Federer Reserve Bank
The subject was recycling and cjspotless brought up the Fed. So. Roger Federer crashed out of the first round of the Dubai Open, losing to Andy Murray. As radiohead pointed out, the Fed spoke disparagingly about Murray in the post-game interview. You don’t do that to the guy who just beat you, it’s pikon. And Roger generally doesn’t do that, he’s got good manners, but then he doesn’t generally get bounced out in the opening round, either. He just doesn’t lose, period, and after his semifinal loss at the Australian Open, it’s not surprising that talk has turned to whether his reign is ending. It certainly gives sportswriters something different to write about, because face it, they’re tired of composing encomiums to the Fed. It’s been four years of near-total domination; no one in the Open era has achieved anything like it. The Fed has been so dominant that Rafael Nadal, who has the talent and the cojones to be Number One, has been languishing at Number Two for years.
I think the Fed is in a slump and he’ll get over it. He usually has a bad patch between Melbourne and Roland Garros, then roars back in time for Wimbledon. Has he gotten a coach yet? May I suggest Andre Agassi again? The coach’s job would not be to tinker with his game, but to help keep his head screwed on properly. It’s interesting to note that the Fed’s losses this year have been to players who come across as assholes on the court (though they may be perfectly lovely off it). In both cases he missed shots that he can usually make blindfolded, he couldn’t pull himself together. My theory is that these guys rattled him.
People forget that Roger is not really the toughest of competitors. Early in his career he was mentally fragile and given to on-court tantrums. I suspect that his focus requires shutting out everything but the ball, and lately the other player, the umpire, the whole world has been getting in. It’s called Life.
We want our sports heroes to display grit and guts. Roger Federer has been allowed to flout that rule because his tennis is truly extraordinary (Describing why the Fed is great is sort of like explaining why math is beautiful). He’s developed an aura of invincibility despite his fragility. Amazing when you think about it. I believe the Federer era is not over, but what if it is? Nothing lasts forever. At some point, you have to let your superheroes go.
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March 6th, 2008 at 03:11
Federer actually won the first set in his match against Murray. But, I also believe it’s just a rough patch if we go by Fed’s history as JZ alluded to. And what came out during the interview may be something that he’s been bottling up all these years from losing to professional *pushers*. The likes of Murray, Nalbadian, and Nadal virtually get back every ball thrown at them, and eventually force their opponents into committing (silly) errors out of annoyance. Nonetheless, sports champions have to and always will find ways to defeat their opponents, human backboards or not.
So what if Fed is in a slump? He may be a tennis god, but he’s also human. Sports heroes are generally measured by their successes as well as the adversities they overcome. As Jon Wertheim wrote in his weekly SI column (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_wertheim/03/04/mailbag/index.html): “At some level, Federer is victim to the goofily high standards he’s set for himself. Win 90 percent of your matches over the last five years and, when you lose two straight, it’s a crisis… If Federer hasn’t won a tournament heading into, say, Roland Garros, we can talk decline. But until then I think it’s premature.”
Speaking of crisis, which “Federer Crisis” is worse: his back-to-back losses to Canas last year, or his last two losses to Djokovic and Murray this year?
March 6th, 2008 at 08:51
Oh but I can’t let my superhero go. :( This is just a slump. I suspect that the teams of Murray and Djokovic have discovered the “secret way” to beat Roger. But getting a coach can solve that for Roger. Andre coaches Roger, Steffi teaches Mirka how to keep fit.
March 6th, 2008 at 18:35
Hope he gets a coach before the French Open. Hay, he’s supposed to go for a Golden Slam, but his Olympics participation isn’t even a sure thing now. Yes, have Agassi coach him; I’ll be one goofily happy fan to see the Agassi-Graf powerhouse with the Federer camp.
March 14th, 2008 at 13:09
This is the downside of being the top rank player for so long— your losses create more attention than your achievements. I agree, Fed needs a coach. What happened to the rumor about Darren Cahill coaching him? and Fed need not to be passive and polish his running FH, he tends to shank the ball when he’s on the run. I think this is the tactic that most of the players use against him, his BH isnt the weaknest anymore…