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Federer takes on role as backroom power broker (ATP future and situation)

11K views 113 replies 57 participants last post by  Aloevera 
#1 ·
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2012/11/04/atp-world-tour-finals-roger-federer/1681357/

7:59PM EST November 4. 2012 - LONDON -- In a career spanning three decades, Roger Federer has assumed an increasing number of roles -- husband, father, company spokesman, and of course, to many, greatest player of all time.

His latest is among the most unexpected, especially for a man raised in a country known for its benign neutrality: backroom power broker.

But after leading the ATP Tour Player Council as president the last three years, Federer has become a savvy student of the laws of political governance.

"It's been a great life-school," said the tri-lingual Swiss star Sunday as he prepared to defend his season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title. "Can you say that?"

Much of Federer's behind-the-scenes work this year has focused on persuading the four majors to share a larger piece of the revenue pie with players. He has also lobbied that a larger percentage of prize money go to earlier rounds to rectify a growing income distribution gap.

That work has increasingly fallen on his shoulders, as both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, once Player Council members, left their leadership positions.

Take his pre-tournament schedule last month at the Masters event in Shanghai.

Under added security because of death threats, Federer arrived on a Friday and discussed strategy with ATP player and board representatives till about 1 a.m. He practiced the next morning, spent about 7 hours in meetings with various representatives of the Grand Slams and still attended the player party Saturday night.

On Sunday evening, he hosted three hours of meetings in his hotel room with the Player Council, ATP executive staff, and U.S. Open executives -- all before he struck a match ball.


"Roger has so many demands on his schedule and the fact that he is investing so much time into the player council and these negotiations shows his character and how much he cares for the future of the sport," doubles specialist and council member Eric Butorac of the USA wrote in a recent email. "I believe it is very unprecedented to have a top player so involved."

It's not just Federer's time than matters. It's his clout.

"I think having someone like him on the council can be a big benefit, especially if you're going into important meetings with the Grand Slams," No. 3 Andy Murray said Saturday.

Reserved by nature, Federer has come a long way in understanding the needs and concerns of everyone from players ranked well outside the top 50 to doubles specialists.

"Managing and supporting all the players has been very challenging and very interesting," said Federer, who sat down with USA TODAY Sports on Sunday.

Federer did not slip into the role of leader without some angst.

As a young man, Federer says he shirked responsibility -- or in his words, "I used to run away from taking decisions."

"I never saw tennis this way -- doing that many different things," he said. "I thought it was a little bit of press, practicing and playing matches. That's it. Maybe I was a bit naïve."

But he says he's learned to handle the stress level of various constituents needing immediate answers because he wants to leave the game in a better place when he's gone.

"Today I actually enjoy doing it," he said. "I have some power and some leadership I guess. I like using that for the best for everyone involved."


It is, like his precise shotmaking and fluid movements, a delicate balancing act. Demands can stretch on and on. The mind can become weary. Focus can waver.

"I have to be careful I don't do too much because I am there to play well," he said. "I don't want to be exhausted once I get to the match court. I don't want to be tired at the end of the third set mentally because I've just done too much. It's always a bit of a balance, but with experience I think I've gotten the hang of it."

Federer has been called out by his peers, including his arch-rival Rafael Nadal, for perhaps hewing too closely to his cautious Swiss roots and not pushing hard enough for change.

But Federer was not shy in pointing out that in his extended absence due to knee problems, 26-year-old Nadal has been largely MIA from the players' push for a larger share of revenues from the majors.

"Players do look up to Rafa, so it would be nice to see him maybe a bit more engaged," Federer said.


Despite threats of a boycott and other hard-line tactics -- for tennis -- Federer and his fellow players and ATP executives have shepherded successes.

The French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open each contributed a larger percentage of prize money to earlier rounds this season.

The Australian Open will do the same in January, and in a pre-emptive strike already announced the biggest year-over-year prize money increase in its history.

More important, Federer said, is the "productive" dialogue taking place.

"I'm happy that we've gotten to the table with the Slams and been able to explain our case," he said.

At 31, Federer is brushing up against the usual threshold when age undermines skill, which means every minute and every decision he makes counts.

In that regard, time management might just be the Swiss' biggest asset. He seems to have found a formula that works.
Pretty interesting to see, if anyone can push it is Roger but I don't know how much is the ATP willing to budge, specially with the IW precedent now.

And he answered Rafa's claim of him not being involved enough but not by being vocal but by actually getting shit done, even if it is behind closed doors.
 
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#2 ·
One more example as to why Roger won the sportsmanship award.

He takes time before a tournament to attend meetings. He does a lot of work for the best interest of the lower ranked players and people call him greederer.

Look at nadal, he tries to impose 2 year rankings and has his own agenda. He wants the ATP to work for hgim almost and when things don't go his way he leaves the vice presidency of the players council. Disgusting behavior. Even though he is injured he could participate in this meetings and try to improve the game not only for his benefit but for the benefit of others but I guess he's too occupied going fishing, watching real madrid games and hanging out with his buddy/dog monaco.

This is yet another example of how much more than just the greatest tennis player ever Roger Federer is. He is trying his best to "leave the game in a better place when he's gone." That is highly commendable. Also his worries are not with himself and top players only but also with " players ranked well outside the top 50 to doubles specialists."

Roger Federer :hatoff:
 
#25 ·
hm, and where was federer at the tender age of 25-26? I don't think he was spending hours at council meetings then.
These guys also want their piece of destiny, it is not fair to judge them.

I believe they will also become more active towards the end of their careers.
 
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#5 ·
He does so much for tennis. Keep it going champ!

In b 4 haters bullshits
 
#8 ·
:worship: GOATerer :worship:

Hope haters will read this.
Won't make any difference for most of them. Seasoned haters have made up their minds long ago, any new information is either read in the worst possible light or, if they can find no opportunity to spin a negative note, simply ignored. But there is always the hope of convincing more recent, less invested haters that there's really not much to hate here.
 
#12 ·
So true! :worship:

Thanks for posting this article in here, as I think people who aren't necessarily his fans should see it. Fantastic answers, I especially liked the one about "using his leadership for the best of all involved." :yeah:

Yes, this isn't really about Roger alone but the actual state of the game, since he's the President of the Players' Council :) I really like to hear him stating things about the game, he really knows what's going on. :)

If only Rafa could be more like the perfect gentleman Roger has become. :rolleyes: His temper tantrums didn't resolve anything for the players. It was so generous of Roger to pick up on the fact that Rafa had a positive effect on the inner workings of the ATP and had some leadership abilities before he chose to throw it all away. :(
 
#11 ·
The most surprising news in this article was Rogi admitting that he did indeed have some faults in his makeup as a human during his younger years.

He's perfect now of course.
 
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#21 ·
NID, Greederer lobbying for this just when he's about to retire in a couple of years
precisely he could have avoided doing that for many reasons :

1. not much concerned by the changes as he will retire (he said that actually about the suppression of the week between Paris and the WTF "I don't think it's a good decision but well I'm old and it's their future")

2. is isolated for the orientations against younger top-players (Murray will always back Nadal, and Nadal and Djokovic shared common wills/interests)

3. this kind of "coordinating job" when you don't give the main orientations is not very cheerful

4. he has many other things to do, is the most interviewed player by far for instance, and he's a father of two young twins

but apart from being concerned in the future of the Tour and feeling that after Ljubicic left this job, not many others could have done it, I think he actually likes and is interested in such kind of things, at least he said so.

And more impressively he seems to be very good in organizing oneself, managing a very busy schedule and separating his mind into several parts. This is surely the thing which impresses me most (Roddick also said he was impressed by that actually) as I think very few people understand how busy he is and how many different skills it implies.
 
#15 ·
Excellent. Federer moving into the power-vacuum Don Toni leaves behind. (Toni was using his Rafito pawn). I approve Feds methods and his love for the lower ranked henchmen. He could lead the ATP brotherhood into a new golden age. Only problem is that he's getting older. When Federer's time is over the remaining top guys will fight over his power-position and fan-votes like vultures over a fresh carcass.
 
#16 ·
"Players do look up to Rafa, so it would be nice to see him maybe a bit more engaged," Federer said.
I can fully understand looking up to him as a player, but as a leader :eek:?

Rafito shouldn't be involved with these kind of things.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I don't think as the president of the players' council he's really a "power broker", I mean he's not an executive, and I don't think he has much power because he's isolated from other top-players on main topics, and you can't really have power when you're isolated hence it's these other players who gave the orientations (for instance we heard he was isolated about the 2-year ranking system -which fortunately received other oppositions- and about the suppression of the week between Paris-Bercy and the WTF ; besides, on the slam prize money concern, he was not the one who took the initiative either, he just worked for the implementation of the increases).

Hence his power on these topics is very much overrated imo. Being president of a council is completely different from being an executive president.

But of course putting his hands in the job and in the compromises, which is very time and brain-wasting, he has the possibility to orientate the final decisions and it is imo the main reason why he kept on doing that with the fact that it seems that he likes and feels entitled being implied in that.

For instance I heard that the calendar reform putting the WTF right after the US Open was delayed until 2015 and he can have played a role in that delay with all of the other reasons which make that institutions have a resistance against such big changes (for instance it was heard that claycourt players resisted the move of the southAmerican clay season to december even if the tournament organizers quite liked that move)

What I also said on that on another topic :

For months I've thought about what was going on underground, which was surely very demanding and worrying for Fed, who has been said by the ATP board as someone who really implies in this job, including reading every note, listening, etc ...

As a fan, I've wanted him to go away from that for months as Nadal wisely did for his one self.

Even though for tennis as a whole, I think it's better that Fed's kept on doing that.

MTFers only know one thing about those job and debates : the gossiping which goes in the media.

But that's only 1% of the job : there's so much more going behind, and for that, as Forget said (Forget who very harshly criticized Fed for asking more prize money from Roland-Garros because the French Tennis Federation had given him a job to fight against those demands), you need a lot of sensible diplomatic work and not loopy gossipings in the media.

Mostly what Fed has received for that is critics :
- critics from players like Nadal and Stakhovsky who don't like "compromises" and being too "Swiss", that is moderate ;
- critics from the French Open who fights against increasing prize money ;
- critics from fans who think that every change is decided by the only Federer, being the president of the council, which is absolutely untrue because most of the changes which emerge for the coming years come from Nadal's, Murray's, Djokovic's and others' desires, Federer being mostly isolated against them in those matters (as has been said on the 2 year-ranking system or the week between Paris and the WTF or about putting the WTF right after the US Open) as one guy, even a council's president (which doesn't mean an executive president like the president of the USA :lol: ), has little power against many ones.

Federer as the president of the players' council is not a decider, he's a representative and facilitator listening, thinking and looking for compromises and cooling down people who are too categoric in their demandings. And institutions need guys like that. Quite often, when Fed spoke in recent months on those topics, he didn't say what he wanted but he tried to represent what the players overall wanted, that's a very common misconception when people talk about institutions not to understand the difference between both.

I'm certain he has been tremendously helped in that and other things by other clever, politically experienced and sensible guys like Ljubicic (who said Fed was his best friend on Tour after Thomas Johansson left), Nieminen and many other ones.

And well, I think all of this is vastly ignored and underrated by most people on MTF who don't know anything about how institutions work.
 
#19 · (Edited)
And he answered Rafa's claim of him not being involved enough but not by being vocal but by actually getting shit done, even if it is behind closed doors.
he answered nothing (and Rafa didn't say he was not involved enough, he knows he works a lot, he said he was too moderate and not enough demanding, too "Swiss" :lol: ), he did it his way, which is different from the way Nadal by instinct thought it should be done. I don't think Fed was worried with Nadal's words but probably he was more worried with other players' demands because they were numerous and made a big threat : boycotting a slam.

The difference between Nadal and Fed imo is not so much that one is Swiss, the other one is Spanish, but one is older and more experienced in those things. Which Forget described as "some are old hands, others are a bit loopy but we need both" (Ljubicic quite said the same actually : he's not systematically critical of Nadal as some think :lol: ).

In the end Nadal was more of the decider and the orientater, Fed more like the operational coordinator. Primarily because Nadal had the support of other top-players, notably Djokovic and Murray.

But also well, quite often it's like that : youngsters give the orientations because they have a better idea of the future, at least of how they want it to be, but to put these things in application, you need experienced guys who will be wiser in details and at compromising.
 
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#23 · (Edited)
Nadal initiated the calendar reform (with Djokovic who talks less but was also very active to make propositions) but not the slams prize money demands. He rather tried to use that slams prize money demand to get support from the other players for his other plans.

It seemed to work very well at one moment because there was a conjunction of these "revolutionary" demands in the same Australian open meeting (remember Stakhovsky saying "I generally don't think the 2-year ranking system is a good thing but I support it if I can't get an increase in the slams prize money, as it's better if my ranking to enter the slams is protected" ... and anyway I want a revolution then I like Nadal pushing all that mess and threatening for boycott :lol: )

but he gave up when the prize money demands were dealt with well enough to completely separate that demand from Nadal's main plans.

The slams prize money demand seems to have been initiated by a group of Russian players, including Tursunov, Bogomolov and Youzhny + the Ukrainian guy Stakhovsky.
 
#24 ·
It's great to see Fed doing his part to help out the players as a whole. I especially like the push for more prize money in the earlier rounds, as it will allow the up and coming players to make a better progression. More money can mean better training, travel, etc so that they can have the best shot to get better.
 
#31 ·
these people are so desperate to claim anything. This article is just an article , actually it's more like a press release. Federer needs all the media brainwashing that he can get. Just this week he said that he deserves to be number 1 no matter what. The man always takes digs at other top players when he is safe through the media but he would never say so in their face. He deserves to be ignored and ostracised no matter what the media tries to say.
 
#34 ·
these people are so desperate to claim anything. This article is just an article , actually it's more like a press release. Federer needs all the media brainwashing that he can get. Just this week he said that he deserves to be number 1 no matter what. The man always takes digs at other top players when he is safe through the media but he would never say so in their face. He deserves to be ignored and ostracised no matter what the media tries to say.
Yeah, right, that's exactly what he said :rolleyes:

http://www.tennis.com/news/2012/11/federer-djokovic-legit-no-1/40039/

Roger Federer says Novak Djokovic deserves the year-end No. 1 ranking. The Serbian reclaimed the top spot last week after losing it to Federer when the Swiss won Wimbledon. Djokovic is guaranteed to the end the year at No. 1, regardless of what occurs at the ATP World Tour Finals.

"The real number one, we know who that is going to be, it's going to be Novak, so I think there should not be any debate around that," Federer told reporters. "Number one, you don't get there by chance. The rankings are something that show you how you've played over a 365-day period.
I mean dude, honestly, if you're gonna hate at least don't make up stuff that doesn't exist.
 
#39 ·
OMG now we know why he lost to Shangaï! Spending so much time out of court with tiresome political struggles!
 
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