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The Federer Decline Thread

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#1 ·
An interesting piece from Tom Perotta

Relax Federer faithful, it's only March

by Tom Perotta
Special to ESPN.com


No, dear fans of Roger Federer, the sky isn't falling. The No. 1 ranking is not in jeopardy just yet. It isn't time for your man to do something drastic, like hiring Brad Gilbert as a coach, shaving his head or asking Wilson to design him a new racket or some new strings. He doesn't need any encouragement from Tiger Woods, who has been tightening his grip on the title of "most dominant athlete in the world." He doesn't need to change his technique or his strategy or his training methods. One loss to Andy Murray at a small tournament in Federer's de facto home of Dubai doesn't doom a career.

Still worried? That's reasonable enough. Federer looked flat in Australia, understandable considering the food poisoning he had before the tournament began. It was also recently revealed the Swiss had mononucleosis -- unbeknownst to him at the time -- Down Under. However, before he played Murray, he said he was fit and eager to play. He seemed ready to make a statement, that statement being, "I'm Roger Federer, and you are not." He had to have been confident despite not playing in five weeks, since he had won in Dubai in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 -- and lost in the final in 2006.

This would be his first appearance since losing to Novak Djokovic, the man most people peg as the next No. 1 player in the world (the confident Djokovic is no doubt one of those people). It was the Swiss' first chance to remind his rivals who runs the tour. Instead, Murray was only reminded that Federer's forehand occasionally disappears for games at a time.

Perhaps you're not worried about the Murray match, but something else? You're concerned that Federer has a long year ahead of him. He's scheduled to play more tournaments than usual, plus the Olympic Games in Beijing. He also has more good players to contend with than at any other point in his career. In four years as the No. 1 player in the world, Federer hasn't had to overcome a lot of obstacles at one time. He's had no season-ending injuries, no personal tragedies and no consistent threats on the tour other than Rafael Nadal on clay and, the past two years, Nadal at Wimbledon.

In the next two years, he'll face adversity, in the form of Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and maybe, just maybe, a player like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, wherever he goes. He'll have to worry more about injury as he ages. He'll have to worry about losing motivation or confidence if he loses a few more matches. He'll have to deal with the pressure of being two major titles away from Pete Sampras' record of 14 -- so close, but still quite far away considering how abruptly a dominant tennis career can end (a 25-year-old John McEnroe won two majors in 1984 but couldn't win another one in his final eight years on the tour).

Federer has a lot on his mind, and a lot left to accomplish, but there's no cause for worry. In tennis, confidence comes and goes quickly. Remember how things looked in November? Federer dominated his last three matches at the Masters Cup and Djokovic ended the year with five consecutive losses and seemed destined for a slump in 2008.

Andy Murray wasted no time derailing Roger Federer's hopes of getting back on track in Dubai.
A little more than three months later, Djokovic is the Australian Open champion and taken seriously when he makes absurd comments, like: "Considering the results this year, I expected Murray to win." No doubt, Murray was going to have a chance, but Djokovic expected Murray to win? Really? What results was he looking at? Couldn't have been that first-round loss Murray suffered at the Australian Open to Tsonga. Maybe it was his first-round loss to Robin Haase, ranked No. 94 in the world, in Rotterdam a few weeks ago. A convincing performance indeed.

There was a lot to dislike about the way Federer played against Murray. He returned terribly (he didn't win a single point against Murray's first serve in the third set, 0-for-14) and he sprayed a lot of forehands. He was aced 10 times -- a credit to Murray but rare against Federer (Andy Roddick usually won't ace Federer that often in three sets).

Still, there was a lot to like, too. Federer frequently attacked the net, as he did in Shanghai last year. He served well in the first and third sets. He seemed to move well, which wasn't the case by the end of the Australian Open. Why doubt that he'll return to the form he had just a few months ago? He's had cold streaks before and come out of them just fine. Remember Guillermo Canas and Filippo Volandri? Canas beat Federer twice last year and Volandri beat him once. By the end of 2007, did those losses mean anything at all?

While the early loss in Dubai deprived Federer of a few useful warm-up matches leading up to Indian Wells, it might also help him. He can now fly to the United States sooner than he might have planned for the Sampras exhibition next week. Last year, Federer lost his first match at Indian Wells, in the second round, after winning it the previous three seasons. He stands to gain a lot of ranking points if he does well. He could gain a few more in Miami, where he lost in the fourth round. If he wins both tournaments and performs well at Estoril, Portugal, where he didn't play last year, he'll have a cushion over Nadal in the rankings that the Spaniard won't be able to top without a Federer flop at Roland Garros or Wimbledon, or a sensational hard-court season from Nadal (which has yet to happen). Djokovic has a lot of points to defend in the coming weeks, too, and he's still 1,300 points behind Federer.

If Sampras double-bagels Federer at their exhibition Monday night, maybe then Federer fans will have something to worry about. Otherwise, remember that it's only March. You might end up remembering this season as the best of Federer's career.

Tom Perrotta is a senior editor at Tennis Magazine.
 
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#969 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Federer didn't peak yet, he'll peak in 2016 and win CYGGS (Calendar Year Golden Grand Slam) and 7 masters (including the ones he didn't win so far) to break Novaks record of 5. He'll also win Davic Cup by winning 8 singles matches and every doubles match almost on his own, with Wawa only standing there to serve and return serves. You heard it here first folks. Come on Olderer :rocker2:
 
#976 ·
Federer didn't peak yet, he'll peak in 2016 and win CYGGS (Calendar Year Golden Grand Slam) and 7 masters (including the ones he didn't win so far) to break Novaks record of 5. He'll also win Davic Cup by winning 8 singles matches and every doubles match almost on his own, with Wawa only standing there to serve and return serves. You heard it here first folks. Come on Olderer :rocker2:
This.

He's also going to win WTF and Basel obviously.

But you are wrong on one thing: he's going to win all 9 masters.

:)
 
#972 · (Edited)
Tards here are so insecure about their players and their players' achievements that they need to diminish Fed's success.

And now that he's got back to number one they can't accept it, and must calk it a fluke. As if one could fluke number one back... :spit:

:haha:
 
#975 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Oh god .... this Greatness is a smart one :facepalm:
 
#981 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

There is nothing impressive about beating , old man federer , no knees nadull and no slam Murray.
Novak beat nadull but it was not on clay so good but not great.RG
 
#1,000 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

There is nothing impressive about beating , old man federer , no knees nadull and no slam Murray.
Novak beat nadull but it was not on clay so good but not great.RG
Learn to read: their rivals would be the same ones Federer faced, including Gonzalez, Bagdhatis, Roddick and the other "amazing" players Federer dominated to win his slams early on. Remove Federer, replace him with Prime Novak or Prime Murray or Prime Clay monster to face the tour from 2003-2006. Anyone who thinks they wouldn't dominate is delusional.





I know, Sampras is also facepalming that a weak era made Federer beat his record so quickly.



It's because a lot of his achievements are circumstantial.
Of course Agassi was too old and way past his prime, but that's precisely the point: a 35 year old Agassi was still able to make a slam final in a time where Federer fanboys say the players were mostly elite and the competition was tougher. lol

Don't be a simpleton, greatness is not measured by how many mugs you defeated but how many greats you defeated and in which fashion.

Which one would you say is greater: Murray beating Federer at the Olympics for gold or Rafa beating Federer at Wimbledon in the epic 2008 match? Both are great, one is greater because of the importance of the tournament and the fact that the match was played at a much higher level. Winning against Federer in 2008 at Wimbledon adds more to Rafa's greatness then Murray owning Federer at the Olympics this year.
There is a clear difference that anybody with common sense can discern.

The same applies for beating Roddick, Haas, Ferrero, Kolschreiber and others versus beating Rafa on clay convincingly or beating Rafa/Federer/Murray usually back to back to win slams; which is something Novak had to do several times.

Federer fanboys won't admit it but it's painfully obvious he thrived due to a weak field of players.




Don't need acknowledgement from irrelevant fanboys on internet forums. The great McEnroe praised Djokovic's run in 2011 as better than his because he said the field was tougher and Novak had to face Federer/Murray/Nadal to do it. Even a tennis legend can admit there can be a difference in difficulty and magnitude of achievements depending on who you face, but Federer shoe lickers on forums are stuck on thinking spanking Roddick on grass deserves the same praise as beating Rafa at Roland Garros (a feat Federer never accomplished). Lol
I saw Prime Novak/ nadull/ Murray in action already no need to guess to much.
A players Prime is generally. 21-25 years old. Nadull since June 2007 and Novak and Murray since may 2008. In that time frame all of them lost to nobodies and members of Feds old era . Was past their Prime.
And u want me to believe they would dominate any period of time in any era .
Expected from nole trolls. Tennis knowledge isn't their strong point.
Safin/ haas/ Roddick/Melzer/Hewitt/kohlsriber/ferrer/rosol / wawrinka/Verdasco/ Soderling / Kendrick / Gonzalez all beat these players in their Primes and u with a straight face telling me they will dominate them in their Primes. Nole trolls what can u say . Started watching tennis since 2007.
 
#984 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Overhyping ballerina as usual. Don't you remember the thrashing he took at RG just weeks before? If it wasn't for his cake draw and legendary luck -benneteau, anyone?- he would be number 3 now.
 
#987 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Well, with Nadal 2-2 after RG and Ferrer 5890 points behind Federer we can safely assume he is not going to drop to #4 anytime soon. So I don't know why activity continues in this thread. It can always be brought back up when needed.
 
#988 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

People kepp predicting that Roger will fall from top 10, now it's top 3 (more conservative).

Roger will eventually drop from the top 5 because I don't think he will retire in the next 2 years.

But I do believe ROger will still be in the top 10 by the time he retires (maybe in 2016).
 
#999 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

The butthurt of Djokovic fans in this thread is hilarious. I don't think they even believe what they are saying. Just coming up with new ways everyday to put down Federer as if it somehow elevates Djokovic. The more they say Federer sucks, the more Djokovic goes down in estimation considering Federer just beat him in their last slam meeting at almost 31 yrs old :lol:
 
#1,001 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

The butthurt of Djokovic fans in this thread is hilarious.
What did you expect, Fed stopped Nole from breaking record RG 2011, and also made him lost his Wimby title and #1 ranking as well, pretty much ruined big part of Nole recent career ;)

Even after all this, i still never hated Nole, that guy is ok in my eyes, and the most ego-free tennis player today, but his fans are just no comment.
 
#1,174 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Nothing darling, I like you and I want to keep it cool and that way.

But I see you're a little... agressive since Wimbledon, I reckon there are some FedTardz that deserve it and they're little fucky-bitchez-cabrones.

But in my humble opinion, you're taking it to a next level, giving enough importance to tardz and attacking the player himself.

I don't know, do whatever you want, I'd still be cool with you, but I won't deny what I think about it.
Well if I cannot bent it out after Wimbledon, when can I? I think I'm entitled to at least feel some anger. Roger has won more than any person on this planet really could deserve. At least let me hate him a little bit. As soon as he stops winning, I'll be ok with him again, he's not a bad guy. :lol:
 
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#1,175 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Well if I cannot bent it out after Wimbledon, when can I? I think I'm entitled to at least feel some anger. Roger has won more than any person on this planet really could deserve. At least let me hate him a little bit. As soon as he stops winning, I'll be ok with him again, he's not a bad guy. :lol:
 
#1,002 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Firstly fed is #1 at 31 years .how strong can this era be. This year alone fed beat Murray/ Novak / nadull.
Tell me when Novak goes back in time to 2003-2006 . Is he glutinous or gluten free. You and I both know it would make a big difference
*winke winke*
Nadull would be on the disabled list more often than not with his physical style of play. His injuries are a DIRECT result of his grinding and would occur in any era of time regardless.
 
#1,010 ·
Weak era argument has definitely failed when Fed (old man well past his prime) got back his number one ranking at 31 when his rivals are still in their prime. Just imagine what he would have done if they were all from the same generation...
Fed has had the number one ranking in three periods in a span of eight and a half years (2004-2012), stop with this weak era nonsense.

Tards just can't accept it... They need to find more excuses... :haha:

I remember the comments in the WWW thread before the wimbledon semifinal... "Nole will thrash olderer", "watch olderer pull the back excuse when Nole straights set him tomorrow"... :haha:
 
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#1,015 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

At least NADAL FANS (i'm polite :D) this year are bearable i can say even neutral toward FedFans ... but it is beyond me how these butthurted Fakerbitchtards are so :facepalm:
 
#1,023 ·
#1,026 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Some1 asked (I think if was duarte) a few days ago to mark or the other person using that marat pic, to change it cuz he was about to become crazy trying to figure out who said who, so now I think they decided to have that avatar too just to prove a point.

How silly is it right??

:)
 
#1,030 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Some1 asked (I think if was duarte) a few days ago to mark or the other person using that marat pic, to change it cuz he was about to become crazy trying to figure out who said who, so now I think they decided to have that avatar too just to prove a point.

How silly is it right??

:)
The full story is
Mark Lenders had (originally) the Safin avatar.
one day (yesterday i think or today more likely today)
Looner decided to be with Safins avatar too
and then it happened :D
Shinoj asked Looner if looner can change his avatar back (to Fed i think i forgot already :D ) cause he is confused by that and he must watch their names to know who is who so ... it happened
Duarte_a changed his avatar too and then I changed it ... thats the legend
 
#1,031 · (Edited)
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Typical asinine posts by Greatness and Elister. Very, very bitter :worship: respond to theoretical shit with more theoretical shit and claim you're right. Sounds like religion.

One thing I have to definitely point out for the sake of the "trash field 2004-2007" theory, is Rafa, Novak and Andy didn't start their "peak" abilities until this "trash field era" was over, as in post-2007. Coincidence? Excuses? You tell me. Rafa had several losing H2H records from Federer's crappy era including Hewitt, Blake, and Youzhny. Strange that when those 3 players got older is when Rafatards claim he was finally a good player off clay.
 
#1,034 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

still with the Fed 2006 v Nole 2011?

amazing

think of Fed in 2006, he went all year losing to only TWO men

his record 92-5

90-0 against the whole tour apart from Nad/Muzza!
 
#1,035 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

still with the Fed 2006 v Nole 2011?

amazing

think of Fed in 2006, he went all year losing to only TWO men

his record 92-5

90-0 against the whole tour apart from Nad/Muzza!
U can see the depth of the tour back then with this stat. :help:
 
#1,038 · (Edited)
Leave the trolls alone.

Their "weak era" argument has been destroyed the day old man Fed at 31 took back the number 1 from his "strong era" rivals in their prime.

now they need more excuses, but it's so difficult for them to find more.

If you think that in Nole's greatest season (2011) Fed faced him three times at slams, lost at AO, won at RG, and choked at the USO, you know it might have been 2-1 for old man Fed at slams during Nole absolute peak (without playing at wimbledon, which is on Fed's favourite surface and Nole's worse).

I don't want to argue with Nole fans, I really like Nole as a player and enjoy very much Fed-Nole matches regardless of the winner (I think they are enjoyable since their styles match so well), but this continuous argument to diminish other players' achievements is bothering me.
 
#1,040 · (Edited)
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

I really don't think these Djoko trolls are even believing the crap they spew out... they just say it to get a rise out of Fedtards. And by the look of this thread, they are succeeding greatly. It's a circular argument. This weak era bullshit cannot and will never be proven, it is not backed by any factual or statistical claim, it's just a theory that Federer haters subscribe to to make themselves feel better. The level of crap that has been spewed out by Djokovic trolls in this thread has been astounding and really evident of how much Federer has hurt them. Djokovic has helped Federer by keeping Nadal at bay from achieving his slam record... and how does Federer repay him? By taking number 1 from Djokovic and keeping him from defending his Wimbledon title. All this while Federer is 31 and Djokovic is at his prime. Good stuff. :lol: Not even mentioning how Federer got match points on two times they met at slams in Djokovic's "best season evarr!111" Djokovic fans will forever be scarred by this. Also, supporting a player that craves so much attention and yet Federer outshines him at every turn without even lifting (or wagging) a finger (remember that article of how jampacked Federer's press conference was at Olympics and Djokovic had 75 journalists show up for his). So let them have this "weak era" argument, really, it's all they have.
 
#1,044 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

I really don't think these Djoko trolls are even believing the crap they spew out... they just say it to get a rise out of Fedtards. And by the look of this thread, they are succeeding greatly. It's a circular argument. This weak era bullshit cannot and will never be proven, it is not backed by any factual or statistical claim, it's just a theory that Federer haters subscribe to to make themselves feel better. The level of crap that has been spewed out by Djokovic trolls in this thread has been astounding and really evident of how much Federer has hurt them. Djokovic has helped Federer by keeping Nadal at bay from achieving his slam record... and how does Federer repay him? By taking number 1 from Djokovic and keeping him from defending his Wimbledon title. All this while Federer is 31 and Djokovic is at his prime. Good stuff. :lol: Not even mentioning how Federer got match points on two times they met at slams in Djokovic's "best season evarr!111" Djokovic fans will forever be scarred by this. Also, supporting a player that craves so much attention and yet Federer outshines him at every turn without even lifting (or wagging) a finger (remember that article of how jampacked Federer's press conference was at Olympics and Djokovic had 75 journalists show up for his). So let them have this "weak era" argument, really, it's all they have.
The weak era argument is backed 1000% by stats. You had players like Gonzalez making a slam final and never doing it again. You had Roddick losing several times at Wimbledon to Federer being proof of how good Federer was.

That's hilarious considering that a 19 year old Murray straight-setted Roddick in Wimbledon 2006. Why would I be impressed that Prime Federer was beating Roddick if baby Murray could do it when Roddick was still at his best? There is nothing to support the claim that he era was strong, it was just mugs and old players from the Sampras times.

Federer was 3-1 off clay against Nadal that year.
Nadal beat him in Dubai, which has fast hardcourts at a time when Nadal was a mug on that surface. Says a lot about prime Federer to be beaten on fast hardcourts by a clay courter.

Hewitt, Roddick and Safin weren't weak players. Indeed two of them have winning records over Nole. :haha:
Safin was the exception but tennis wasn't a priority. The rest have fluke wins over Novak, as evidenced by how much they have achieved against the top players and in slams.
 
#1,047 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

If 03-06 was weak then 07- present was weak to. If it is based on "who fed beat" to win his slams.
He won 9 slams in that time frame.and # 1 for a large weeks.
He won 8 slams outside of that time frameand #1 for a large # of weeks.
Everyone is "weak" for fed apart from nadull on clay for his entire career.
 
#1,048 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Berdych best GS result . 1 final 1 SF. Soderling best GS result 2 slam finals.
Gonzalez 1 GS F1 SF . Baghdatis 1 GS F . 1 SF.
Murray 4 slam final. Mark 2 slam finals.
Old Agassi / old federer.
 
#1,050 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

All the greats have their time in the sun. Question is how many slams can you win during your time. Seems to me that Fed's extended his time into the primes of the young 'uns. Usually it's lack of motivation, injury, great young players coming up behind you or just plain old age that causes decline/fall from top of the rankings. Too bad for the tards that none of these reasons are significantly affecting Fed.

As for the weak field, who keeps track of who the greats' opponents are? Do you know who Laver defeated in the finals of his 11 slams?
 
#1,052 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

Fed played nadull in his prime. So the only other 2 people are Novak. Murray.
Murray never beat fed at a slam so that leaves just Novak.
Glutenous Novak would be cannon fudder for federer. Gluten free Novak a little challenge. However olderer was still able to beat him. And had match points against him . Prime fed wouldn't choke those USO,s. in any event . He stopped fed at 4 HC slams past prime.
Nalbandian/ Safin stopped Prime Fed from 3. Pretty even.
 
#1,057 ·
Re: The Federer Decline Thread (Federer will drop to number 4 next year)

nadal and nole are better player man , but murray or del potro not , players like safin , hewitt , ferrero or roddick for example had better things and archivements than him..........murray everyday looks like a medium-tourny player but in the big tournys , he lose.

after see chardy , some people still belive that this era is better???? Gonzalez , davydenko , blake , srachipan , coria , gaudio , ljubicic and more player were much better than today`s top-30
 
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