RF Tennis News 2017

^^^^

All contracts are just that - commitments to play barring unforeseen circumstances - ie injury etc., or potentially retirement, in Roger's case at this point in his career.

What this contract does do however, is lock up his participation in Basel should he be in condition to play.  It means that he cannot negotiate with any other commitment during that timeslot - He will not play Vienna for example.  (Just like his lifetime contract with Halle means that he will not play Queen's Club while they are in the same weeks)

It is a win for the tournament - they know that if Roger is able, he will play the tournament and all the benefits that that brings to the organizers and fans - he has a track record of not withdrawing for anything other than medical circumstances.  If Roger has formally retired, then, of-course, he will not play.  He would no longer be part of the drug testing programme and that automatically precludes one from playing!!  If Roger is on a reduced playing schedule by the time he is 38 then I would expect this contract to be honoured - given that this is his home tournament with such strong ties, this would NOT be a tournament that he would cancel to reduce workload!!

It is a win for Swiss fans - they know that they can buy tickets when they are first issued and that Roger will participate unless injured/sick etc.  They have something fixed to look forward to.

It is a win for Roger because he now has something firm in place and will not have the stress of negotiating on a yearly basis.  Hopefully the hatchets are truly buried and Roger can simply enjoy himself for the rest of his career. I find it interesting that this is a term contract as opposed to the lifetime contract that he has with Halle.

Rufus1 wrote:There is a new article from Chris Clarey out today - based on a phone interview with Roger yesterday in Prague.  (No reference to signing with the Basel tournament as a result.)

Title:  Retirement? Roger Federer, Still Celebrating, Says He’s Not Done Yet

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/sports/tennis/roger-federer-retirement-laver-cup.html?_r=0

highlights
- only briefly thought about immediate retirement
- returning to Dubai today (Tuesday)
- upper leg injury still an issue and he is not practising at 100%
- happy to have had a long period to enjoy the win
- details about how he took "Norman" to the top of the mountain and what it meant
- when compared to FO win this AO win was not a "meant to be" win and he explains why

Last paragraph/quote from Roger - retirement - not yet!!
“The goal, when I took my break of six months, was doing this for the next couple years, not just for one tournament,” Federer said. “I understand people who say, ‘Oh, this would be a perfect moment to go.’ But I feel like I’ve put in so much work, and I love it so much, and I still have so much in the tank.”

I am concerned about his upper leg problem - if it's still bothering him after 3 weeks - perhaps missing Dubai would be a good idea as to aggravate a problem in this area could wreck his summer season (I remember Wimbledon 2010 after he'd hurt his leg in the Halle Final where he lost to Hewitt). Hope he and his team can make the best decision for him.

Damn, why does it have to be Dubai next. I so want him reclaiming the Trophy not to mention breaking records and getting his first #8 there, but Wimby is more important.
He's all about staying healthy so he'll make the right decision for sure but there's only a week to go and I read somewhere this injury takes 6-8 weeks to fix
So how did he manage to keep playing 5-setters in Aussie and move like he did if he can't even practise properly yet??

avasbar wrote:Damn, why does it have to be Dubai next.  I so want him reclaiming the Trophy not to mention breaking records and getting his first #8 there, but Wimby is more important.
He's all about staying healthy so he'll make the right decision for sure but there's only a week to go and I read somewhere this injury  takes 6-8 weeks to fix    
So how did he manage to keep playing 5-setters in Aussie and move like he did if he can't even practise properly yet??

This is Roger 5.0, and he no longer feels like he can't use the rules (MTO's) that are available to EVERY single player. He also seems happier than EVER to talk to media...and he knows how to use it to his advantage. Now, he may very well withdraw from Dubai due to his leg, or just to rest up for later tournaments. JMHO, but Roger has watched the other 3 players (of the big 4...but I include Stan, Cilic, Kei, and Delpo) always discussing, or publishing, ongoing supposed injury issues for most of his career; and then they are hailed as true heroes when they manage the "impossible".

Some of them are legit injuries. But since Nole won the French Open, he's dealt with vague foot, arm, shoulder, wrist & head issues. He even said that he was struggling mentally from July - Dec of 2016 because Roger & Rafa were missing from the sport. Kind of a low blow towards Andy, but they all do this. Well guess what, Joker, they are back, & Roger is once again, front and center, the face of tennis. He always has been...but now he's somehow elevated himself to even greater heights. So high that now even Toni has cried "uncle" and left Rafa to fend for himself!

Roger 5.0 is at a new place mentally. He has nothing left to prove, yet when healthy, he's still the best player in the game. Instead of the 18th slam being "the end" for Roger (like Pete), he seems really energized from this title...more so than at any time in perhaps a decade. He knows where his game is at...and he's defeated his biggest nemisis by just letting it fly...going all out and believing it would be good enough to win. And it was. And he knows it.

JMHO, but Roger wants titles more than ever attm. The whole underdog/fairytale/comeback "hero" thing seems to suit him just fine. Maybe...just maybe...he will enjoy being the "over the hill", "past his prime", age & injury plagued "underdog" until the 2020 O.G., smashing every record left in tennis along the way. I dreamed he would win the AO...so why stop there?

Vinnie wrote:... But since Nole won the French Open, he's dealt with vague foot, arm, shoulder, wrist & head issues. He even said that he was struggling mentally from July - Dec of 2016 because Roger & Rafa were missing from the sport.

And here I thought Djokovic was distracted by non-tennis matters that led to buying expensive jewelry for the wife.  And Becker - who had the temerity to publicly state that Djokovic isn't training hard enough - has been replaced by some spiritual guru meant to help him renew his enthusiasm. In what or for whom I'm not exactly sure.  

Just having a little fun here.

Thankfully Roger is back.

according to this twitter account, Roger has arrived in Dubai
https://twitter.com/hamdi_RF/status/834294892625018881

Vinnie wrote:

JMHO, but Roger wants titles more than ever attm. The whole underdog/fairytale/comeback "hero" thing seems to suit him just fine. Maybe...just maybe...he will enjoy being the "over the hill", "past his prime", age & injury plagued "underdog" until the 2020 O.G., smashing every record left in tennis along the way. I dreamed he would win the AO...so why stop there?

Indeed!

I remember your dream Vinny Too good! And Rog has given plenty grounds to BEL19VE.

But you're not implying anything other than Roger is now admitting when he is carrying an injury, right?

I don't know which of Djoker's injuries are legit - the shoulder one might actually be real - but the breakdown in his mental invincibility is apparant enough and he admitted it was all due to personal issues. I think wcr has covered that one!

Well, he's in Dubai, so I guess he's playing but Raonic has a recurring adductor problem so I hope Rog is being sensible, but he's nothing if not wary these days, so just gotta believe he knows what he's doing.

Katarina_YYZ wrote:according to this twitter account, Roger has arrived in Dubai
https://twitter.com/hamdi_RF/status/834294892625018881

I'm guessing he's playing Dubai then. I guess that means the injury is not serious. He should still be careful, although Roger has been playing for almost 20 years so he knows what he's doing.

Will be fun to see Roger back on court after a month. Hopefully he is efficient in the coming weeks.

There is an article in the Swiss Paper "Tagesanzeiger"
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sport/tennis/federer-will-noch-mindestens-drei-jahre-spielen/story/24599595

This of course is in German. I am not a professional translator but here is my attempt at a rough translation

Roger Federer himself puts an end to speculations about retirement. He has signed a contract with Swiss Indoors until 2019. "A lucky break" says Swiss-Indoors president Roger Brennwald. It is a privilege to sign up Roger right after his AO Triumph. Federer himself is pleased to say "I can't wait until this fall to once again play in front of my home-town fans. To play in Basel is always a highlight of the year for me." Federer is the record winner of the Swiss Indoors and has won it already seven times. The length of this new contract is a good sign that this number could be added to, now that Roger is planning his tennis carrier for the long run.

The relationship between the tournament director and the one-time ball boy has at times been troublesome. In 2013 Brennwald complained publicly that Roger would not answer his phone calls. But since then it has improved. The negotiations between Roger Federer's Manager Tony Godsick were smooth, comments Brennwald to Tagesanzeiger.

That the contract that ended in 2016 would be renewed was a given. The only thing that was unclear was for how long. The basic question was: one year, or longer? Now that Federer has committed himself for three years is almost a little miracle, says Brennwald. "For Basel, this may feel as self-understood, but nobody else in the ATP can report anything similar."

How much money is paid for this contract was not disclosed. It is "in the norm" says Brennwald. It is logical that the addition of Roger's name will be very helpful for the tournament to find a new lead sponsor, a search that has been going on since 2010. In addition the long commitment by Federer to play the tournament will cement its position as a 500 level tournament.

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY FEB. 21, 2017

Retirement? Roger Federer, Still Celebrating, Says He’s Not Done Yet

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/sports/tennis/roger-federer-retirement-laver-cup.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Those two articles and Roger's words are music to my ear!  Three more years in Basel!  

OK, now I'm worried
I've copied the pertinent bits here but the full article from Medscape discusses it in depth

Adductor Strain

Updated: Feb 10, 2016
Author: Marlon P Rimando, MD; Chief Editor: Consuelo T Lorenzo, MD  more

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/307308-overview#a2


Injury to the hip adductors most commonly occurs following forced push-off (side-to-side motion). An extreme amount of stress is placed on the adductor tendons when, because of the athlete's momentum, a large amount of force is applied to one side in the sagittal plane and the adductor muscles must contract rapidly to shift the force to the opposite direction.

The adductor tendons have a small insertion area that attaches to the periosteum-free bone. This transitional zone is characterized by a poor blood supply and rich nerve supply, explaining the high level of perceived pain and poor healing characteristics of adductor strains.
The musculotendinous junction is likely to be vulnerable to indirect muscle injury that results from excessive force. Muscle strain injury has been characterized as occurring in response to forcible stretching of a muscle, most commonly while the muscle is activated. When the muscle is activated, muscle strain injury occurs, most often during eccentric (lengthening) contraction.

A study of 110 male athletes with sports-related acute groin pain (66% of whom had adductor injuries) found that change of direction was the most common cause of the injury in most sports (31%), although in soccer, kicking was the most frequent mechanism (40%). Of adductor injuries, imaging showed the adductor longus to be involved in more than 90% of cases. [10]

Prognosis
Improper management of acute adductor strains or returning to play before pain-free sport-specific activities can be performed may lead to chronic injury. According Renstrom and Peterson, 42% of athletes with groin muscle-tendon injuries could not return to physical activity after more than 20 weeks following the initial injury. [12] This prolonged length of time seems to indicate the importance of proper management of these injuries in the acute stage.
Patient Education
The patient needs to be educated on proper treatment following an acute groin injury. PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation) needs to be emphasized to ensure that swelling is reduced. In the acute stage, inform patients to avoid activities that may be harmful and to promote increased blood flow to the adductor muscles by use of hot packs, hot showers, or massage. The athletic trainer and/or physical therapist should instruct the patient in proper exercises to rehabilitate the adductor muscles and enable the patient to return safely to participation in a sport or activity.
As is the case in many injuries involving athletes, outside influence on the physician to return the athlete to play before being medically ready can be a problem. The best interest of the player must take precedence in this situation. Returning players with an adductor injury to their sport too quickly can have a detrimental effect on a future career. Adductor injuries have a tendency to become chronic when not properly treated.

Sorry if this one was already posted (or if it is wrong thread). I think it is the article Vinny was talking about recently:

http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/18686400/for-roger-federer-devoted-superfans-world-love-everywhere

For Roger Federer and his devoted superfans, love is everywhere

It took three days of hanging around, of waiting vainly at practice courts and risking sunburn, hoping that he might show up, but when they finally got their man, goodness, was it worth it.
For when two of Roger Federer's devotees, who are a bit coy and don't wish to be named, finally got to present their idol with the "RF Love Box," crammed with 110 messages of support from his most loyal fans around the world, just a couple of days before the Australian Open started, little did they realize that it might help inspire one of the great sports comeback tales of recent vintage.
"It's the Love Box because we put all the love of his biggest fans in that box," said teacher Martine Lessire, one of Fed's superfans from Belgium who devised the new presentation ritual that will now take place before every tournament Federer takes part in.
"It was to welcome him back after he had been out injured for so long. It's most important that Roger knows that we love him and that we're with him. Always -- in good moments or bad moments."
It's actually just a variation on a fond tradition, Lessire said. Ever since Wimbledon in 2003, a few weeks after Federer had been knocked out in the first round of the French Open, his fans have presented him with an envelope full of good luck messages at every tournament he competes in.
"It got to be known as the 'Red Envelope,' and Roger would know to look out for it at every tournament," said Doris Loeffel, a Swiss fan who has followed Federer in dozens of tournaments all over the world.
Being chosen by fellow superfans as the courier who would deliver the Red Envelope became the most cherished job in Fed fandom. Loeffel did it herself at the 2012 Olympics in London. The courier, usually decked out in full Swiss cross and monogrammed RF regalia, would wait until the great man finished practicing and wave the envelope frantically to attract his attention before he'd stroll across for a chat and to have his picture taken with the messenger.
Does he ever read the messages? According to a French TV documentary, Federer's house is full of the hardware he has won, plus a sheaf of Red Envelopes because he so enjoys this tradition.
"He told me he read them," Loeffel said, adding with a smile: "Roger's a gentleman."
Last year, after he was knocked out of Wimbledon and was out injured for the rest of the season, Federer's website was refurbished. It reappeared without the forum section that his fans used to keep in touch with each other, and the Red Envelope tradition died with its passing.
Yet Lessire, who had maintained email contact with many of her cohorts, was determined to reinvent it, passing on the messages to two superfan couriers in Melbourne who created the Love Box.
"He was so happy when they explained to him it was the new form of the envelope," she said.
Suitably inspired, we know what happened next. A rusty, 35-year-old father of four who hadn't played a tournament for six months emerged to win a record 18th Grand Slam singles title against his nemesis, Rafael Nadal, in a monumental five-setter. It was the most impossible, wondrous sports story of the year. Er, at least until that other old GOAT, Tom Brady, came along.
Lessire watched the Aussie Open final on her own at her home in Namur, Belgium.
"I wanted nobody around me," she said. "I was too nervous. He loses so often to Nadal. So it was just me, my TV and neighbors having to listen to this woman screaming for three hours."
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT Federer that sends normally sane and sensible figures a bit doolally. Literary giants write love letters about him, and fellow champions just want to cheerlead. Wasn't it Chris Evert, the epitome of cool, who once mused wildly: "Why do I love Roger? I don't know. I just do. There's something about Roger which just tugs at the heartstrings!"
According to Thomas Reuteler, president of Federer's official Swiss-based fan club, fans4roger, it's a safe bet that there were 10 million others around the globe like Lessire and Evert who were investing hope beyond hope that Federer would prevail.
What is it? The unmatched grace and greatness of his game -- or his personality? Or both? A man who can play like a prince but has a rare common touch with his fans. We're talking a popularity that might be unprecedented in the depth of its swooning devotion and longevity.
Federer has won the fans' award as the ATP's most popular player for 14 successive seasons. Fourteen! Yes, even through all those years when the heartthrob Nadal was muscling his way to glory and when Novak Djokovic dominated like a beautifully oiled machine. Last year, Fed picked up an amazing 56 percent of all the votes cast even though he'd only played for half a season.
After his Melbourne triumph, how comical that a Swiss bloke should be recognized by a market research survey as the most popular sports figure in Australia, better known and considered more likable than any of the country's own top sportsmen and women.
That will have come as no surprise to Caroline Burrows, one of his biggest fans in Australia. The Melbourne psychotherapist used to drive a battered old Toyota Tarago minivan that she and her fellow Federer fanatics would deck out in Swiss bunting and balloons, christening it the "The Federer Express," to see him at the Australian Open each year.
Sadly and rather embarrassingly, Burrows reports, the van eventually conked out for good in the middle of a busy Melbourne street.
"Yes, the Federer Express died years ago, but Roger marches on," she said, her beaming face not having lost its smile since the man himself saluted her and her pals the other week.
He might be the Wizard of Oz, but that recognition factor is replicated around the world. Of course, it's centered primarily on his sporting prowess -- the sheer force of his achievements will end with him in the same pantheon that the likes of Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens and Pele occupy -- but beyond that, people seem to warm most to the way he carries himself on and off the court.
First and foremost, millions appear to like the guy and trust him. A 2011 survey from the Reputation Institute dubbed him the second-most trusted and respected public personality in the world, behind Nelson Mandela but ahead of the likes of Bill Gates and Queen Elizabeth II.
Being as famous as Federer cannot be easy. He once found the adulation on a trip to Brazil in 2012 deeply uncomfortable.
"It was amazing how many were shaking, had great joy and began to cry, so I had to practically take them in my arms and say: 'It's OK, it's OK,'" he once explained in an interview with Tages Anzeiger, a German-language Swiss newspaper.
"I have to constantly remind myself again about where I come from and tell myself who I am. I also like the normal life still -- back to reality, family, friends, just quiet, please."
That's probably why the bond between him and his most fervent supporters is so strong. They know how he likes to be treated -- without too much song, dance and idolatry -- and he returns the compliment.
Take his return to Switzerland after the Aussie Open triumph. Reuteler, a financial controller who spends his spare time running the fan club, arranged for 50 of Federer's most loyal supporters to meet him at Zurich airport.
When he arrived, gentle chaos ensued as other people at the airport cottoned on to his arrival. But Federer made a point of going over to the fans he recognized first. When things started getting out of hand with some outsiders, a couple of women who began crying uncontrollably, Federer asked Reuteler politely if it was OK for him to leave and go to try to appease them. It reminded Reuteler of why he had become fan club president in the first place.
"I was more a fan of him as a person than I was a fan of tennis," he said.
COLLEEN TAYLOR, a longstanding fan from the U.S. and co-creator of the "Shhh!! Quiet! Genius At Work" banner that has been paraded by Federer's fans at tournaments around the world for years, tried to encapsulate what made the tennis legend so special to his followers.
"There's always a buzz around great athletes, but it's so personal when it comes to Roger," said Taylor, who once delivered the Red Envelope to him in Miami. "I have never seen anything like this kind of belovedness, this adoration that follows him.
"What makes it so special is that he doesn't just take something from you and just keep on going. He looks directly at you, says, 'thank you,' stops to talk, makes you feel that it's no chore for him. He signed my banner and took that extra moment to make me feel special, so that in some way you really feel like a diamond when you share that one moment with him."
For some, the Fed effect goes even further. Vinny Richards -- grandson of Vincent Richards, the U.S. player who won the Olympic singles gold medal in 1924 -- fell in love with Federer's classical throwback game after watching him battle past defending champion Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.
Since then, the 49-year-old from Tennessee says he has watched every Federer match when possible -- either live, on TV or via the Internet. Yet after a life-changing auto accident in 2002, Richards had to stop following Federer at the actual tournaments.
"Since 2004, I've had four back surgeries, a failed fusion, which has been so very debilitating, and I've had difficult times," said Richards, who was an avid player and USTA member before the accident.
"I watched 2006, his best year, from a hospital bed. I lost my career, my wife left, I regrouped, raised my daughter by myself, and in between doctor's appointments Roger has been a positive distraction, even an inspiration for me to keep going."
Strangely, Federer's increasing vulnerability, the hard losses he has taken in Slam finals at the hands of Nadal and Djokovic, seem to have only increased his fans' admiration.
"He has an inspirational way of handling losses, better than any other star in any sport ever, which makes his victories so much sweeter," Richards said.
Nothing sweeter, all the Fed-heads reckon, than Melbourne. There's a new, refreshed sense of awe in those banners that follow Federer around the world, lauding the maestro, such as the one reading, "And on the eighth day, God created Roger Federer."
And so it is that we leave Lessire now to look around and anoint the next courier who will deliver the RF Love Box to the blessed hero before the Dubai tournament that starts Monday.
"I can't imagine Roger not receiving our messages," she said. "And remember, when he has the Love Box, he has a 100 percent winning record."
One suspects Lessire won't have much trouble finding one among 10 million to carry out this labor of love.

Such a great piece! Thanks for sharing it anutam! I see so much love everywhere in this article! I think the writer himself must be a big fan