RF Schedule 2017

Im totally with you on this Rufus. Too hard - back to back 1000s AND the USO? Naah.

I can see arguments from both sides and I'm very conflicted! But I trust Roger and his team will make the best decision based on his body, his goals and family

I wonder when Roger will make an announcement with regards to Rogers Cup? Or have I missed it?

RogerNo.19 wrote:I wonder when Roger will make an announcement with regards to Rogers Cup? Or have I missed it?

He will only announce if he chooses NOT to play.  Otherwise he remains on the entry list.

However, on the homepage of his website,

http://www.rogerfederer.com/

the tour tracer still says Halle and Wimbledon.  Nothing has changed there.  That is where I am looking.

If history repeats itself, the next update will show either W and RC OR W and Cincy.  This is very much the same as on the previous website, for RC in 2015 - Tour tracer stayed at W until the press release announcing his withdrawal and then it immediately changed to upcoming at Cincy.

I firmly feel that he has already made his decision - probably before his holidays - that was his intention according to his presser.  With the tournament only a week away, he has to know if he is competing, or not!!!

However, today he was doing a photoshoot for Credit Suisse and the tournament begins a week from today!

I find it interesting to read the article from TC today announcing the seeds.  Since Roger is still on the entry list he is listed as third seed.

http://www.couperogers.com/en/world-no-1-andy-murray-will-top-seed-rogers-cup-presented-national-bank/

However, notice this paragraph from Lapierre.  No mention of EITHER Roger, nor Murray, only Raonic, Nadal and representing #nextgen, A. Zverev.

“Next week is shaping up to be another phenomenal week of tennis in Montreal,” said Eugene Lapierre, Rogers Cup Montreal tournament director. “We look forward to seeing the best men’s tennis players in the world visit Uniprix Stadium once again, from the top stars like Rafael Nadal, Canada’s own Milos Raonic, and next generation talent such as Alexander Zverev. We are down to the last preparations of what will be a world-class experience for all of our players and guests.”

If they were certain of either, particularly Roger, since Murray was in the headline - #1 and again not formally withdrawn, they would have included his name alongside Rafa's.

In 2015 he officially withdrew on July 29 with the qualifying set to start on August 8th.  Lots of time before the qualifying began to let JJ know that he would be entering the main draw, not the qualifying.

It is now July 31 and tournament starts August 5th for qualifying.  The Q draw will need to be done on Aug 4th.  That is not a lot of time, especially compared with the last time when he also withdrew although healthy, citing the need to manage his schedule to be best prepared for the US Open.

My hope is that if he indeed intends to withdraw, that he will do so in enough time to help the next person on the entry list, a chance to play main draw without going through qualies.  Similarly Murray.

At the moment, he remains entered and no press release will be forthcoming if he is choosing to play.

The statement from the TD certainly seems to indicate that Roger has told him he won't be going. If not, it's such an insult, that Roger should withdraw, anyway!

If Roger has decided to play only one, he will definitely pick Cincy. There is no doubt. As much as I would have liked him playing Montreal, if he is just practicing in Cincy instead, that is probably just fine. At this point, his primary goal should probably be US Open anyway. If he wins there, the #1 will take care of itself over the rest of the year. I am honestly surprised Nadal hasn't announced any injuries yet. He has played 53 matches this year and that is more than he has played at this stage of the year in any of the previous 6 years if I am not mistaken.

^^^ Roger has already said he will for sure play Cincy, so that is not in question.  He said after Wimbledon, that he would make a decision about Montreal.  

It seems to me that Roger should have made a decision by now.  If he is skipping, he would announce it.  If he wasn't, then you can be sure the TD would be hollering it from the roof-tops that Roger was playing.  I think the draw is Friday, so Roger will have a decision by then.  Heck, he would be enroute if he was playing!

If Murray nor Roger play (along with Djoker), it could be an easy 'gift' title for Nadal.  Just like it was for Djoker last year when everyone else skipped it.

Yeah it looks like Roger is gonna skip Montreal which could be the right decision as US Open should be his main focus. He's still in Switzerland and the TD statement makes it clear that Roger won't play.

^^^ Q draw is Friday and main draw is Saturday, at least it has been in the past.

As I said above, I am sure that Roger has already made his decision!!  Play begins a week from today, although for him, more likely the Wednesday.

He may have returned from holiday on Thursday, given his photographed presence at an airport in Sardinia, but he started tweeting Saturday night which would officially suggest an end to his holiday.  

He was definitely involved with Credit Suisse, probably beyond his #askRoger event, today, given the odd IG photo with fans suggesting as much, and his last statement on the FB live chat.  He also was photographed with a fan and family, (IG) at a gym near the CS headquarters, albeit in his street clothes and in the lobby or some such public place.  Not sure how much to read into this except that if you are intending to play in 1 week and just got back from holidays, it does seem that you would more likely be training than doing sponsor activities for the day.  As far as still being in Switzerland itself - if playing, he would still not be traveling this early, especially after just getting back!!!

I agree with Steerpike60 that he will announce it should he choose to withdraw.  My only surprise is that he didn't do it today, given the short time frame to qualies, and the amount of lead time he gave in 2015.  On the other hand, I also agree that the TD would be all over it if he knew he was coming at the time of writing the TC article today announcing the seeds.  He was, of-course, on the list but that was as far as it went.  So I would guess that he too did not know, or at least not know in the affirmative.  Roger was very definitive at the W presser that Montréal was up in the air and that he would be making the decision with his team within a day or so.  Lapierre would be well aware of that and would not want to promise what he could not deliver.

On July 19, Stephanie Myles, a Canadian tennis journalist who was at W and saw him there, did a phone interview with RCI (Radio Canada International) and when asked about his possible appearance said she doubted it, for a variety of reasons.  If it is not geoblocked, you can listen to it from this link.  But remember that it was a July 19 interview.

http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2017/07/19/will-roger-federer-grace-canadians-with-his-presence-this-summer-stay-tuned/

As far as Rafa winning and the 1000 points that goes with that - if Murray made the trip, which quite frankly I doubt, although he too, has not announced anything one way or another - a compromised Murray is unlikely to phase Nadal and given their seeds, they could only meet in the final anyways - doubt very much that Murray would get that far.  If Roger were to decide to go, they could not meet until either the semi, if Murray came, or the final, if not, or if draw dictated that.  It should be noted that Roger has only got to the final ONCE in Montréal and that was in 2007 when he lost to Djokovic.  His last two appearances - 2009 lost to Tsonga in quarters and in 2011, lost to Tsonga in round of 16 - so chances of them meeting from Roger's end are not good!!!  It will probably have to be somebody else to take Rafa out, if he is to be eliminated ahead of the final.  On the other hand, Kei did do that in the quarters at the Montréal RC in 2015!!!  (NOTHING is to be gained by combining Toronto and Montréal in any analysis - they play entirely differently)

Actually, I wonder with both Roger and Andy being questionable, that there may be a gentlemen's agreement to announce withdrawals at about the same time, and Andy may be needing more time to see how his hip is doing before making his decision.  Just a thought.  Again, I think that Roger probably has, one way or another.  And since the tour tracer has not changed, my GUESS is that he is unlikely to be there.  First day back at work would have been the logical time to change it in the affirmative.  And IF he has been asked to leave it until Andy is also ready to make a decision, he has left it officially up in the air.

Tournament director doesn't want to announce that Roger's not coming because it will affect sales. he probably begged Roger not to announce it yet. 

RogerNo.19 wrote:Tournament director doesn't want to announce that Roger's not coming because it will affect sales. he probably begged Roger not to announce it yet. 

I think that Roger is not likely to give into this kind of request easily because I believe that he cares about disappointing fans who choose to attend a tournament specifically because he's in the draw. Since he would likely have a start date of Wednesday week, it's still possible that the family could hub in Cincy with only him and one or both of Lubi and Seve flying out to Montreal.

I hope this is not the case because he was visibly exhausted in Miami after the Sunshine Double and I'm not convinced that he would give less than his best trying to win any tournament he enters. Going deep into these two tournaments and then having a break of only one week before the US Open could leave him vulnerable to an inspired opponent by the second week of the US Open with it's best of five format. The reminder from upthread about what happened when Roger met Marin in 2014 after going deep in Toronto and winning Cincy, was enlightening and frightening. Obviously, an inspired Cilic will always be dangerous, but as we saw at Wimbledon, it's hard for him to play his inspired best when Roger is on song (I doubt he felt any pain from the blisters until he came to this realization early in the second set :twisted: ).

Roger's close match to Berdych in Miami, I think, speaks to the toll that IW/M took on Roger. On paper, the way the courts played in Miami should have given the edge to Roger because Berdych should have had more difficulty hitting through the slow-ish conditions of the court, which is what he needs to do to challenge an in-form Roger; coupled with the added effect of the humidity making the balls heavier, that match should not have been that close. I'm sure Berdbrain (I know they're friends now, but I still don't forgive him for his remarks at W2010) thinks he probably played better to get the closer result than the shellacking he got in Australia, but I think that Roger was playing on fumes towards the end of that tournament.

Andy's not defending points in Canada, but if he doesn't attend or if he does, but fails to add enough to his lead over Nadal, then Nadal should be ranked #1 provided he makes the SF in Canada. If TFA does make the SF then it won't matter what Roger does (even win the tournament), he'll still at best be #2. Things change a bit come Cincy where Andy is defending 600 Finals points. With Nadal defending only 90 points from the R16, so anything better than that, plus whatever he gets in Canada, should be enough to take #1 from Murray (if he hadn't already).

Option B(est): Of course, both AM and TFA could both crash out early in either and/or both tournaments (yes, please) which would put Roger at #1 after he wins in Cincy! It could happen! 8) and until it doesn't, I'll continue to believe that it will!  BTW, Is there a Rose Colored Glasses emoji, I think I'm in desperate need at the moment?

Disclaimer: I don't have charts and graphs to back up my maths, so it's possible, that I'm way off in my calculations.

I really, really hope Roger skips Canada (sorry Canadian fans). I think appearing there and Cinci in 2014 cost him the US Open that year - he ran out of steam after that exhausting quarter final against Monfils.

Of course, there's no guarantee that Roger will do well at the USO if he skips Canada, but he'll be maximising his chances!

I think Roger was blown away from an in form Cilic who was playing out of his mind. Even Roger said that Cilic was hitting him off the court and was playing superbly. I hope Roger plays Montreal and Cincinnati. If he does really well at Montreal, he can always take a wait and see approach at Cincy. If Roger only plays Cincinnati and loses early, not only would he not have enough match preparation for US Open, but he might be far behind Rafa for no 1. Rafa has said he doesn't want to play Roger anymore so Roger is in his head. Roger should pursue this advantage.

Tommymas1 wrote:I think Roger was blown away from an in form Cilic who was playing out of his mind.  Even Roger said that Cilic was hitting him off the court and was playing superbly.  I hope Roger plays Montreal and Cincinnati.  If he does really well at Montreal, he can always take a wait and see approach at Cincy.  If Roger only plays Cincinnati and loses early, not only would he not have enough match preparation for US Open, but he might be far behind Rafa for no 1.   Rafa has said he doesn't want to play Roger anymore so Roger is in his head.  Roger should pursue this advantage.

Well, what if Roger loses early in Montreal? It means he'll have uprooted his family and added extra wear and tear for very little reward.

It doesn't matter if Roger is behind Nadal re the number 1 spot by the time he reaches the USO - if Roger wins it, he's likely to finish number 1 at the end of the year and he needs to maximise his chances of winning it. And even if Roger doesn't win the USO, he will still have ample opportunity (fitness permitting) to finish as number 1.

Cilic played very well in the USO semi 2014 - but Roger didn't. Roger at his peak = better than Cilic at his peak imo (and, I'm guessing, in the opinion of most members of this site). The exhausting schedule he chose in north America in 2014 meant that Roger was very flat by the time he reached that semi-final - it cost him another major, I believe.

We'll never know for sure, but he's 3 years older now and he has to marshall his energy levels accordingly. If he plays both Montreal and Cinci, he almost certainly won't win the USO - it's as simply as that. Just as if he's played RG this year, he probably wouldn't have won Wimbledon again.

Roger was asked about his schedule today at practise.  Needless to say, not giving anything away to a fan!!  Ivan was at practise, consistent with who would likely go with him to Canada, should he go, but so to was Pierre - meaning anything??  (Besides Seve might still be on honeymoon!!  However, recent times that Roger actually went to Canada, Seve didn't travel there, meeting up at Cincy)

https://twitter.com/camerlengo73

I asked Roger if he decided on playing Montreal and Cincy already..said will do so within next days! #federer

— Brian (@camerlengo73) August 1, 2017

Re Cilic 2014 US Open:  Cilic very, very nearly beat Roger in Toronto - I was at the match and it went about 3 hours and I actually thought that Roger would lose, such as he was playing.  At the US Open, do not forget the 5 set Monfils match in the quarters.  That would also take a toll.

Ive forgotten the 5-setter vs Monfils but was only a recent witness to all the tour matches on TV in 2014 so couldnt say where Gael was on his spectrum in that match but am really surprised in the light of Monfils subsequent matches these past couple of years, despite his commitment to get serious, that he was able to challenge Roger so hard back then. Im inclined to agree with milesahead that Rog had overdone it and was too flat by the end of the tournament -even if Cilic might still have won in the end given his form (sometimes even we have to admit that another player is going to have HIS day on court)- but certainly he should not have gone 5 sets vs Monfils