Roger Federer Thread

[satyanash 14485]

Carrying this thread over from ShaggyTexas. Federer's early hardcourt season has ended with a first-round exit in the Miami Open to Thanasi Kokkinakis. As usual, Federer will skip the upcoming clay season (Monte Carlo Masters, Barcelona, Rome Masters, French Open) and return for the grass season.

 

[satyanash 14485]

Stumbled upon one of the great matches of Federer's early career, a terrific 6-7 6-3 7-6 victory over Andre Agassi to win the 2003 Tennis Masters Cup (equivalent to the World Tour Finals). Federer faced two match points but saved both. This was Federer's first ever win against Agassi, and the start of an eight-game winning streak against the American that would last until Agassi finally retired.

 

[spystud13 2371]

Did you purposely misspell your old user name? It’s throwing me off. 

[satyanash 14485]

55 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Did you purposely misspell your old user name? It’s throwing me off. 

satyanash was my original handle on the Shag. I lost the password to that account a few years ago, and switched to sarvanaash.

Both are Sanskrit words with similar meanings.

[spystud13 2371]

Damn, you fancy. 

[HouTex 1867]

Hope he beats Nadal in a couple of slam finals this year.  Never liked Nadal and I don't want him coming close to RF's slam record.

[satyanash 14485]

Great highlights in HD from another of Federer's biggest early matches - his 6-0, 7-6, 6-0 demolition of Lleyton Hewitt to win the 2004 U.S. Open title. Federer played Hewitt six times in 2004, and won all six encounters.

Skip to 2:20 for the start of the match.

 

Edited March 28, 2018 by satyanash

[satyanash 14485]

On 3/26/2018 at 10:57 PM, HouTex said:

Hope he beats Nadal in a couple of slam finals this year.  Never liked Nadal and I don't want him coming close to RF's slam record.

I'm curious as to why you dislike Nadal. He's a fierce competitor on the court, and humble & endearing off of it.

[HouTex 1867]

6 minutes ago, satyanash said:

I'm curious as to why you dislike Nadal. He's a fierce competitor on the court, and humble & endearing off of it.

My tennis friends (some former D1 players) tell me he's been a long time user of PEDs.  That might explain is frequent injuries.  But he's untouchable.

I also don't like the way the US Open and Wimbledon have slowed the courts down to suit his game.  It's made him among the GOATs from a major wins standpoint.  Otherwise, he'd be known as one of the best clay court specialists ever, but not an all-court player who could win on multiple surfaces, like Borg.  But he is such a huge draw to the game that the powers that be in the tennis world want him to be competitive in all of the majors.

I just don't like his style of play--standing 20 feet beyond the base line to return serve and the extreme top spin on every shot.  IMO, tennis would be much more enjoyable and interesting if the pros had to play with wood racquets and gut strings.  Even the women now can hit 120 mph serves.  The modern racquets and poly strings (especially the strings) are killing the sport.  That's why I like Federer's game--he has every shot and he's multi-dimensional.

[Robin Masters 122]

9 hours ago, HouTex said:

My tennis friends (some former D1 players) tell me he's been a long time user of PEDs.  That might explain is frequent injuries.  But he's untouchable.

I think Federer was like the Williams sisters. So much better than everyone else that he pushed the rest of the field to roid up. There used to be a blog showcasing the transmongrificaton of tennis players. Even guys like Murray got extremely well defined. Nadal went from a scrawny kid to a huge freak. I mean it was soooo obvious. He went from being extremely quick(Michael Chang) to quick and powerful with more top spin than even Federer, and Fed had more than anyone else. 
It always pissed me off that Fed didn't push hard for drug testing because it seemed like he would benefit huge from this. To me Nadal robbed him of several titles. I guess either he was doing something or he was getting big pressure to STFU because the sport would have been obliterated since basically no one else could pass a drug test.
Mcenroe was also complicit in this telling us all on broadcasts that these guys train so much harder today than his day. Maybe they train better, but Borg was not sitting on his ass back then. I recall some profile of him and he was talking about his routine and he was fucking working. This was not 1970s baseball players with a beer gut. Tennis players were always in great shape, and they all had a certain look, which Federer has, and then boom, everyone suddenly got completely shredded, and everyone also suddenly was celiac and balding etc. and breaking down.
It wouldn't surprise me if Federer isn't doing something now to help with endurance. Second week of a tourney at that age cannot be easy.
I would love to see wood frames return. Federer is the best I've ever seen, but I also realllly loved watching Johnny Mac at the net. Those hands were so great.

[Kevin O’Shea 279]

1st Post on new board. Go Federer. 

[satyanash 14485]

Highlights from one of Federer's rare wins over Nadal on clay - the finals of the Madrid Masters in 2009. A massive upset victory that galvanized Federer after his crushing loss to Nadal in the Australian Open earlier that year. It should be noted that Nadal may still have been fatigued after his marathon match against Djokovic in the semifinals, but it was a great win nonetheless.

Federer would go on to win the French Open and complete his career Grand Slam.

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by satyanash

[BringBackRoyal 1]

On 3/28/2018 at 7:50 PM, Kevin O’Shea said:

1st Post on new board. Go Federer. 

I'll use up mine for the same.

Hope this extended break allows Fed to get his game sorted out. Even if he doesn't recover his form, at least the last 14 months have been such a great and unexpected gift.

[satyanash 14485]

Highlights of Federer's 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory over James Blake to win the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup. This was Roger at his most dominant; his 2006 season was the greatest season by a men's singles player since Rod Laver's calendar slam in 1969.

Blake actually played very well in this game, after beating Nadal earlier in the tournament. But he was swept aside by peak Federer.

 

[satyanash 14485]

On 3/28/2018 at 8:54 AM, HouTex said:

I also don't like the way the US Open and Wimbledon have slowed the courts down to suit his game.  It's made him among the GOATs from a major wins standpoint.  Otherwise, he'd be known as one of the best clay court specialists ever, but not an all-court player who could win on multiple surfaces, like Borg.  But he is such a huge draw to the game that the powers that be in the tennis world want him to be competitive in all of the majors.

There's some truth to this. On the one hand, no one was especially thrilled when Mark Philippoussis served his way to the Wimbledon final in 2003. But on the flip side, Nadal threatened to boycott the Madrid Masters after the 2012 edition of the tournament used blue clay for the first time - the resulting court was faster and more slippery than normal, and as a result Federer and Berdych ended up in the final while Djokovic and Nadal were bounced early. It's a shame Nadal ensured blue clay would never be used again, especially since it was later established that pre-tournament preparation problems were to blame for the court conditions and not the blue clay itself.

Since this is a Federer thread, here's the final of the 2012 Madrid Masters. The first and probably last time we'll see blue clay in a major tournament. Thanks, Nadal.

 

[texas08 1599]

Federer vs Nadal is like Ronaldo vs Messi.

Both gods, can’t hate either. Thankful to be able to witness both of them at the same time.

[satyanash 14485]

Pretty well-made documentary-style tribute to Federer's run at the 2018 Australian Open.

 

[satyanash 14485]

Another one of prime Federer's matches, this time his 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1 win over Andy Roddick in the final of the 2006 U.S. Open. Roddick played well, but nothing he could really do even with the crowd firmly in his corner.

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by satyanash

[satyanash 14485]

Federer's four-set win over Agassi in the 2005 U.S. Open finals. One of the few times in the peak of his career that Federer played in front of a hostile crowd that heavily favoured his opponent. This was one of the few matches where I was rooting for Federer's opponent, simply because Agassi's run to the finals that year was so compelling.

 

[BringBackRoyal 1]

One of my favorites: Federer ends beast-mode Djokovic's 43-match win streak in four sets at the 2011 Roland Garros semifinal.

 

Edited April 13, 2018 by BringBackRoyal

[satyanash 14485]

On 4/13/2018 at 2:59 AM, BringBackRoyal said:

One of my favorites: Federer ends beast-mode Djokovic's 43-match win streak in four sets at the 2011 Roland Garros semifinal.

 

2011 was a bit of a bizarre year for Federer. Djokovic knocked him out of three consecutive tournaments (Australian Open, Dubai, and Indian Wells). before he finally shocked Djokovic here. Federer then lost to Nadal twice (here and at Monte Carlo) before Tsonga stunned him at Wimbledon and then at Montreal. Djokovic was in God-mode this year (6-0 against Nadal and 4-1 against Federer) and it looked like Federer wouldn't win any titles as a result.

Then out of nowhere, Federer upped his game towards the tail-end of the season while Djokovic slightly faltered. He steamrolled Tsonga to win Paris, then crushed Nadal and beat Tsonga again to win the World Tour Finals. 

[satyanash 14485]

Blast from the past - Federer's win over Roddick in the 2003 Wimbledon semifinals, on the way to his first ever major win.

Funny to hear McEnroe talk about Roddick and Federer as 'young up-and-comers'. (Match itself starts at ~6:20 in).

 

[Bullneck 19090]

^^^^ Look at 18:01 in this vid.  That's the moment that changed the match and I think the direction of both of their careers.  Roddick had a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker and hit the tape (and lost the point).  Lost the set.  Lost the match.  Finished his career with 1 grand slam win.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Bullneck

[satyanash 14485]

21 hours ago, Bullneck said:

^^^^ Look at 18:01 in this vid.  That's the moment that changed the match and I think the direction of both of their careers.  Roddick had a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker and hit the tape (and lost the point).  Lost the set.  Lost the match.  Finished his career with 1 grand slam win.

Difficult to say if this is the case. At the time, it was Federer's fourth straight win over Roddick. But Roddick actually defeated Federer the very next time they met, to win the 2003 Rogers Cup Masters in Toronto.

Of course, Federer would go on to beat Roddick the next 11 times in a row 

 

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

This is a great set of videos! Thanks for sharing them! He's such a joy to watch.

[Bullneck 19090]

2 hours ago, satyanash said:

Difficult to say if this is the case. At the time, it was Federer's fourth straight win over Roddick. But Roddick actually defeated Federer the very next time they met, to win the 2003 Rogers Cup Masters in Toronto.

Of course, Federer would go on to beat Roddick the next 11 times in a row 

 

Watching the match live it seemed that Roddick was very dangerous that day and up to that point was the better player.  I also think we would have blown Alabama out of the Rose Bowl had Colt played at least one half of football.

[satyanash 14485]

One of the most important wins of Federer's career - his comeback victory over del Potro in the 2009 French Open semifinals. Federer erased del Potro's 2-1 set lead, although del Potro would return the favour in the 2009 U.S. Open final that same year...

 

[Bullneck 19090]

Wasn't he down a set and a break in the semis to Tommy Haas the year he won the French Open?  That as after Nadal had lost and he knew the tournament and career Slam was his to lose.

[IPoopOnWhoop 104]

This is one of the most unusual threads I can remember.  It’s like you guys are talking about a retired great, and forgetting that he is one of the 2 best (arguably the best) players in the world right now.  It’s just strange.  

[The Dog 44051]

On 3/28/2018 at 6:24 PM, Robin Masters said:

 Maybe they train better, but Borg was not sitting on his ass back then. I recall some profile of him and he was talking about his routine and he was fucking working. This was not 1970s baseball players with a beer gut. Tennis players were always in great shape, and they all had a certain look, which Federer has, and then boom, everyone suddenly got completely shredded, and everyone also suddenly was celiac and balding etc. and breaking down.
It wouldn't surprise me if Federer isn't doing something now to help with endurance. Second week of a tourney at that age cannot be easy.

Going to chime in on this a bit - they did train differently up until Ivan Lendl came along. His approach to training and diet revolutionized the sport in terms of what players did off the court. Agassi took it to another level as well. So McEnroe isn't off base here. I'm not going to dispute the prevalence of PEDs in tennis as their testing is woefully behind all other sports (the WTA is even worse) but I don't think there's any conspiracy here. Just incompetence and denial. 

Additionally, the players of today (outside of a handful of outliers) are considerably bigger and stronger than the Borgs and McEnroes I grew up watching. Lendl was 6'2", Boris Becker 6'3", Sampras is listed at 6'1" but I seem to remember him being nearly eye to eye with Becker. Current players are all 6'1" or taller with Djokovic being 6'2" and Fed being 6'1" for example. By contrast, Rod Laver is 5'8", Ken Rosewall 5'7", Borg and McEnroe 5'11" each, Connors 5'10", etc. 

There's no question that Federer does his own weight training, but he's more "wiry" than muscular. I think these guys are getting too bulky for their frames to handle on a tennis court whether it's with PEDs or not. 

[Robin Masters 122]

But look at Becker, Sampras, etc, well after Lendl, they were hitting as hard or harder than most now, serve wise, they don't have the top spin of Federer, yet the guys today are far more ripped, except for Federer. Federer looks like a tennis player. He would fit in anytime from Connors forward. Same with Agassi, and he did have great endurance. The guys today are much more chiseled. Not huge muscle size outside of a few years where Nadal was suddenly great on grass and hard courts, I mean you can find pics of Djoko, even Murray, where every single tiny muscle in their upper body is well defined. You might believe they are competing at crossfit, but not tennis. I don't think it was working out smarter that did this. I think Federer was so far ahead of all of them, that they had to PED to have a chance, starting with Nadal, and then you had two guys dominating the rest, so they had to ped to get back competitive.

I'm not saying Nadal wouldn't have won every French open he did without roids. That slow surface and his natural speed was enough, but I don't think he would have won half as many anywhere else, if any.

Bigger size as far as height, is more to do with the change in style of the game. Once wood frames went poof it became a power game. No need to be small and fast, just big and bomb any shot you happen to be able to get to.

[satyanash 14485]

Nadal started winning French Open titles at a very young age... he had two French Open titles before he turned 20. My theory is that these guys take PEDs less for the increased muscle mass, and more for recovering quickly from injuries. After all, pure power in tennis will help you less than footspeed and timing.

@The Dog is right about PED testing in tennis, though. It's laughable. In one of the most famous doping cases in tennis, Wayne Odesnik was not actually caught by the ITF or any other tennis organisation. It was Australian customs that caught him smuggling in HGH. There are also many suspicious stories out there:

- David Ferrer's form and level of play dropped significantly right after a key Spanish doping clinic was busted several years back.

- Sara Errani came out of nowhere to reach the French Open final in 2012, a few months after being photographed with Lance Armstrong's former doctor Garcia del Moral. Yet she claimed it was due to switching racquet sponsors.

- Serena Williams' "panic room". 

The problem is, the credibility of the sport would be destroyed beyond repair if it was revealed that multiple Slam winners were doping. So drug testing regimes are kept extremely lenient. ESPN did a great piece on this a few years ago.

[Bullneck 19090]

A few years back every Argentine with the possible exceptions of Nalbandian and maybe Gaudio had some kind of drug infraction.

[IPoopOnWhoop 104]

It’s curious that Nadal started beating Federer at the age of 17, and continued to do so up until last year, and the first thing some of you think is “he must have been doping”.  He is one of the players that has pushed for harder drug testing almost his entire career.  He’s simply one of the best to ever play the game and a nightmare matchup for Federer.  Next thing you will all be saying that golfers are on ped’s because they look different than the players from the previous generations.

[The Dog 44051]

14 hours ago, Robin Masters said:

But look at Becker, Sampras, etc, well after Lendl, they were hitting as hard or harder than most now, serve wise, they don't have the top spin of Federer, yet the guys today are far more ripped, except for Federer. Federer looks like a tennis player. He would fit in anytime from Connors forward. Same with Agassi, and he did have great endurance. The guys today are much more chiseled. Not huge muscle size outside of a few years where Nadal was suddenly great on grass and hard courts, I mean you can find pics of Djoko, even Murray, where every single tiny muscle in their upper body is well defined. You might believe they are competing at crossfit, but not tennis. I don't think it was working out smarter that did this. I think Federer was so far ahead of all of them, that they had to PED to have a chance, starting with Nadal, and then you had two guys dominating the rest, so they had to ped to get back competitive.

I'm not saying Nadal wouldn't have won every French open he did without roids. That slow surface and his natural speed was enough, but I don't think he would have won half as many anywhere else, if any.

I'm sorry but you can't just go by how they "look" to determine whether or not they are doping. Petr Korda was a 6'3"161 pound string bean - busted for anabolic steroids. 

[HouTex 1867]

Don't forget the poly strings. Those things should be outlawed.

[satyanash 14485]

One of Federer's under-rated wins from last year - his thrilling match against Nick Kyrgios to win the inaugural Laver Cup for team Europe.

 

[satyanash 14485]

Federer's 2005 Wimbledon finals victory over - you guessed it - Andy Roddick. The straight-sets 6-2, 7-6, 6-4 win gave Federer his first Slam of the year and made him the third player after Borg and Sampras to win three consecutive Wimbledon championships.

Some of the shots Federer hit in this match were just ridiculous.

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by satyanash

[gsoda3 3262]

andy played well enough to beat anyone that day not named federer.  the crazy thing is in 09 he played even better than that and still came up empty.

[satyanash 14485]

16 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

andy played well enough to beat anyone that day not named federer.  the crazy thing is in 09 he played even better than that and still came up empty.

The 2004 Wimbledon finals were even better. For the first set-and-a-half, Roddick was flat-out outplaying and overpowering Federer. He took the first set 6-4, then broke Federer twice in the second set but somehow still lost it. He was also up a break in the third set before losing it in a tiebreak, after which he ran out of gas.

Roddick later said in the post-match interview: "I threw the kitchen sink at him... he went to the bathroom and came back with the tub."

 

[satyanash 14485]

Federer is slated to return to the court at Stuttgart next month

 

[gsoda3 3262]

that 04 wimbledon final is crazy.  i didn't watch any of the tournament that year, i was in asia post graduation, so i don't remember anything from it.  feel bad for andy.  that match is quite metaphorical for his career though isn't it- started out strong, then the lack of an offensive backhand held him back, and he ran out of gas relatively early. 

[texas08 1599]

I will weep when Federer, Nadal, Messi, and Ronaldo retire.

Gods.

[satyanash 14485]

Semifinals of the 2002 German Open in Hamburg. This was the first-ever Masters 1000 title of Federer's career.

Back when serve-and-volley was a common strategy even on clay, and Federer was thought of as more of a baseliner. How times have changed.

 

Edited May 9, 2018 by satyanash

[satyanash 14485]

Federer will regain the No. 1 ranking on Monday, if only for a week.

 

[satyanash 14485]

Friday flashback: Federer, still recovering from an ankle injury, plays through the pain to defeat Marcos Baghdatis in the 2006 Australian Open final.

 

[Mileslong 4727]

Hope he beats Nadal in a couple of slam finals this year.  Never liked Nadal and I don't want him coming close to RF's slam record.

I will second this emotion. Fed is my favorite, non team, athlete of all time. He needS to keep the record of most majors and keep the Nadal people from ever challenging Fed as the GOAT

[satyanash 14485]

8 hours ago, Mileslong said:

 

I will second this emotion. Fed is my favorite, non team, athlete of all time. He needS to keep the record of most majors and keep the Nadal people from ever challenging Fed as the GOAT

 

It'll be tough. Towards the end of the early hard court season Federer was visibly starting to slow down, he's already playing as aggressively as possible to shorten points and keep up his stamina. Meanwhile, Nadal can keep racking up French Open titles the next few years as long as he's healthy.

Federer's best hope is for Zverev to take the next step and challenge Nadal for Roland Garros supremacy.

Edited May 19, 2018 by satyanash

[satyanash 14485]

In anticipation of Federer's impending return to tennis, here's his victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the 2011 Paris Masters.

 

[satyanash 14485]

Federer's back in action!