12/21/24
August 20, 2013
Is Roger Federer Done?: Fallen to No. 7 in the world rankings, Roger Federer said recently that he's no longer playing for the money, the lifestyle or even the pursuit of the top ranking. But he doesn't seem to be contemplating retirement either. "Sometimes, the media uses what they have to make a good article for them, which makes sense," he said, "but right now for me, it is getting back playing well, going deep into tournaments, and then the ranking will follow automatically, up or down.
If you haven't seen this, or the related Twitter feed, you're missing something.
posted by owlhouse at 12:44 AM on August 21, 2013
He obviously isn't the player he used to be, and the competition has stepped up, but of 2004-2007 peak will always be some of my favorite tennis years. I loved watching Federer when he was nearly unstoppable (except on clay) with the grace and knowledge that he could beat anybody.
posted by jmd82 at 09:26 AM on August 21, 2013
I'm glad he won a grand slam during the time when there were four legitimate Grand Slam favourites (Wimbledon 2012), when any of the other three could have easily won it. I think the greatness of a competitor is partially based on the greatness of his opponents. Winning that title during the time of Nadal/Murray/Djokovic as his rivals only accentuates his career.
Side note: The big four have won the last four Wimbeldon finals, with three of them also losing in the finals during that time (Berdych lost in 2010 instead of Federer), and no repeats of final participants.
posted by grum@work at 02:01 PM on August 21, 2013
In the last 40 golf majors, there have been 27 different winners. In the last 40 tennis slams, there have been 8 different winners. If you roll that "last 40" rule forward, chances are we'll be down to just 6 different winners by the French next year.
Which has nothing to do with the topic, but I was reminded of that recently worked out phenomenon so thought I'd share. Big Rog is talking some sense there in terms of sports psychology, but naturally the press takes "I'm not thinking about my ranking" to mean "I don't care about my ranking".
posted by JJ at 09:08 AM on August 22, 2013
If he's like most of the greats, it's hardly ever been about money, lifestyle, or rankings. It's about Grand Slam championships, and that's all it's about.