RF Tennis News 2021

Whos just arrived at Wimbledon?!!!
Cmon!!!

Whoa! Wonderful. Time for the "adults". ATP lauds each winning point as though such things, unusual shots never happened before.
 Another uncertain "will he play Wimbledon" appeared. Thiem injured his wrist in Mallorca during a match, and is going to Barcelona to see a specialist. (was it recommended by Nadal? Not sure about that.)
 It has been said before that many injuries may be a result of the extremely hard hitting that is a consistent feature of tennis matches. The racquets allow such hard hitting, and because there are players who concentrate on hitting very very hard, others always have to follow.
 The ball was always hit with firmness and it was a part of the match, but it seems to be the case that display of power is always one of the main strengths, and it may be too much for some players' bodies.
 i don't know for certain, and who could say?

Just saw on the Twitter page that Roger is seeded 7th at Wimby. I thought it went by the current rankings. Is it good or bad? LOL I can never understand the placements. Thank you!

I learn from Roger's Wimbledon Centre court interview this evening that yesterday he did a tour "on social media" round the Wimbledon grounds, ie no punter present.

Does anyone please know where I can see that interview? I use twitter all the time and if there was a link there I missed it, but often I don't have time for Instagram - perhaps I'll find a link there, but I can't look just now. 

Thanks if anyone can help. I did try asking in Google but not a single response relating to it

Wonderful by the way seeing Roger at Wim again and improving all the time. Very interesting match again today and because of rain in evening, roof closed, outer matches cancelled and they let people into centre so it was packed! And will be full from now on. By the way, this was the last first Sunday with no matches. In future, first Sundays will have matches. 

Rosaline

Hi Rosaline!

It was a video that Roger recorded and posted on Instagram and on Twitter a bit later. But you can see it here in the 'Wimbledon 2021' thread, as well as a post about the last 'Free Sunday'.

To find out about the latest posts/news, it always good to check the 'LATEST TOPICS' insert at the right of the Home Page.

During the match one commentator mentioned an article/essay written by an American academic about Roge r that takes in all of Roger's game and how it fulfills all the possibilities of tennis.
 David...Stanosky/couldn't make out name) wrote that "power and speed are the skeletons of the game) and then brought up brilliance and intuitive aspects to that. It sounded like a through consideration of Roger's game! 
 Did the article appear in the New York Times? Perhaps. The author in question was not David Foster as far as I could make out.

From the ATP, this reads like a partial transcript of Roger's press conference - Good information!



(Copy of article posted in the 'Wimbledon 2021 QF' match thread)

It's been interesting looking at the reactions on twitter.  Nearly all the tweets I saw are totally backing Roger, his effort, the love for him, looking forward to his next tourney etc. I gather there have been jeering and insults but I have probably long ago blocked anyone who does that. 

I think too much may be made by journalists of his struggle in that qf as they have to make a drama of absolutely everything since that's the requirement it seems of newspaper and media owners and editors as they think it's the best way to get their articles read. 

IMO even on reflection a day later, I think Roger did extremely well over Wimbledon until that final set, given his ensuing comments about the time it took him to get over the 2 ops and that he wasn't he felt ready yet for Wimbledon, as I think we could suspect from his early loss in Halle. But of course he needed to play since, as he said himself, you never know what's in the future and he's almost 40 so it's not a good idea to waste chances.

And frankly, losing in the qf this time is no different to losing in earlier qfs or in 3 cases IIRC in even earlier rounds in majors since that year he failed after so many years to make semis in every major. I think that was Wim 2010  when he lost to Berdych in the quarter, and then again in surely 2011 to Jo-Willi? He lost at Wim in round 2 in wasn't it 2013, and in the 4th round that year at USO, also was it round 2 or 3 in a recent AO? 2013 was the year of the very bad back when finally he set about trying to overcome for good that problem he'd had all through his tennis career, and after a period seems to have returned with the issue mostly solved. 

Although he said he was not yet definite about OG, or someone said it for him, I think he will play. 

As for this Wimbledon, all players even the greatest have those off days when they wake up not wanting to play or feeling jaded or suffering some injury. No-one but ND's fans get so upset if he plays badly and loses in an early round or to a player he would normally beat easily. But Roger loses and everyone goes crazy. Roger  hasn't said so far as I know if he was suffering injury problem but this thought was raised in Wimbledon's Match of the Day discussion though they thought he wouldn't say, at least not for some time yet. They were all supportive of Roger and not wanting to lose him yet, but Boris Becker (as we know a long-time fan) was the most supportive, declaring he must play as long as he wants to play. 

Over the years since digital allowed us to watch pretty well all Roger's matches no matter where, and most other tennis matches as well, I've watched nearly all of Roger's matches. And of course he's had some dire losses in early rounds now and again that I expect most people forget about, when he was unwell or injured etc. His comment after that USO loss to Robredo in round 4 was "All I wanted was to get off the court" as he was in such pain. This time he remarked in one of the comments put up on twitter that he increasingly felt he couldn't get back any initiative in that set 3 OWTTE - I forget exactly what he said. But it could well be he just wanted to get off the court and he said after how very tired he was, which is natural when you aren't really fit enough and you have an extremely bad loss. The natural reaction is a flood of exhaustion and a need to rest.

The last time he was bagelled in a major, I gather it was in the 2008 RG final vs Rafa. That was the year he had just had his first horrible bout of mono. He played as best he could but clearly hadn't got much reserve. And we know he had recurring bouts as so many and perhaps all mono sufferers get. I can't imgine he still gets any bouts but I suppose it is possible. Robin Soderling had to give up tennis altogether. Even my No.2 older favourite Feli Lopez, and lovely Andy Roddick, caught mono. I've always wondered if it is partly why Andy decided to retire quite early - or so I saw it. Feli still soldiers on and I hope he doesn't get recurrencies, but there have been the occasional really bad tourney loss when I've wondered. As always when it's Roger failing, the whole world goes berserk with questions.

I remember too hearing that when he was pre his first Wim trophy he was regarded as so promising yet seemingly unable to achieve that potential and losing and  people wondered if he ever would. IMO when you get older and have a really bad loss that isn't due to injury, such anxieties can return, memories of those early days of failure which is made so much worse by the wretched media. Andy Murray also suffered badly from the expectations of others and the shockingly vicious British journalism that continually and so spitefully wrote him off as useless. So I think that now and again when a player's off colour, such worries can recur and that may well have happened to Roger vs Hurkacz. Also I wonder if Roger really didn't expect to lose, or did he fear he would given H's confidence and visible high form in beating gifted Daniil? IMO it's so much worse if you really don't expect to lose but you are having an off day anyway. If we look at Roger's progress over the years in the bigger tourneys, he is likely to have one clearly of day when he has to grind out a win or does lose. So ir matters if the opponent is on top form and, as Hurkacz was, totally in the zone over the second half of the match - even the Match of the Day comms remarked on him being completely in the zone. Roger ws unlucky that H wasn't fazed by playing his hero as well as having a zone day.

Wim's March of the Day programme also showed us twice at least Roger's slip on the central white line and in slow closeup which I hadn't been able to see when watching the match live online. It was really very strange. What on earth are those white lines made of? Do they hold moisture more than the grass? Do players often slip on them? Roger's back foot, that he most needed for that volley, slid a long way backwards. Clearly there was no way he could prevent it slipping, it wasn't beyond the baseline where they often slip on the grass, it wasn't his fault in any way such as sloppy play, and the court was wide open. It was simply crazy.  I think I'm right it isn't chalk these days. Is it slippery stuff? I hope Wim are investigating, and I wonder if Roger's team have asked them to. We know the RG lines are  slippery and see players slide on them. I do wonder if that slip upset Roger's knee or something else physically. He also had a fall to the ground - was it in this match as well as there certainly was a fall in an earlier match? It was surely from that slip leading to losing that vital point that for Roger everything started to go downhill as up to then he had been playing well enough to come back and beat H.  that it all started to go downhill. That point was IIRC "crucial". Was it when he was broken back by H - I forget without checking. The TB wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't as good as one would hope. For years now, I've felt Roger can be vulnerable in TBs when once he almost always won them. 

I haven't had time to look yet at any media today, and wonder if any more useful hints will turn up. Anyway, I refuse to be downhearted. Like Roger I am an incurable optimist. He will do what's right for him and he has said he wants to continue playing. I will be surprised if anything change his mind for at least year yet. OG, USO, AO. I think it was JohnnyMac who felt Roger must try to play as much as he can this coming autumn before the AO, but isn't Basel cancelled? If yes, that's a real shame. Maybe they will uncancel it if safe to do so? Paris instead but he rarely seems to do very well there. Trip to Shanghai? At least there's the Laver Cup, he'll surely play that and I hope Rafa too as watching them play doubles is truly special. I remember how Rafa when he was just into his 20's longing to play doubles with Roger. Finally he got his wish. Men's doubles was my oiriginal tennis passion. 

Ros

Thanks for the great Wimbledon memories Roger

Rosaline, a quite thorough overview, and I like your outlook!
 Yes, actually in 2008 and onward there wrere all these questions about Roger "retiring while he's on top" as a question posed by journalists regularly. That was quite some time ago! Imagine if he had been swayed by that. Then he and we would have missed out.
 Others, too, called for him to retire, including that sage Sjdr Djokovic, who repeated suggested that he should leave the game. Of course, he doesn't do the same with his own son.
 i saw flashes of great play, beyond the ordinary, and that is why felt that it would all culminate in something really good.
 The way things go a few bad shots, followed by further problems can make shambles of a game, but a few great shots can just elevate the players and his game! That is true and we have seen it happen.
 What is needed is time out, something like the dervishes who twirl and dance about and reach a higher level of consciousness.

Pop Djok, well of course he  is always right so of course Roger should have retired when ND beat him at AO 2008 when Roger was so ill.... I can't think why Roger didn't take Pop Sage's advice instantly and do something else with his life. Obviously Pop Djok won't tell his own son to retire as ND is er different though it's not quite clear how he's er different. I don't see why Pops can't just shut up, but I suspect the Serbian media love him causing controversy seeing it will sell their papers/websites just as endless stuff about Roger sells ours. 

After a moan from some ND fan about people complaining about their hero, I said if  ND's fans also stopped moaning about Roger, we could all get along much better, added to which ND would get far more of that "love" he so openly craves. It's hard to give him love if his fans screech insults at Roger - and of course vice versa.  I entirely blame the parents for ND being so needy for "love" from tennis fans and suffering when he doesn't get it, and also that whips up the anger in ND's fans. If he could only stop worrying about it, he would get the love as eg Rafa does. 

Yes, the Beeb comms remarked on flashes of genius this time and Boris Becker felt Roger had been going the right way. 

I don't really see why someone has to retire when they are on top, as if they do that the first time they are on top, so many wonderful later moments will be lost. And if they don't retire when on top, so what? Fancy saying, OK I won Wimbledon again, in 2012, now I have to retire because I mustn't dare carrying on in case I'm never on top again! And if Roger had retired after 2012 Wim, imagine the later years when he'd have felt fit and healthy post that 2013 back thingy, and so regrett dropping out. Borg dropped out in a huff after losing at Wim, I mean so young too, daft, and tried to come back later and it was a disaster.

Opinion: Don't push tennis legends Roger Federer and Serena Williams into retirement; we'll all regret it
     Dan Wolken, USA TODAY 
 
There is only one sport where a player can still be in the top fraction of the top one percent in the world and be asked every day when they’re going to retire. There is only one sport where a result that would be considered excellent for nearly every one of their peers becomes cause for a meltdown.
 
Of all the sports that have become infected by ringggzzzz culture — this idea that the only worthwhile part of sports is winning championships — tennis has by far become the worst. And it’s almost certainly going to lead to this generation of champions leaving while they still have something — even if it’s not their best — left to give.
 
There’s no way to spin the 39-year old Federer’s 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 loss to Hubert Hurkacz in Wednesday’s Wimbledon quarterfinal as anything other than an ominous sign for his chances of winning a 21st Grand Slam title. Williams, whether it’s her inconsistent tennis or injury issues, seems further away from adding her long-sought 24th Slam now than she was a year ago. Even Rafael Nadal started to look a bit old and tired in his French Open semifinal loss last month to Novak Djokovic, and after a comprehensive third-round Wimbledon loss, it seems like the ceiling for Andy Murray’s comeback from hip surgery is well below what it takes to win one of these.
 
So what?
 
Every tennis great has to decide whether the training and effort it takes to compete at the highest level is worth it for them when the reward is no longer winning the biggest titles. It’s totally understandable if these players, who have long passed the point of grinding like this for money or legacy, just say enough’s enough.
 
But we don’t need to collectively push them out the door just because they’re going to have days like Federer where he can’t keep the forehand in the court against a top-20 player who is 15 years younger.
 
“I definitely need to be a better player if want to be more competitive at the highest of levels,” a downtrodden Federer said. “I knew that coming in. Better players remind you of that like Hurkacz.”
 
Federer didn’t commit to much of anything in the immediate aftermath of the quarterfinal loss, just like Williams has completely dodged questions after the Australian Open and the French Open about whether she had made her last appearances on those courts. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if both of them simply said goodbye at the end of this season.
 
But this is where tennis fails miserably in putting its legends into proper perspective.
 
Just to get to the quarterfinals, Federer got through the 41st-ranked player in the world in Adrian Mannarino and the No. 56 in Richard Gasquet before completely taking apart No. 34 Cameron Norrie and No. 27 Lorenzo Sonego. It’s also worth noting that he got to the fourth round at the French Open before pulling out as a precautionary measure for his still-recovering knee. To do that just shy of 40 years old, having come off of two knee surgeries last year, is a remarkable testament to his talent and the fact that he can still beat really good players week in and week out.
 
Ask yourself: Is tennis better or worse for Federer continuing to do that, even if it means he’ll throw in a dud now and then or run into a brick wall at the later stages of a Grand Slam?
 
Tennis has long been a sport where the mentality is to get out as soon as you’re not viable anymore in the biggest events. In the era right before Federer and Williams began to dominate, you saw Pete Sampras get out at 31, Stefan Edberg play his last Grand Slam at age 30 and Steffi Graf call it a career at 30. They didn’t wait once things started to decline.
 
Granted, tennis isn’t like other sports. You can’t transition into a different role coming off the bench or become a backup quarterback when you get older. 
 
But you would have never heard anyone — particularly those who run tournaments and have to market the game — calling for Phil Mickelson to stop playing the PGA Tour because he went through a couple year stretch where he didn’t contend in any tournaments. If and when Tiger Woods comes ever back from the injuries he sustained in his February car accident, you won’t find people suggesting he shouldn’t play if he shoots a bunch of 75s.
 
The mentality in tennis needs to change. There’s more to the sport than just the Grand Slams, and there should be value in seeing great players compete even if they’re no longer physically able to be the best in the world.
 
Even in his older form, there aren’t many better tennis players in the world than Federer. He’s still capable of beautiful strokes, entertaining rallies and incredible artistry on the court, and he can still beat most of the top guys. Williams was just in a Grand Slam semifinal in January. As bleak as it looked for Murray against Denis Shapovalov at Wimbledon, he played a brilliant match in the first round against No. 28 Nikoloz Basilashvili. They’re not as good as they’ve been, but they’re still better at this sport than everybody in the world except a few handful of people.
 
Think about that for a second when we try to push them into retirement.
 
As we come face-to-face with the reality that these great players of tennis’ golden era are more mortal than they’ve been, the goal should be to see them play as much as they’ll allow us. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Wimbledon or Delray Beach, Florida. They don’t need to win Grand Slams to make it worthwhile. They just need to keep showing up.
 
Opinion: Don't push tennis legends Roger Federer and Serena Williams into retirement; we'll all regret it (msn.com)

Roger announced today that he will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics to be held later this month...

   For all other posts and discussions on the subject, please go to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics thread (all related posts have been moved there).

Some great news...   If it's in Europe, there is a good chance we should see Roger there, with the Golden girl!  

Steerpike.....thank you very much. Absolutely spot on article.

Twitter is buzzing with reports that Roger has withdrawn from both Toronto and Cincinnati due to his ongoing knee injury 🥲.