[Sunset of Age]

Originally Posted by Mellow Yellow

^^^
Karin I agree with everything you said. For me the mental and physical go hand in hand. Roger's game didn't really start emploding unitl he started having health issues. Yeah he had some WTF matches in 2007 but I think those were as much to do with his fractured relationship with Tony Roche than anything else. But ever since he got ill and then the bad back his game hasn't been the same.

So true, alas... yes, his illness and back troubles may well have been the premier cause of his loss of confidence and cool. It's all so understandable - he's had a shitty start of 2008 due to that virus, he wants to come back eagerly, endures a couple of very bad losses, back starts playing up, more losses, more loss of confidence...

It's what we call in my country a 'vicious circle'.
Right now I at least hope he finally fully admits there's a problem, after all you can only solve a problem after you at least admit there IS one.
Peter Carter, where are you now... or your double...

Let's just hope he'll have a great time off now.

[SUKTUEN]

[Eden]

I translated the German article which Jen (MY) posted:

Sunday Newspaper, April 5, 2009

Roger Federer: Clueless in Miami

He doesn't have any explanation for his performance fluctuations

by Adrian Ruch

Roger Federer once wasn't only the best tennisplayer in the world, but also the most reliable one. He never sank under a certain for most of his professional colleagues unattainable level and therefore never really had inexplicable losses for 4 years. The guy from Basel has lost this consistancy in the last season, which was characterized by glandular fever and never got it back. Even worse his game recently can fall apart during a match. The SF in Key Biscayne against Novak Djokovic, where he had a monumental drop of his performance, was the last and most extreme example. Before he had lost in Melbourne the 5th set against an exhausted Rafael Nadal 2:6 and in Indian Wells he lost the deciding set against Andy Murray 1:6. The low sun was disruptive, the wind extremely unpleasant, but those weather conditions are no explanation for those amount of errors which we haven't seen from Federer for years. Of all things his best shot did abondon him, which he knows himself. "I fired the forehand wide without having been straitened. This isn't something you have to train, those shots have to work. Those errors are difficult to explain."
That he doesn't has a clue why he suddenly has so many mishaps makes the situation for Federer especially displeasing. He doesn't know why he washeavy-legged in the QF and SF. The 27years old is stumped because he feels fit and fresh in the head, which he said several times in Miami. Maybe his problems have something to do with the selfconfidence, maybe it's the choice of shots, maybe it's a combination of several things which happened in the last 1 1/2 years.

Aftermath of the Wimbledon final

The mentioned 1 1/2 years haven't been easy for the Swiss. Beside his glandual fever and back problems he had to get over the bitter loss in the Wimbledon final and the removal in the world ranking. Who saw his matches against Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Roddick at the Australian Open knows that he hasn't lost the ability to play tennis. The origin of the inexplicable lapses has to be in the head. Federer confessed in Miami that he has been "mentally wounded" after his loss in the Wimbledon final. It seems that even his triumph at the US Open hasn't really expelled the self doubts. Previously he had a selfconfidence made of armoured glass, now it is out of porcelain. The guy from Basel gets thrown off the track soon at the moment and when he is in a hole he doesn't know how to get out of it.
Federer doesn't lack the will, quite the contrary. He puts himself under so much pressure because he probably wants to prove that he is better as the latest results indicate.
Because of his immense talent and high expectations on him he must have felt his performance against Djokovic as a nightmare. Losses affect him deeply because tennis is a matter close to his heart for Roger Federer. He loves his sport which isn't just a job for him but also a vocation. Only because of this he could say in such a bitter hour that he is looking forward to the clay season.

[clever1980]

Thank you Doris.

[SUKTUEN]

[Minnie]

Thank you from me too Doris for translating that article. Roger may not have been exaggerating then when he said he dreaded the day he wasn't Wimbledon champion anymore. But it seems incredulous to me that Roger could still be "mentally wounded" over that loss ... if becoming a father does anything for him, I hope it gives him a better perspective.

[Sunset of Age]

Originally Posted by Minnie

Thank you from me too Doris for translating that article. Roger may not have been exaggerating then when he said he dreaded the day he wasn't Wimbledon champion anymore. But it seems incredulous to me that Roger could still be "mentally wounded" over that loss ... if becoming a father does anything for him, I hope it gives him a better perspective.

Alas, yeah. I'm afraid you are 100% right.
Let's indeed hope that Roger will be more relaxed and comfortable as soon as his kid is born.