Roger news and articles
 

ATPtennis.com

ATP INSIDER

Players Pay Their Respects to Carter

Roger Federer and Marc Rosset were among the tennis friends who paid their last respects to Peter Carter on Wednesday.

UP FRONT...
PLAYERS PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO CARTER
Swiss players ROGER FEDERER and MARC ROSSET were among the more than 200 tennis friends who paid their last respects to Swiss Davis Cup coach Peter Carter at a funeral in St. Leonhard's Church in Basel on Wednesday. The 37-year-old Australian died in a car accident in South Africa on Aug. 1. The moving ceremony was conducted by the priest who had performed the marriage rites between Carter and his Swiss-born wife Silvia little more than a year ago. Eulogies were given by Silvia, Christine Ungricht, president of the Swiss Tennis Association and a close childhood friend from Australia. Federer, who began playing tennis as an eight-year-old with Carter, was joined at the funeral by Rosset and various players from Young Boys Basel, Carter's Club Team. DARREN CAHILL, a long -time hometown friend of Carter and current coach of ANDRE AGASSI, also was in attendance.

Re: Roger news and articles
 

The first thread was closed because it exceeded the recommended 5000 posts. Part two started.

VB message board does not handle large threads well.

Re: Roger news and articles
 

Oh!!!

Welcome Part 2~~

Re: Roger news and articles
 

Federer Struggles With His Altered World

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: April 9, 2009

One of the best and cruelest aspects of tennis is that there is nowhere to hide. You might be an all-time great, even the all-time great, and yet you are only as effective as the forehands, backhands and decisions you are making on any given day.

Soccer and rugby stars in a funk or in decline can rely on teammates. Golfers, unless they are Tiger Woods, aren’t expected to win or even shine every week. Stars in judged sports can lean on the judges’ memories and inclinations.

A tennis star like Roger Federer stands exposed — in all his brilliance or all his disarray — in every match. And while it might take a while to know that a seminal athlete in another sport is vulnerable, tennis provides an abundance of evidence in a hurry.

It is piling high for Federer as he continues to devolve from a ruthless closer with a killer forehand into an edgy mortal with performance anxiety. He has won one tournament since the U.S. Open last year and has not won an event in four attempts so far this year, with the clay-court season — never part of his kingdom — now under way.

So far, the studied Swiss with the acquired cool has not left us guessing how much it hurts. There were the uncontrollable tears in defeat at the Australian Open, where he faded in the fifth set against nemesis-in-chief Rafael Nadal. There was the racket smashing in Miami last week early in the third set of his error-strewn semifinal loss to one of his nemeses-in-waiting, Novak Djokovic.

Federer hardly lost the plot altogether. He simply reached down slowly to pick up the crumpled frame and then flicked it in the direction of his courtside chair. But for an understated champion for whom appearances matter (greatly), it was as if he had begun yanking out his hair and shrieking “Why me!?” to the world.

It required great effort for Federer to cure himself of the on-court tantrums of his youth. To see him resume breaking rackets now, after all these years of self-control, was like watching the owner of a health food store start fumbling through his desk drawer for a long-lost pack of cigarettes.

But perhaps we exaggerate for effect, and perhaps we are all getting elegiac about Federer, the tennis genius, rather too soon.

With his 28th birthday looming in August, his days of Slam-in, tournament-out dominance are clearly over. His body is also beginning to betray him more regularly. But it would be both unwise and unfair to write him off just yet.

Yes, the game he once ruled with so few hints of rebellion from the serfs is now governed by Nadal, with Djokovic and, above all, Andy Murray quickly acquiring territory and treasure.

Yes, Federer’s level under the greatest pressure has dropped. He has lost five straight times to Nadal and four straight times to the counterpunching Murray. But he has beaten other quality players convincingly this year, including Fernando Verdasco and Andy Roddick. The range of Federer’s ball-striking ability and world view is such that some meaningful mid-career adjustments are possible.

His appetite for traveling and playing the game appears undiminished, which is due to his intelligent scheduling and also to the fact that his longtime companion Mirka Vavrinec was a globe-trotting tennis professional herself.

Pete Sampras, the modern champion whose career most closely parallels Federer’s, was already growing weary of the grind in his late 20s. But it is Sampras who should provide Federer with some inspiration at this vulnerable stage. After years of dominance on fast surfaces, Sampras also hit an extended rough patch, only to emerge with his 14th Grand Slam singles title.

Sampras did it at age 31 at the 2002 U.S. Open, well aware that big life changes were coming, with his wife Bridgette Wilson pregnant with their first child. Though slightly younger, Federer finds himself chasing No. 14 and a share of Sampras’s all-time record with Vavrinec also expecting their first.

“There are definitely some parallels,” said Paul Annacone, Sampras’s longtime coach, in an interview this week. “Just as it was for Pete, it’s a particularly interesting, challenging time in Roger’s career. But I would look at it with Roger in the same way as for Pete. For guys like that, it is daunting but not that daunting. They are so skilled they can adjust, but a lot of the adjustment is mental.”

Annacone thinks Roger grew accustomed to overwhelming opponents from the back court: to being the better athlete and hitting a more, consistent and heavier ball.

“We are all creatures of habits,” Annacone said. “Roger has won a lot a certain way, and when you’ve done that for four or five years and then in Year 6 or 7 that shot that used to be a winner isn’t a winner anymore, the tendency in human nature is to overplay a little bit. And that’s what’s happening. His couple of patterns that used to be very dominant are still successful against 95 percent of the guys — just not against that last five percent.”

Annacone understandably leans toward Federer’s hiring a full-time coach. “I always feel in an individual sports, it’s up to the guy on court, but as you watch the evolution of careers, it’s good to have someone you trust and who understands you and what you’re trying to do and also your game and the history of what’s gone on,” he said.

To say that Federer has been without a coach is not entirely accurate. He has had world-class voices in his ear, including Jose Higueras last year and Darren Cahill for nine days this year. Both men surely discussed tactical and technical solutions to the negative trends.

Applying those solutions is up to Federer. He has looked, if anything, too intent on getting results: hence the tears and the crumpled racket when the shots won’t obey the mind down the stretch. Perhaps there is more to the mental block: something personal, something private. Tennis is, after all, a mirror to its practitioners’ souls. But knowing what we know, it still seems premature to start summing up the Federer era.

“He may choose to keep doing what he’s been doing and not tweaking, and that’s his choice as a champion,” Annacone said. “But for me it would be a shame. If you have a lot of weapons in your arsenal and choose not to use them, what’s the point in having them? It’s a matter of managing them a bit differently than he did a few years ago.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/sp...ted=1&_r=1&hpw

Re: Roger news and articles
 

Thanks Eden. Great analysis by Annacone, Roger should hire him ASAP.

Re: Roger news and articles
 

Yeah, well. Going to the media with his thoughts sort of cut Annacone off from the ever-disappearing short-list, I'd think.

Re: Roger news and articles
 

with the right coach by his side and imo another trainer/physio on the road full-time can only bring out the best in him.
Annacone?
R.Lansdorp?
C.Rodriguez?
who might best suit his game?:scratch:
I want Roger to play well again and it pains me to see him struggle so much:awww:

Re: Roger news and articles
 

:eek: where is the other thread? Part 1?

Federer accepts wild card for Monte Carlo Masters

MONACO (AP)—Roger Federer has accepted a last-minute wild card invitation to play in the Monte Carlo Masters next week.

The second-ranked Federer is a three-time finalist at the clay-court tournament but has never won. Last year, Rafael Nadal beat Federer 7-5, 7-5 in the final.

Nadal will be going for his fifth straight title at the tournament in Monaco, which will include nine of the top 10 players. Only sixth-ranked Andy Roddick will miss the event.

Tournament director Zeljko Franulovic says Thursday that “we never gave up hope that (Federer) would be present.”

Re: Roger news and articles
 

All the chat threads with more than 5000 posts were closed/changed location/whatever because they caused the forum to crash every time (the 'database errors'). I've been told by the mods that the old threads will be available to read again in due time.

A very pleasant surprise. :D

Re: Roger news and articles
 

ATP - MONTE CARLO


Dear Fans

I have decided to accept a wildcard into the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament that begins on Monday. I will head there this weekend to start the clay court season.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support.


All the best,

Roger

:eek::eek::eek:

Re: Roger news and articles
 

Has anyone seen this? I think something bigger is happening in his life that people are not aware of. He just looks and sound like a wounded lion, that breaks my heart.:sad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilzAU6daSHA

Re: Roger news and articles
 

I'm afraid a lot of people have indeed seen that. There was a gigantic mocking thread in GM yesterday about it - of course. :rolleyes:
Let's not even go there... :help:

Re: Roger news and articles
 

I didn't watch the video, but is this the one where he's wiping sweat from his brow/face which some have claimed is him wiping away tears?

Re: Roger news and articles
 

It's exactly like you say. The poor fellow had to give that post-match interview only some ten minutes after that dreadful match. He was still sweating - OF COURSE. You can tell he isn't actually *happy* out there, but there are NO TEARS whatsoever.

Whatever. Of course the Hata's were having a field day on GM again. Even some Rafa-tards came along to his defense, guess that tells enough. :help:

Re: Roger news and articles
 

Right! It makes a difference watching it with the sounds on, and it is clear that he was frustrated by silly questions and disgusted with himself. His voice did not show signs of fighting back tears. I think the ATP should ban interviews right after the match.