[Looner]

Even if he's made a lot of SFs here, since the surface was changed he definitely never looked close to winning except 2010.

[Henry Kaspar]

Frankly I don't care about Federer's relative decline. He has won everything there is several times over, Federer is the one player where another title wouldn't add much to his career. Further, Federer is a freak of nature, being persistently injury-free while maintaining in his early 30s a spot in the world's top 3 and being competitive with much younger players of the calibre of Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. Aesthetically his tennis remains unique anyway, there has not been a player who I have enjoyed watching so much since John McEnroe. I treasure every day Federer continues to be around.

[Honestly]

Believe it not, Federer is peaking. He is older and wiser now but the competition has caught up.

[wake_up_bomb]

If the court conditions were the same as in Dubai last year (ie. faster) Federer would still be world number one. Murray said so himself after Federer comfortably beat him in straight sets there last year. If you have a surface where the two best players in the world on that surface play, and there are 40 more UE than winners in a 4 set match, then it will be very difficult for anyone over the age of 30 to ever win that tournament, if not impossible.

If Murray and Djokovic can sit two yards behind the baseline trading backhands for twenty shots per rally and rarely miss then no-one will beat them. Rafa will have no chance with his knees. Del Potro and Berdych obviously need faster court conditions. Ferrer has no chance as we saw in the semi-final. Who else is going to conceivably beat them other than Federer? He's still clearly the number three player out there, and had he had Djokovic's draw, there's no doubt he would have been in the final. Perhaps if Djokovic had played a tough five setter with Murray and then faced Federer the outcome of the tournament could have been different.

[TheWire93]

He is not on the decline. That's all I can truly say.

[tennis_analyst]

Federer loses these matches when his serve goes AWOL

It is customary for Federer to shank forehands and hit backhands short, he can still win matches if his serve is working.

He lost these matches because of his serve:
USO Final against Del Potro - record number of double faults by Fed in that match
AO Final against Nadal - very low first serve percentage by Fed
AO Semi against Murray - serve is slow and unrealiable for some reason

He still lost all these matches in 5 sets

If Federer has a good serving day, he can overcome Murray and Djokovic on grass and hard courts. I think serve is something that will decline more slowly than movement and reaction time, so Federer can still be in contention for slams for a couple of years.

[EliSter]

Originally Posted by Honestly

Believe it not, Federer is peaking. He is older and wiser now but the competition has caught up.

Finally good post from you.

[manadrainer]

Originally Posted by Honestly

Believe it not, Federer is peaking. He is older and wiser now but the competition has caught up.

Mmmm... have you turned into Topspindoctor?

One must be blind not to see his decline in both movement and power... Go watch some YouTube of 2006 Fed and tell me he hasn't declined from that level..

[viruzzz]

Fed played a great slam, the best since last Wimbledon considering early rounds and game.
And the best AO since 2010.

- He didn't lost serve and a set until QF. (In USO he lost serve vs Young, didn't played R4 and lost in 4 to Berdych, in the last AOs, he didn't won a set over Novak in 2011, and started mugging after the 1st set vs Nadal, not mentioning his 5-setter R2 match in 2011).
In RG 2012 he struggled with... Almost everyone until the SF where he played like CRAP.

I think Fed is playing great tennis, and if he serves like the first four rounds (Don't deny it, tards, you know he served like shit in the QF and SF), he can make big damage to every player, even the other big 4.

Let's see how he plays in Rotterdam and Dubai. If he plays his cards well, he can win the 2 tournaments.

[ssin]

I just replayed the WTF Final 2012 Fed-Novak. A good match. Roger is as genius technician as he ever was, if not even better. His shots are still amazing. Even his reflexes are still intact but he cannot sustain his usual level for a longer time, generally moves a bit slower and shots have a sightly less power than several years ago. He doesn't stretch too much anymore and doesn't run after each ball.

That's all but still enough to deny him the No1 rank nowadays. Without Novak he would still be the No1 player in the world right now in 2013 thanks alone to his mastery. It is obvious he loves the game so much that he will never really retire from tennis. He will be a coach, analyst, owner of a tennis academy, anything that has to do with tennis for the rest of his life, I could bet my life on that.

[MacTheKnife]

Interesting how the Federer decline thread started 5 years ago.

[Looner]

Originally Posted by MacTheKnife

Interesting how the Federer decline thread started 5 years ago.

Pure coincidence. It's obvious Roger is peaking for Rio.

[Punky]

yes fed isnt close to be like he was in his peak but that just tell me whay a GOAT he is, being rank n2 a few years after his peak + still win a slam, hold the n1 a few months and being over 30.

i wish this great decline to every champ there is out there.

[pepita1964]

I Fed had a draw of Murray,or Djokovic.or David Ferrer he would be with the AO title to his name, If you take his first round off ,every round after that was a big hitting tall guy Davydenko finalist in Doha,Tomic on 10 matches streak,Raonic i am sure no one likes to see him to play in 3 4 rd, in GS,then it is Tsonga big and strong guy again, It does not get any better
now it is Murray fresh as cucumber and still Fed fought as a lion for four hours 5 sets match again in cold night. If Roger Federer at 31 does all this fight and you say he is dead then about Murray who played only one tough match against old tired Fed .Murray was wreck in the final only on 25 years. Fed has more than 1000 matches on his back and Murray has 500, It is a pity really

[Nole fan]

Originally Posted by wake_up_bomb

If the court conditions were the same as in Dubai last year (ie. faster) Federer would still be world number one. Murray said so himself after Federer comfortably beat him in straight sets there last year. If you have a surface where the two best players in the world on that surface play, and there are 40 more UE than winners in a 4 set match, then it will be very difficult for anyone over the age of 30 to ever win that tournament, if not impossible.

If Murray and Djokovic can sit two yards behind the baseline trading backhands for twenty shots per rally and rarely miss then no-one will beat them. Rafa will have no chance with his knees. Del Potro and Berdych obviously need faster court conditions. Ferrer has no chance as we saw in the semi-final. Who else is going to conceivably beat them other than Federer? He's still clearly the number three player out there, and had he had Djokovic's draw, there's no doubt he would have been in the final. Perhaps if Djokovic had played a tough five setter with Murray and then faced Federer the outcome of the tournament could have been different.

Why? he has done that many times. Beat federer and nadal back to back at USO 2011. Beat murray and nadal back to back at AO 2012. After playing two 5-setters, the longest in history. Some more examples you'd like to add?