What a performance! What a win! At 35, coming back from serious injury after six months of not playing a meaningful game, overcoming his absolute nemesis and his own demons from their previous match-ups. And the manner of the victory – his third five-setter of the tournament, being pegged back twice in sets then losing the opening game of the fifth, to then go again and break Nadal twice – just incredible. One of the pundits made a great point that whilst we recognise Rafa’s tenacity, grit and never-say-die approach as something of a trademark, we have tended to overlook the same qualities in Roger because we are dazzled by the apparently effortless elegance of his game…well, after today we should never be in any doubt that he has The Right Stuff in abundance.
Roget Federer, the Wonder Of Our Age
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Effortless elegance sums it up. Federer frequently plays tennis in apparent slow motion, seemingly creating pockets of time in which to anticipate and beautifully place every shot, so consummate is his mastery of the craft. Truly the best tennis player I have ever seen, and this is a richly deserved win.
Very well put… my dad always used to say that the top sportsmen and women always appear to have more time than everyone else. RF is a perfect example of this.
All Kinds Of Time by Fountains of Wayne
Couldn’t agree more. Some people, my wife for one, think he comes across a bit smug. Not sure myself.. Effortless elegance is a great description though Mr. Type. Graceful would be another. The most complete player I’ve ever seen, and I’m 51 you know.
Rodge always speaks well and comes across as a decent chap but, unfortunately, his resting face expression screams “I love me, I do”. To be fair, he was a 12 time grand slam winner ten years ago, so he’s had over a decade in the spotlight during which he’s been entitled to feel a little satisfied with himself..
And still has time to compile his Thesaurus…
I’ll get my coat.
Words failed me 😉
I did put a request in to Admin for it to be changed, a sort of ‘Roget and out’ if you will.
Actually Roget is closer to the Swiss German pronunciation of his name.
I got a new Thesaurus recently. Not only was it terrible, it was terrible.
Somebody told me that “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary.
and he invented a type of hat
(I’ll get my coat too)
He’s definitely boosted his Ranking, Roger
Loved it when he was given a cow at one tournament presentation.
His real name is Lederer but Equity made him change his name because of Helen Lederer. Lederer is one of the most common names in Switzerland – and Federer isn’t a proper name at all. So basically he’s a bit like David Walliams.
Didn’t watch live, but the BBC devoted a hour and a bit to the highlights. A joy to watch, and in doubt right up to the very end. Several times I said during the final set – particularly at 0-1 and a break down, that Federer was surely finished and that Nadal would steamroller him, as he did in so many final sets 5-6 years ago. So yes the grit to break back – and to then serve it out was pretty amazing. Perhaps Federer’s added something he never really needed before…over the last five years there’s been a sense that he needs to hit the front and keep at the front to win, here he came from behind several times. The number of break points lost by both – Nadal saved 13 break points including several from 15-40 and 0-40, showed how nervous they both were. As sporting entertainment have we already seen the match of the year?
As regards greatness, this goes to answer somewhat the only valid criticism against Federer, that Nadal had his number. The Nadal attack into the Federer groundstroke backhand, which was Rafa’s key weapon, didn’t seem quite as effective here. A bit of both probably: Federer has worked on his backhand, Rafa’s forehand – though still a thing of frightening power- perhaps has come off a bit. But he’s pushed Nadal back – had he won he’d have been only two behind Federer, now he’s four behind even drawing level. Winning four grand slams after 30 seems a big ask.
As regards @sewer-robot comments about Smiling Roger it’s perhaps the fact that he’s so rich and famous now that surely his challenges must start to lie beyond tennis. Far more irritating than his smile and impeccable behaviour (not above a medical time out at the start of the fifth and talking to the umpire like everyone else) is his immaculate Corporate Sportstar image so beloved of sponsors the world over.
A lot of people are apparently calling him out on the MTO – Pat Cash shamefully called it “legalised cheating”, an oxymoron spoken by a real one – but it seems grossly unfair to try and denigrate this great achievement in such a way when he, of all people, has hitherto never, in twenty years of playing, used this facility when others have used and clearly abused this and other rules over the years.
I was working at the Australian Open and I have to say that the overwhelming feeling in the Press Room – especially prevalent amongst ex tennis pro scribblers – was that Federer’s MTO was a deliberate move designed to put the brakes on Nadal’s obvious momentum.
Like all mega successful sportspeople, RF has a ruthless streak at odds with his Mr Nice Family Guy image but which you don’t have to scratch the surface too deeply to reveal. Interestingly – for reasons which could have their basis in jealousy – he’s not the most popular amongst the full time tennis scribes, though very few would be prepared to admit it in public.
Which makes Pat Cash honest if nothing else.
If it’s allowed within the rules then all players can use it. Nadal isn’t averse to a little gamesmanship. If it’s not right then the officials should outlaw it. I think people expect Roger to be whiter than white, but of course he’s ruthless. You don’t win 18 Grand Slams if you’re not.
@garyjohn you’re clearly right. Why would we think he would be above gamesmanship. He’s not a repeat offender, like Djokovik – who also uses the on-court ‘I can barely move and hit a ball now, a ten year old could beat me’ antics to clearly try and unsettle opponents, as 3 games later he’s miraculously smashing winners. But he’s a player, in all senses of the word, like the rest of them.
The thing is, whether it was genuine, tactical or whatever, it didn’t work, did it? Everyone assumes that he gained from it, but he returned to court and immediately dropped his serve. I don’t think even Roger uses that as a cunning long-term game plan.
Yeah that really is black helicopters thinking isn’t it. ‘I’ll take a MTO – then let him break me just so no-one thinks it was gamesmanship’.
Rog the Legend or Rog the Cheat.
You pays your money …
Without exaggeration, there must have been 500 journalist covering the event and every one of them was trying to find an angle that would help them sell their copy. It’s an ugly business.
On Tennis.com the view of gamesmanship seems to be Roger’s MTO vs Rafa constantly going over the 20 seconds between points. Neither detracted from it being a great match.
Like many others, I would have been happy with the result going either way – which made it harder to take sides.
It was a great clash of styles, which is something you don’t get between Murray & Djokovic. The final they played in Doha was 3 sets of them both whacking the ball as hard as possible & trying to run the legs off each other. Over 5 sets, it would become a feat of endurance for the viewer too.