepted this loss as something inevitable, then I truly wonder if he’ll ever be back to winning ways. But I don’t think he’d still be playing if he didn’t believe he’d be back to winning ways. And I don’t think Roger Federer will ever be okay with a second round loss to a 100 something player at Wimbledon. He’s too proud for that. I hope his whole team will gather around him and find a way out of this. If Roger is indeed planning on playing for ‘many more years’, they have to.
I don’t have much technical knowledge, so I don’t know what Roger could have or should have done differently to win this match. But he seemed to play the bigger points worse than his opponent, he seemed to be not returning well enough and his net game was poor. Sergiy played a very solid match, but that should not have been enough to beat Roger Federer.
As a fan I can only hope for better things to come. I can only hope that the rest of the season will be better. I will always support him. Allez maestro!
You call that a long post? Don’t give yourself too much credit 🙂
I set out to write a long one but decided against it in the midst of the post and forgot to remove that line from the top before hitting enter!
Hmm found this http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=12526
and funny how Sampras says he would be coming back for many more years. Thing is Sampras liked to win, Federer just loves tennis. Allez!
I did not read the whole presser, but the parallels are freaking me out. Wimbledon was special for Pete, its special for Roger. They both have 7 titles. They both suffered a second round loss. They both talk about coming back stronger and for ‘many more years’. I desperately hope the parallels stop there and Roger doesn’t retire by next year. 🙁
Fedfan, no it is time to relax. Pete was a great player, one of the best, but that’s it.
Roger gets attention Pete never got and I have noticed Roger cannot be without that attention. He is tennis and he made it more popular. He is in no way in the same position as Pete. When Pete retired, I think, don’t know for sure, he got attention by the world, but not as much as Roger gets now.
I mean when he was treathened last year during Shanghai?? you know that was world news. Even made the headlines in Holland, India and other countries. Countries where he has never been.
No Roger needs this attention from his fans, the crowd, the kids, people, etc.
I think when this attention gets less, then maybe Roger is inclined to retire sooner.
But the way he is, he will remain a popular guy….
Katyani, here’s one more- Pete lost in second round on 26th June 2002 and Roger on 26th June ’13. I am not a big believer in patterns and stuff, otherwise Nadal (Madrid winner) would still be in the competition on his way to victory, or Roger would be on his victory as he had won every Wimbledon prior to this one where Nadal withdrew/lost early.
Still, that Pete-Roger thing is kind of spooky, so to say.
I agree with you that Roger is a bigger attraction than Pete ever was, and he loves the attention. Here’s hoping he doesn’t waver from his plan of playing Rio Olympics and stays in the limelight going around the tour kicking everyone’s a**es! 🙂
Pete is on record – recently – saying something like, where Roger is today is completely different from where I was at his age. I was a mess. He’s still really loving it. Not sure where I saw this… if I find it again I’ll post a link.
Here’s the quote:
“Roger is nowhere near where I was before I won my last major (at the 2002 U.S. Open). I was a mess. I was pretty lost, looking at different coaches, not really feeling great about my game. I’m not worried about Roger. He has to take care of his body, but I’m not worried about him tennis-wise. He seems really motivated to play all these events, I don’t even know where he gets that. But he could be around until he’s 33, 34, maybe even more.”—Pete Sampras, in a conference call today to promote the Greenbriar Champions’ Tennis Classic.
source:
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/04/they-said-what-sampras-federers-future/47183/#.Uc4oqdicGRN
Thinker, I remember that quote. The date is still spooky!
You’re right, Pete would have known what he was talking about and not much could have changed now since April when he said this. Only Roger can prove him right though. Hope he comes out all guns blazing and stays on tour for at least a couple more years!
Hey guys, Sergiy is playing today. We all want him to win, but I don’t.
It was said that he did not like Roger that much, because of what they went through at ATP council meetings…. but it is actually Roger who should not like this guy (I know Roger is not perfect, but this guys did in my opinion something wrong).
This is a comment from Ru-an’s site:
“You are aware that this was personal-About 2 years ago when they were arguing on the players council [Rog and Stavkok] Stavkok got a tweet to say that at least he had a good looking wife. He retweeted this which was unforgiveable. I saw the tweet!
NO WONDER ABOUT THE SHOT STRAIGHT AT STAVKOK”.
Now what is that for a rude thing to do? If you don’t agree with each other, why bring the wifes in all of this?
Sergiy is proud of his wife, so is Roger of Mirka. He would not have come this far without her.
Oke getting the tweet is one thing, but why retweeting it? (Ps: how long has it been since we can use twitter?).
I thought he deserved the win from Roger and if he gets far in the tour, well done, deserved, but from my point of view I won’t mind if he loses….
Damn, Dimi is out too….
Fed couldn’t break Stakhovsky for toffee (ok once whilst match was slipping away), and now he loses his serve in the very first game against bleedin Melzer! Kin typical.
Don’t waste any money betting on a spoiler as Connors calls em.
I had people at work telling me Stakhovsky would now make the semi, I had to tell them what a spoiler is. The guy beats the GOAT then flops like a dropped jelly in the very next match against Mr ordinary.
Fed must be pulling out clumps of hair.
It only shows you what how much it takes out of you when beating the GOAT. Stakhovsky said, “I played the best tennis of my life and almost lost”. Which is true. Roger had to win one point, any one of those points and it would actually have been a straight sets victory.
They lingered on cloud 9 so much, thinking that he can beat anyone now. Well, turns out Sergiy is only a one-match immortal.
Gotta miss Ivanisevic. That’s how you pull an upset. 😀
Waiting for the next upset! Fed is a angry I am sure and also realised Stak only a spoiler who wld lose next round! Fed needs to sort his head out big time. Last time, it was Mirka who sorted him out psychologically and she needs to do the same. If he wants to carry on and still win titles then he has to be angrier and hungrier, and that must get tougher! Ps god I hate these jingoistic Uk commentators, and I am a Brit!!!!! Sorry bit of a random post!
For Sid… On a compleately different note. Me and my brother have brought the Ps3 game ” The last of us” Playing it has cheered me up and now keeps me occupied for a bit. Than watching one win/hit wonders lose the next round!! So far the game is really good but i know it will get better and better 🙂
Awesome! I’ll start it late September, perhaps October. I play these games over a period of two to three weeks. It’s fun that way. Are you planning on getting the PS4? That thing is going to blow everyone out of the water 🙂
So, are the graphics and gameplay better than the Uncharted series?
Well…. that’s it, there is no one to stop Andy…..
Djokovic surely will if he continues playing well. And I want him to win. He needs a break after that piece of bad luck vs. Nadal at the French.
For all of you who get stressed out by the troll commentators, here’s something I read somewhere,
“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference” – Mark Twain
So, I did live through it, even though I thought for a while I was in some kind of freakish parallel universe. Caroline Cheese is doing the live blog at wimbledon.com & she wrote: *stunned silence*. That pretty much sums it up.
Point of – mathematics, I guess – I think he’s only down to #5 after Wimby, unless Berdych wins the whole thing. Close though. (Or maybe he does drop to #6 when the Olympics points come off.)
It was good to come here & read peoples’ comments & I thought what I’d do is recap my personal favorites. Just because. Also because some of these actually made me smile.
Katyani: This guy is playing…. like Roger himself
Sid: respect to the other guy for coming to the net about 100 times and winning over 70%. That’s what Wimbledon is all about. It rewards the aggressive players. That’s what Roger always advocates….To me, today was NOT a disaster. Today was the day we may see the rebirth of tennis. That aggressive front court player.
Sid: that guy came to the next 100 times in 4 sets for crying out loud!
Simon: we can’t say we want fast courts but not for Roger
(Hear, hear, simon. Just ironic that this time the fast court played to the other guy’s advantage!)
Leon: He didn’t play that bad, but he played atrociously on break points.
(We’ve talked about his bp conversion rate & I agree this is the best example we’ve seen yet of it being a real problem. We were complaining about his serve earlier this year but that was rock solid. But it’s not enough. I’m not comfortable calling it a pure mental problem – to me it’s to do with that connection to the ‘zone’ that used to come so naturally to him (at least apparently), & now, not so much. Not sure how I would recommend he address it, if he were interested in hearing opinions – sports psychologist doesn’t seem to cover everything. I think what I’m wanting is some kind of combination sports psych & body energy interventionist.)
Tom: Don’t be too disappointed guys. It’s hard for us fans to take for sure, but all runs end at some point…. It’s nice to see serve + volley and real variety, it made for a classic….Again don’t be too sad, just marvel at all his achievements, how incredible this run was. 30+ slams with QFs certainly won’t be done again in a very very long time. And he’s not exactly done yet!
(Thanks Tom. Very even-keeled response, & I appreciated it.)
Sid: I’m not sure how I should feel. Sad? because Roger lost! Or happy, because someone who used serve and volley, that I absolutely love, beat him?
Scooter: Ps – TOMMY HAAS for Wimbledon. 😀
(This put a big smile on my face. Wouldn’t THAT be amazing!)
Daria: I need a massive group hug. GROUP HUG!!!!
(This actually really helped, Daria. Thank you.)
Fed: What do you do after a loss like this? Well first, you don’t panic…. I still have plans to play for many more years to come.
Ferdie: Point is, it’s not over ‘unless’ Roger says it is over.
Tommaso: its weird to think that federer wields the power to depress so many people in the world at the same time.
(I’ve thought about this quite a bit Tommaso, how much worldwide energy is expended in positivity or negativity depending on how Rog plays. It’s not really fair to him, is it? At the end, as I was going come on Roger, oh please, I consciously changed my mental talk to “thy will be done”. It wasn’t easy.)
Daria: Fed will come back from this. I don’t doubt it for a second. And hopefully it will make him a better player and person in the process.
Sid: right now, he’s just coming on court and trying to enter the circle by ‘winning’ and take it from there. It’s worked for him in the past, because he was always winning. Now, I feel, he needs to go home and try something radically new.
Alysha: If you are still feeling sad, take a moment and think about this incredible achievement:
36 CONSECUTIVE quarter final matches-137 consecutive match wins for 10 years from R1-R4. … One of the most amazing stats in sports history. Another amazing stat- 10 years of being in the top 4! So as Roger falls to 5 in two weeks, take a moment and celebrate this era of accomplishments and remember what the great man says himself: “when you fall, come back even stronger.”
Uncle Toni (!!! yeah, I was surprised too!) (Of course he wasn’t talking about Roger, but it still fits):
To lose the first round here playing Wimbledon is very bad, but so much worse is not to play here.
One more – beautifully said:
rogerfedererfan:
While “records” and “Roger Federer” are synonymous in tennis, I personally don’t love him just because of them. I love Roger for his beautiful tennis, his on-court artistry, his off-court charm, his graciousness, humility and class. Yes this is a mourning period but as Roger said when asked about his fans, “they’ll be ok… because I’ll be ok”. He has faith that we will move forward with him. I think as fans we owe him that much that we don’t break his faith.
http://rogerfedererfan.wordpress.com/
Got back home from London, no Roger no party, my Wimbledon is over, though finally felt like catching up you guys’ comments…great that more less everybody is accepting and coping this painful loss. Thanks Thinker, your selection of comments hit the spot.
Watching the match on the Henman Hill, thought great to see the attacking game of tennis, just wishing/praying it was from our GOAT’s racket. I was desperate for a massive group hug indeed!
Well, he will be back!
I love this quote from rogerfedererfan. I’ve already gotten over my initial state of short-lived depression after watching his low for this exact reason: I know he will be ok and that makes me ok. Thanks for posting that.
Wow, well said of the Great Uncle Toni, but….. does that not also apply to AO (that was strategically missed)???
I don’t think so, Katyani. A bit, of course, as with any slam; but Wimbledon has its own aura in a way the other slams don’t. You never hear a tennis player saying “when I was growing up I always dreamed of winning the Australian Open”. It’s always Wimbledon. Even the Australians say it. For the guys who grow up on clay, Roland Garros has some of the same cachet, but even for them Wimbledon is the top. Remember that for many years, not all the top guys even traveled to the Australian Open. Very few people miss Wimbledon on purpose – Davydenko is the only recent example that comes to mind, though it’s not something I would have exhaustive knowledge of.
Hey Thinker, if Wimby is “IT” for all the male and female tennisplayers….
Isn’t it awesome that Roger is the RULER out there????
I cannot shake this feeling that Roger WILL have his 8th Wimby.
He says this year and next year will be his last reasonable chances to win GS, but…..
that still means he has 2015 and 2016. You never know and you never know with Roger.
So Sid, I’ve figured out who you are 😉 – you are clearly Greg Couch, writing for Fox Sports. Have a look at this article. Talks about Roger stubbornly holding on to his outdated racket – and also mentions that Pete Sampras apparently said, after he retired, that he wished he had changed to a larger racket:
http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/roger-federer-shows-his-age-stubbornness-to-use-modern-racket-in-stunning-loss-at-wimbledon-sergiy-stakhovsky-062613
Finally! Someone thinks like me. I’ve said this before many time. What Roger is able to do with “that” racquet, against players with “those” racques, is pure genius. It should that he truly is the greatest.
McEnroe used a wood racquet. Surely he knows it’s impossible to be a contender in this age with that equipment. Yet, he is on a mission to tarnish Roger’s legacy. He could’ve said many things but to be convinced that Nadal is the GOAT, as things stand right now, ahead of Sampras, ahead of Rod Laver, ahead of Roger Federer is just a temper tantrum. You put John McEnroe behind a mic and stupidity will win in straight sets, each time, every time.
Has anyone ever talked to Billie Jean King, or Maritina Navratilova about Roger? You will love it!
…and stupidity will will in straight sets, every time, every time. (got a laughter out me). yes, pretty much 🙂
I was watching roger’s last match wand McEnroe joined the commentator team later in the game and i just automatically closed that browser and switched to watching the game in Portugese (I don’t speak it, by the way, just french) 🙂 At least the Portugese commented less and watched more.
Hey guys, I cannot sleep, so I am going to bore you with some comments:
I saw Andy play today. He is getting dangerously close to beeing unbeatable, especially at Wimby.
Novak will have a tough time to keep him from winning it. Novak does deserve to win after his loss at RG.
I don’t want Andy to win Wimby. I think it is quite rude how he is beeing build up. If you did not know better (according to the BBC) there are only two players at Wimby, Andy and Laura Robson. Are they forgetting all the others?
Saw “Today at Wimbledon”. They showed in an half hour the matches of Andy and Laura, they showed like in less than10 minutes the match of Jerzy versus Almagro, they showed in less than 5 minutes the matches of Dimitrov and Ferrer.
My God, even Australia, America and France are not that biased about their players.
Would Andy and Laura have gotten this much attention if Wimby was not in England?? Laura is a great girl, but Wednesday they showed her match on BBC while Tsonga was playing and also some higher ranked men and women. They even showed a match of a Chinese? girl who plays for England, while I don’t know how many matches were still going on of the other top players. I forgot her name, but she lost.
Im my opinion BBC dropped the ball there.
At the ATP Rotterdam they don’t show only the Dutch players… they try to show as many matches as they can from all the players.
Wow Katyani, sorry you can’t sleep, pretty late in the Netherlands. Maybe listen to Linkin Park’s “Iridescent” – you know that’s the song Roger has requested in the past at – USO, I think. It has the line
“Remember all the sadness and frustration…. and let it go, let it go”
Hey Thinker, I am letting it go, just wrote some thoughts, thats all. It is almost half past four or five??? 04:30.
[Irisdescent – Linkin Park]
+1,000,000
I could listen to them all day! 🙂
Now that Nadal and Fed are out, there’s more pressure than ever for Murray to rack up Wimbledon. I think Djokovic might be out for blood to stop him since he’s flying way under the radar. Murray is the better grass court player but all about how he reacts to the moment.
Hey, Katyani, just catching up here. I’m afraid the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage has been like this since Tim Henman came to prominence, and has never recovered. It used to be that we’d get pretty reasonable coverage all round – even of the men’s doubles (back in the days when there were only the 2 channels), but now it’s drop everything and move the tennnis over to BBC1 because Murray’s playing, even if he’s winning in straight sets. In a highlights programme, they will naturally spend a fair amount of time covering the local players, especially if they’re thought to have a chance of going deep into the draw, but not necessarily to the exclusion of everything else: I remember Murray matches which got reduced to 5 minutes or so because something deemed more important needed to be shown. I’m not sure whether you can access the BBC’s “Red Button” service from the Netherlands, but that does give perhaps another 4 options of matches to watch. What *has* been driving me to distraction over the last week, though, has been their habit of switching matches around every few minutes, so you can’t even set the recorder to capture a specific match: tonight, for instance, we had Murray on BBC1, then that switched to BBC2 to make way for the news and displaced whatever match had been on BBC2 to one of the Red Button channels, and then we had Djokovic/Haas on BBC2 and Berdych/Tomic on RB, then they’d suddenly swap them round again, and throw in Del Potro’s match for good measure, and … AAAAGGGGHHHH!!
But yes, the jingoism of the commentators is really getting on my nerves – and the British press in general, too. When they start looking at defeats/withdrawals of top players in relation to how they make Murray’s “path to the final” easier, I think that’s a disgrace – like Sue Barker last year telling a victorious Roger that he hadn’t read the script properly (I can’t find where she said that on my recording now, but I remember her saying it, and thought that was extremely unclassy of her). I get more and more tempted to support whoever stands a chance of knocking him out: or at least I would were it not for the fact that there are people in the other half of the draw who I want to win Wimbledon rather less than I do Murray
Hey Alison, you are so right about the switching !!! I saw yesterday exactly the same things !!! It is so annoying.
First BBC 1, than switch to another match, than to BBC 2 and back and back and back !!!
You just keep swichting channels. Unfortunately the red button does not work in Holland.
And usually Eurosport 1 or Belgium or the Dutch channel also show Wimby, but this year they did not. Belgium only showed the men’s matches untill they lost.
No, England’s Wimby coverage is not that at all. Even the coverage of the USO, AO and RG are better on the other channels.
Please don’t talk about Sue Barker to me !!! That thing you wrote, she said it during the winnersspeech or Roger last year.
What I found extremely annoying and so UNFAIR to Roger was that Sue gave Andy her mike and said take your time, so Andy gave his speech (to be honest he kept it short).
But when it was Roger’s time, she did not give him her mike or give him the opportunity to thank Mirka and the team and the fans for standing by him all these years through thick and thin. She just asked him some questions, some about Andy !!!
Really, Roger should have taken the mike out of her hand or should have asked for it to give a speech. But…. Roger…. always the gentleman.
Before Wimby this year, Sue Barker said to a commentator who was sitting next to her at the Queens tour, that soon it will be Wimby time, Andy was in the drivers seat during the first set at the final last year, then it began to rain, the roof was closed and Roger won.
That was such a low low blow to Roger and so distusting from her. I mean, my God, she was the first person ever to interview Roger after winning (Wimby 2003) and she has known that he has been the Goat after that.
How soon those stupid English persons (sorry) forget. Did they not know that Roger won the second set when the roof was still open??? They are treating it like Andy had the unfortunate that the roof was closed.
For that reason alone Roger should have won Wimby, but…. it was not meant to be.
Alison, if you know my comments by now, you would know I am a firm believer in “Destiny”. I honestly believe Roger lost Wimby, because he has more important and better titles to win. That includes Wimby next year.
(I am not taking anything away from Sergiy’s great play).
And to be honest, I am not that much of a Andy fan, but because all of this I really think he does not deserve to win.
I am hoping for Novak to win…. but to be honest he would not deserve it also that much.
Yes, he would deserve it for the terrible loss he suffered at RG.
But….. is it our fault that he put all his eggs in the RG basket???
No, it is not. So why should he deserve to win Wimby? He wanted RG right?
Delpo would deserve to win, but will not get passed Novak, so I am hoping for Novak to win. Jerzy will also not make it passed Andy.
Long comment, hope you have the time to read it !!!
Have you guys noticed that there are two kind of players and not a group in between?
First are the heavier and bulkier players, like Roger, Rafa, Youzhny, Ferrer, Almagro, Robredo and all the others who are not than thin.
Second are the thinner than female models players, like Novak, Andy, Dimitrov, Janowicz. Andy is getting thinner and thinner. I was shocked when I saw Dimitrov. How much does he weigh? Jerzy, he is tall and too skinny. When Benneteau played in Holland, I saw a tennisplayer live for the first time. And I was really shocked. These guys are so thin, it must not be healthy. Dimitrov and Andy and Novak are losing weight whenever you see them, especially now they are wearing white.
And to be honest, except for Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovich, there is not one “skinny” girl, they are even more heavier than some of the male players.
Maybe players like Novak and Andy want to be so thin so they can run each ball down, but seriously, how long will they keep that up??? Novak and Andy run literally after every ball, don’t tell me that they will keep that up in their thirties??? This got to be after a while not good for your health and legs.
I don’t see those two playing past their 29 if they continue to play like this.
They will not reach Roger’s age and ranking if they chase down every ball. I mean, Andy was actually trying to get Robredo tired so he could make errors.
[These guys are so thin, it must not be healthy]
They are not unhealthy. They are defined. There’s hardly an ounce of fat on them. They are specimens. But yes, it will be tough to keep playing like that in the 30’s.
I do have to say this, Wimby is far less exciting with Roger and Rafa and company out.
I saw the Andy match, but in between I was changing channels, what a boring match.
I was happy though that Sergiy lost. Serves him right after that tweet/retweet-incident.
Some have said Roger must be mad or angry or pulling his hair out knowing that the guy who made him lose, is now losing to a less player himself (Roger would have defeated Melzer).
But I think Roger will be a little happy that Sergiy lost. Does it not feel good to know that the one who has defeated you is struggling in the next match, because you pulled every ounce of energy out of him?
I think that is the biggest compliment to Roger after beeing defeated.
Sergiy is ONLY the sixth player who defeated Roger in a slam and got defeated himself the next match.
Not bad that record for Roger…..
Afterall, this is kind of payback. Yes, Sergiy deserved the win, but he won on one point. Roger got 16 aces, he got 17. Roger got 161 points, he got 162. All the other stats were pretty close.
And you know guys, it is not that easy to convert breakpoints. I know Roger should have converted them, but that is not that easy. You don’t want your breakpoints to be converted, so does your opponent.
The match Novak played against the last American, he had like 14 or 15 breakpoints and he converted only three.
Not that easy to convert breakpoints, but Roger will have to find a way.
So…. Roger is not winning RG anymore and Rafa is not winning Wimby anymore??? Is that accurate???
So this means Roger’s best chances are Wimby and USO and Rafa’s best chances are RG and AO???
If 2011 was one of Roger’s worse years, like 2013, than that means 2014 will be his 2012 year.
Something to look forward to.
Many of you have said that the difference between 2012 and 2013 is Roger’s winnings and confidence.
He won so much last year, it made him confidence to fight and close out matches and win them.
Something he has not done this year, because of lack of matches, winnings and confidence…. something Rafa has done this year.
So…. should Roger also play next year more smaller tours (like 250 tours) and doubles to keep him confident enough not to choke at bigger tours? Should he apply what Rafa did this year??
I hope and prey that the second round Wimby loss will be his USO 2011 loss wake up call.
Now it is up to Mirka to wake him up in the middle of the night and tell him: Roger you can lose matches, but not this many. And we all know what Roger did the last time she said it to him.
I don’t know if you will agree with me or not, but on one hand I want Roger to play as many matches as he can and to practise as much as he can, but on the other hand I do want his twins to know their father.
What good does it do to be the Greatest of all time and your only daughters don’t know you because they never see you? What is the benefit then of heaving the Goat title???
I am so proud and impressed by him that he is trying to combine both.
Believe me, history will not be kind to you if you are the Tennisgod or Tennisgoat and at the same time heaving your children write a book about you that they rather had you as their father than you as tennis icon.
If we can be happy about one thing this Wimby is that Thank God……. Rafa was first out and the day Roger went out, also 6 former number ones were out too and many more because of an injury.
Can you imagine the heat Roger would have gotten over him if he was the first to leave??
He would be trashed by the media, etc.
Isn’t Karma helarious? Roger is the one advocating faster courts and more serve & volley and he gets beaten by the guy who does that the best???
What would have happened if Sergiy had to play Novak or Andy? Who would have won then?
Sergiy would have defeated Rafa in a heartbeat. Would not even go to three tiebreaks.
What if Darcis had to play Novak or Andy, who would have won then? Roger would so have beaten Darcis !!!
I still believe in “Destiny” (although my Roger/Dimitrov-fear did not come out at Wimby).
Roger is destined for other things to win. His AO 2012 loss was heartbreaking, but he was meant to be winning Wimby 2012.
Maybe “Destiny” has other plans for him, not winning Wimby, but maybe winning USO and AO (and maybe even RG).
Something to worry about already… If Rafa wins RG next year, he will be and will always be the first and only person to win the same GS 9 times and if Roger gets stuck at 7 Wimby, the Goat discussion will begin all over again.
Mac Enroe is so stupid. Appearently he said to an English newspaper that if Andy did not make the final he would be a loser. When he was asked about it by the host of “Today at Wimbledon” he of course like a coward denied it and said that he did not mean it like that and that he was misquoted.
I know the guy a little bit and I know that was exactly what he said. It is so him.
On Roger’s site there is again this discussion about Annacone as his coach. That he should ‘let him go” and find a coach like Vajda or Lendl or Cahill (who is that?). What do you guys think??
Nah, the problem was not the coach. the problem was Roger himself AND especially sergiy
Darren Cahill-an Aussie coach and a good one too but Simon is right. All Roger here I’m afraid. The coach can travel to the moon to the back but ultimatley Roger is the one on the court who must play. Annacone has done a tonne for Federer-I mean, the guy won a 17th slam with him and got him back to number one. How disrespectful of fans- true blind worshippers if they fail to see that Roger is the one to blame here. Fed isn’t confident enough in the big moments, has nothing to do with Annacone, needs to get more match wins. But Stak was playing out of his mind so not much you can do there. Wimbledon always the most surprising of the slams and anyone is vulnerable to an upset-including the king of grass.
Hey Alysha, I am not going to lie, like I wrote before, sometimes I do get mad at Annacone, but when the match begins it is all Roger, not Annacone. He may teach Roger the best things ever before a match, but if Roger screws up during a match, that is not Annacone’s fault.
The job of any coach stops when the player starts the game, then it is all up to him.
And yes, you are so right, fans should not forget that Annacone was the reason Roger won his 7th Wimby and returned to number one.
[The job of any coach stops when the player starts the game
Toni Nadal disagrees. Sorry!
Sid +1 !!!
Okay, i know this is a little late, but i have to say this nonetheless.
“Wimbledon fast grass. Oh how i missed you!”
Players who have slipped and retired/possibly injured themselves, learn to f***** move properly instead of stomping every where!
Attacking tennis all the way #ServeAndVolley#is#the#reason#behind#many#random#orgasms!
Hey all,
Back from Wimbledon, not the greatest of days as I didn’t see Fed but camping out was pretty fun.
Thanks to everyone who commented on this and they all make really interesting reading. I’m not going to reply to them all individually as I think the moment has passed for the majority of them as many were made just after the defeat in the aftermath.
Just done my post with my thoughts on it, echoes many of the ones you have left here.
Jonathan
Olá Jon!
AHHH, what annoys the most is that I really loved Rogi’s Wimby outfit and I only got to watch 2 matches of it, such a waste!
Once you couldn’t see Rogi playing, at least I hope you got tan!
Tchau!
WARNING: Extremely hot! So hot, that you could die.
http://tinyurl.com/n5nhlda
Just watched the Sabine vs. Williams highlights. Williams in my opinion, has absolutely horrible footwork. I mean, if it weren’t for her serve, which is no doubt the best shot in womens tennis, she would be a nobody. Even her form on regular ground stokes is bad. I can’t believe this woman has 16 slams (serve and brute strength on ground strokes I guess).
Anyone who can figure out her serve can beat. That’s precisely what “Sensual” Sabine did 😉