Wimbledon 2017

[Muloghonto]

1 hour ago, zep1706 said:

He has no plan of immediate retirement. I see him playing for another 3-4 years. With Djokovic's lack of form, and no threat from the young generation it's an open buffet for him. It's like we are back to the mid 2000s when Nadal won on clay and Federer everywhere else. Only Djokovic was stopping him from winning majors in the 20014-16 period, otherwise he would have won 3-4 more. He's probably in a better physical shape now than he was in his mid 20s. At that time he didn't have to work much on fitness, things came naturally to him. Now he is as fit as he can be. 

No, Federer was at his fittest in the 2004-2007 period, before he got Mono and had his back flare up from time to time. He is definitely a step slower now than before. But yea, i agree, he has no reason to retire in immediate future. A good indication to Federer's intentions is to see what he does with his 'home court' event at Basel...its pretty much an Atp500 event due to Federer. And he just signed a deal with them to play there till 2019. So way i see it, Federer will play atleast till 2019 , injury permitting. Man loves to play tennis and isn't bothered by the biggest negative and drain on a tennis player, which is the touring aspect and living out of a suitcase for all year. 

So why would he retire from doing something he loves, when he doesn't mind the 'negatives' at all and is very successful doing it ?

 

[Cricketics]

Man my boy RF again winning Wimbledon.

 

Can't wait to see him repeat this at US Open here.

 

 

[Dil Dil India]

The GOAT. Thankfully, despite all the MTO abusing and abuse of time violation rule, he has left Djokovic and Nadal in the dust. Looking forward to see those 2 so-called mental warriors and strong era champions find out what it is like to be 30+. Bones and other Djokovic fans (including some Rafa fans) kept saying Federer's losses to Djokovic from 2014-2016 was not age related at all. in 2011, when Federer was as old as Djokovic now, he cleaned the ball bouncer's clock at RG and should have done so again at the USO and this was ball bouncer at his absolute peak. Novack at a similar age is getting destroyed by Kyrgios, Berdych, Thiem, Istomin etc. Hoping for some more of the same.

[Dil Dil India]

5 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

No, Federer was at his fittest in the 2004-2007 period, before he got Mono and had his back flare up from time to time. He is definitely a step slower now than before. But yea, i agree, he has no reason to retire in immediate future. A good indication to Federer's intentions is to see what he does with his 'home court' event at Basel...its pretty much an Atp500 event due to Federer. And he just signed a deal with them to play there till 2019. So way i see it, Federer will play atleast till 2019 , injury permitting. Man loves to play tennis and isn't bothered by the biggest negative and drain on a tennis player, which is the touring aspect and living out of a suitcase for all year. 

So why would he retire from doing something he loves, when he doesn't mind the 'negatives' at all and is very successful doing it ?

 

Ignore him. He's a Nadal fan troll in absolute ruins over the result. It is pretty obvious what he is trying to imply without having the guts to say it openly.

[zep1706]

8 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

No, Federer was at his fittest in the 2004-2007 period, before he got Mono and had his back flare up from time to time. He is definitely a step slower now than before. But yea, i agree, he has no reason to retire in immediate future. A good indication to Federer's intentions is to see what he does with his 'home court' event at Basel...its pretty much an Atp500 event due to Federer. And he just signed a deal with them to play there till 2019. So way i see it, Federer will play atleast till 2019 , injury permitting. Man loves to play tennis and isn't bothered by the biggest negative and drain on a tennis player, which is the touring aspect and living out of a suitcase for all year. 

So why would he retire from doing something he loves, when he doesn't mind the 'negatives' at all and is very successful doing it ?

 

 

I don't agree. I have never seen Federer this strong and in a better physical state. When he was in the mid 20s he naturally had youthful exuberance. That's a different thing, but after that period this is the best physical shape he has ever been in. He was ready to play professional tennis at last year's Wimbledon itself. He took the next 6 months off to build up physical strength. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to go through three 5 setters at AO to win the title, right after an almost an year long break and then go on to win the IW and Miami double on slow hard courts back to back beating many top 10 players, playing long matches on consecutive days. He had done that only once before in his life when he was 25 and he has never gone through Halle and Wimbledon without losing a set except this year. It's not a doping allegation as the retard above is insinuating, that's your forte. But he's moving as fast as he ever has, serving as big as he ever has, hitting his ground strokes (especially the BH) bigger than he ever has. That requires tremendous physical strength. Watch Berdych's presser, he said as much and he has played Federer all his life. There is zero impact of age on Federer zero and yes why would he retire when he's seemingly at the peak of his powers? Nobody would. It wasn't my suggestion anyway. I clearly see him playing pro tennis for another 3-4 years unless he gets injured or something. I think he'll at least play till 40. Didn't Connors play till 44? 

Edited July 17, 2017 by zep1706

[Muloghonto]

1 hour ago, zep1706 said:

 

I don't agree. I have never seen Federer this strong and in a better physical state. When he was in the mid 20s he naturally had youthful exuberance. That's a different thing, but after that period this is the best physical shape he has ever been in. He was ready to play professional tennis at last year's Wimbledon itself. He took the next 6 months off to build up physical strength. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to go through three 5 setters at AO to win the title, right after an almost an year long break and then go on to win the IW and Miami double on slow hard courts back to back beating many top 10 players, playing long matches on consecutive days. He had done that only once before in his life when he was 25 and he has never gone through Halle and Wimbledon without losing a set except this year. It's not a doping allegation as the retard above is insinuating, that's your forte. But he's moving as fast as he ever has, serving as big as he ever has, hitting his ground strokes (especially the BH) bigger than he ever has. That requires tremendous physical strength. Watch Berdych's presser, he said as much and he has played Federer all his life. There is zero impact of age on Federer zero and yes why would he retire when he's seemingly at the peak of his powers? Nobody would. It wasn't my suggestion anyway. I clearly see him playing pro tennis for another 3-4 years unless he gets injured or something. I think he'll at least play till 40. Didn't Connors play till 44? 

thats just it. Federer is not moving as fast as he ever has. His movements are distinctly slower than his pre-mono days, which also happen to be his mid-20s peak. 

He is serving more accurately than he ever has, but he had a good 5-10kph more on average back in the day. Federer is playing smarter tennis nowadays. 

[I6MTW]

Federer might win a few more but what would really be good and seal the debate is if he wins the french open once more at least. That is the one slam that looks odd on his resume, plus I think he has won all tournaments except 2 clay masters titles. If he wins these then debate is sealed once and for all but it seems Roger's best clay court days are behind him, he's playing it safe, and I doubt his body will allow him to settle into the clay courts. Plus with Nadal, Wawrinka, and rise of Thiem plus other European clay court bullies it would be very tough for him to get past 3rd or 4th round.

[zep1706]

27 minutes ago, Muloghonto said:

thats just it. Federer is not moving as fast as he ever has. His movements are distinctly slower than his pre-mono days, which also happen to be his mid-20s peak. 

He is serving more accurately than he ever has, but he had a good 5-10kph more on average back in the day. Federer is playing smarter tennis nowadays. 

I don't see any slowness, certainly not when we're talking about "off the block" explosive speed. Perhaps if he's engaged in a long physical battle like Djokovic was able to got him into in the last few years he'd slow down over the course of a match but in Australia he was able to overcome even that. If he was slower, he wouldn't be in such good position to play his ground strokes and he's beating most players from the baseline with power and precision. When he has to defend he defends almost as well too. Until last year I also thought that he was a step slower but this year he's moving as well as he ever has IMO. His serve speeds are not slower, you are right about him being more accurate though. He might take off a little bit for more accuracy but when he needs it he can go almost as big. 

Edited July 17, 2017 by zep1706

[Dil Dil India]

So this Wafa fangirl says Federer is better physically than he was at 25 and calls me a retard. Hilarious! It's what Roger's results have done to the collective fanbases of both the MTO abusers and time wasters. Federer's is so good physically that he skipped the entire clay season and has to schedule smartly in order to remain fit. Really sound logic. About par for those who make sly insinuations and then back out when called out on it. I love the salt. What a time to be a Federer fan!

[Dil Dil India]

57 minutes ago, Muloghonto said:

thats just it. Federer is not moving as fast as he ever has. His movements are distinctly slower than his pre-mono days, which also happen to be his mid-20s peak. 

He is serving more accurately than he ever has, but he had a good 5-10kph more on average back in the day. Federer is playing smarter tennis nowadays. 

Anyone without an agenda knows that Federer is slower than he was at his peak. You only have to make him run from side to side and it is noticeable. Most of the field today is incapable of doing that. The only one who could do it in the last few years has been Djokovic at his absolute best and guess who Federer lost most of his big matches to in recent years....

[Muloghonto]

2 hours ago, zep1706 said:

I don't see any slowness, certainly not when we're talking about "off the block" explosive speed. Perhaps if he's engaged in a long physical battle like Djokovic was able to got him into in the last few years he'd slow down over the course of a match but in Australia he was able to overcome even that. If he was slower, he wouldn't be in such good position to play his ground strokes and he's beating most players from the baseline with power and precision. When he has to defend he defends almost as well too. Until last year I also thought that he was a step slower but this year he's moving as well as he ever has IMO. His serve speeds are not slower, you are right about him being more accurate though. He might take off a little bit for more accuracy but when he needs it he can go almost as big. 

tennis players rarely lose 'off the block explosiveness' and still remain in the top-20.But what they do lose, is stop-start-turning agility.What Federer is way, way worse at now, is his agility- changing directions/stopping on a dime, etc. Youtube isn't exhaustive but i'd recommend youtube-ing his match from 2005/2006 vs James Blake to see what i mean. He simply doesn't move like that anymore. For e.g., back in the day, Federer would chase down(often successfully) potential winners at opposite corner of the court- nowaways, if you have him pegged at the backhand corner and paint the line on the forehand side (open side of court), he often doesn't even bother to chase it down.

 

Yes, he's arrested the slide a bit and i think Federer 2017 is better than 2013-2016 Federer, but he is nowhere close to his explosive agility in the pre-2008 days. 

I think his first serve is 5-10mph slower than it was pre-back injury. Seems to me he was in the 115-120mph zone for his first serve (particularly the one going wide on deuce court) but now he is 110-115mph on those. You maybe right in the sense he might be taking 5% power off to get a more accurate serve. 

 

 

[Muloghonto]

3 hours ago, I6MTW said:

Federer might win a few more but what would really be good and seal the debate is if he wins the french open once more at least. That is the one slam that looks odd on his resume, plus I think he has won all tournaments except 2 clay masters titles. If he wins these then debate is sealed once and for all but it seems Roger's best clay court days are behind him, he's playing it safe, and I doubt his body will allow him to settle into the clay courts. Plus with Nadal, Wawrinka, and rise of Thiem plus other European clay court bullies it would be very tough for him to get past 3rd or 4th round.

Federer said recently that his knee felt 'real funny' on clay last year. I don't think Federer is gonna play the FO again- maybe in his last year as a farewell visit. I don't think he will suddenly stop like Sampras/Graf, i think he will have a 'retirement year tour', announce it early-ish and go to all sorts of obscure places he hasn't been to, as a retirement tour.

Besides, everyone knows RF would've had multiple FOs if it wasn't for Nadal- man got stopped what-5 times at FO by Nadal in a period when only Nadal could beat him on clay. Very different from say Agassi, who fluked a wimbledon and french open title.

 

Not to mention, at this stage in his career, Federer probably knows there is no way his body is gonna hold up to the gruelling task of winning FO, aka 2 weeks of marathons on clay and still be fit enough for wimbledon a month later and warming up with atleast 1 grass court event in between. I think at this point, Federer would be more interested in seeing if he can get his own 'Die Decima' at wimbledon over winning more French Opens. 

And i think he has a chance at Wimbledon. Not only is he likeliest to beat the other big-4 at wimbledon than any other venue, the rest of the big-4 are far more vulnerable against serve-bots at wimbledon while Federer seems to be far more bulletproof against servebots on grass for some reason ( i think the fact that his service is the bigger weapon than rest of the big-4 and that it gets him more free points on grass than other big-4 members might have something to counter the serve-bots on this surface).

 

[Cricketics]

8 hours ago, zep1706 said:

I don't see any slowness, certainly not when we're talking about "off the block" explosive speed. Perhaps if he's engaged in a long physical battle like Djokovic was able to got him into in the last few years he'd slow down over the course of a match but in Australia he was able to overcome even that. If he was slower, he wouldn't be in such good position to play his ground strokes and he's beating most players from the baseline with power and precision. When he has to defend he defends almost as well too. Until last year I also thought that he was a step slower but this year he's moving as well as he ever has IMO. His serve speeds are not slower, you are right about him being more accurate though. He might take off a little bit for more accuracy but when he needs it he can go almost as big. 

Federer is actually  moving well and has added more weapons. 2 years ago at US Open, he added SABR(Sneak attack by Roger) where he used to come down and attack. His game during that time was starting to come back but wasn't fully back to the besti and hence he was able to make to the finals but was consistently losing to Djokovic who was also in a monstrous form. He had started moving well then, and that is the time he had started to work more on strength and conditioning and he started to skip more tournaments. If you see his schedule, he took out lot of tournaments from his schedule starting that US OPEN 2015. It's not that he won his 18th slam 2 years ago. It took him another 16 months to win that long-awaited 18th slam which he got finally in this year's Australian Open, but the things were starting to change right around that US Open in 2015. 

 

I think he is back to his best if not better than before. Knees will feel funny because inside, he is still aging and knees are the worst part of the body which can not improve, but can only be strengthened to help you go through few more months and then they need to be rested and recharged again. You can improve your shoulder strength etc, but not your knees, and hence Federer skips French where his knees feel the worst.

 

That said, I hope to see Federer one time on clay at least before he calls it a career. 

 

[kumar713]

On 7/17/2017 at 4:37 PM, Dil Dil India said:

The GOAT. Thankfully, despite all the MTO abusing and abuse of time violation rule, he has left Djokovic and Nadal in the dust. Looking forward to see those 2 so-called mental warriors and strong era champions find out what it is like to be 30+. Bones and other Djokovic fans (including some Rafa fans) kept saying Federer's losses to Djokovic from 2014-2016 was not age related at all. in 2011, when Federer was as old as Djokovic now, he cleaned the ball bouncer's clock at RG and should have done so again at the USO and this was ball bouncer at his absolute peak. Novack at a similar age is getting destroyed by Kyrgios, Berdych, Thiem, Istomin etc. Hoping for some more of the same.

 

Novak has been carrying a long time Injury. If Federer who got owned through out his career by Nadal, does well in his late 30's then why cant Nole do well.

[Dil Dil India]

On 7/29/2017 at 4:28 PM, kumar713 said:

 

Novak has been carrying a long time Injury. If Federer who got owned through out his career by Nadal, does well in his late 30's then why cant Nole do well.

Equivalent age for Federer (i.e 2011): Federer stopped an absolute peak Djokovic in his tracks at the FO and nearly again at the USO; destroyed Nadal en route to the WTF.

Djokovic this year: getting spanked by Istomin, Kyrgios, Kyrgios, Goffin, Thiem bagel, Berdych, Zverev....clearly he's not Federer.