...and so it begins!!! :)

Interesting article Cheryl - can't wait for part 2. I agree both 'fabricate' replies to the press, but I feel Nadal is the more cautious of the two (or better at it??). I think Federer's arrogance stops him short of being able to do that. And I agree, I have little doubt Fed probably hated Nadal at that Wim moment. Condescension? Wow, I'm definitely going to pay closer attention from now on!

I don't think I agree with tenstar..Federer is in no way arrogant..I think he's rather honest..and that is often taken for arrogance...I think Federer says what he truly feels..if you see his interviews you'll notice he looks directly into the eyes of the interviewer..that somehow shows he's not afraid of being honest which many take as his arrogance

Honesty is not taken for arrogance. Arrogance is taken for arrogance. If you've listened over the last few years to Fed's pre- and post match interviews (and I mean listened to WHAT he says and sometimes THE WAY he says it), he gives very little, if any, respect to other players including his defeaters this year. I think at times his confidence and self-belief may be taken for arrogance but I don't buy that his honesty is being taken for arrogance because that's a different issue. Since his rise to the top, I've I've noticed this underlying arrogance from his comments. Let's face it, we are all bias to some extent in judging the player(s) we admire most.

Great insight, Cheryl. I wasn't aware Rafa had said that about Roger on clay. He's always refered to Roger as world's best player, overall. I too looked at Roger's face at the Wim presentation. I thought I saw more pain than hatred. There is one haunting photo of him at his chair, already changed into his long pants, while Rafa was celebrating with his family, that captured his anguish well. he looked like his world had just fallen apart. He was almost on the verge of tears. Even tho he has been able to tame this emotions since his first Slam and his ability to control his emotions has been instrumental in his success in the last few years, he is deep down still a very emotional person. he just hides it well.
I tend to agree with tenstar about Roger not crediting his opponents when he is defeated. I guess all top athletes have a strong sense of self, which drives them to high levels of achievement, but I find this trait of his not admirable.
Looking forward to your next installment, Cheryl.

tenstar no,Roger is not arrogant...and yes,honesty is at times taken for arrogance...he repects all the players..he gives them credit as and when necessary..he has always done so..he's not the only player I admire...but no i dont but this nonsense of him being arrogant.

sstay - I was referring to Roger hating Rafa at the French, not Wimbledon. I don't think Roger had the energy to hate him right after the match at Wimby. But at the French? Oh, you bet.

tenstar - Every year at the French, Rafa is asked if he feels he's the favorite to win the tournament...and every year, he says "No. Roger is still number one". LOL. Complete fabrication, of course.

My guess is that Nadal says it to try to keep the pressure off, but you know it has to rankle.

Cheryl - the comment Nadal made about Fed being best on clay surprised me as well. I meant to ask you if this was recent. I don't think such a comment is honest. But the comment that Fed is still no. 1 is technically correct in terms of rankings, surely. But did he mean 'Roger is still no. 1 ON CLAY' or is it being interpreted that way because it's the FO? I'm very interested. Whilst I do agree that not all of Nadal's comments are honest, he just doesn't come across to me as being arrogant whereas Fed does, quite often and quite consistently. At some crucial moments, I found Nadal's character very admirable. Like you say, Nadal's recent defense of Fed's form, he also didn't overly celebrate at the recent FO and if I recall correclty, some years back (AO?) when Agassi was retiring and Nadal beat him in Agassi's last match, Nadal sat down immediately, handing the 'stage' to Andre to say goodbye to the fans. I find him more respectful of other players, win or lose, and 'often' genuine - in my opinion. I would definitely love to get into both their heads but it would probably drive me nuts! :)

tenstar - it is recent. He is asked that question every year. "are you the favorite going into the french open?" and every year he says no, even though he clearly is.

i think rafa says that cos he hates cockiness and hates controversy. Nadal doesnt wanna say anything that could offend anyone. Hes a total sweetheart and I think hes nothing but genuine.
My fav, Rog, is def the more honest of the two. I dont think Nadal is liar, he always states facts, but he doesnt seem to wanna get involved in what the press want to. Rog has admitted a million times Rafa or whoevr played well. But hes honest when he knows hes lost a match, not when the other person has one it. Hes not full of praise like rafa, but its not arrogance, its just genuinly how he feels.
I think these two are great men, great for sport and both amazing players.
tensta- u can read whatever u want into interviews, but it doesnt make it true. Fed has an ego yes, god even Nadal has ego there somewhere, but hes not arrogant. far from it.

As far as I'm concerned Federer IS arrogant, has been for a while, and will continue to be I'm sure. Look at Cheryl's previous blog entry "Fed hauted by Wimb ghost' and you'll see I'm not the only one who thinks that. We're obviously not going to agree on this. Kaitepai, you also can read what you want into interviews or whatever, and keep Roger on that pedestal you've clearly placed him on but it doesn't make him humble because it's not in his nature to be!

thats fine, i like having rog on a pedestal - its where he belongs ;)

tenstar you people are labelling Roger as arrogant only because you admire Rafa more than him ....and that's very evident..Roger is in no way arrogant..all the players on the ATP tour say that..the interviewers say that...all those who are in tennis world say that..if you don't want to accept it and keep glorifying Rafa there's nothing we can do about it.

one more thing...all this issue of arrogance is plainly made up by a few people not because it is a fact but because they are bored of seeing Roger at the top.

janhavi - The fact is that you're gloryfying roger to the point that you can't see beyond his comments and manner is which he makes some of them. Whilst I admire many of rafa's character traits, I can admit to some of his faults unlike you who are just so taken by roger that you think he's perfect without any faults. You can't seem to accept that as a human being, the man does have faults.

Like I said above, have a look at Cheryl's previous blog, some of the contributors to that blog gave references as to why they think Federer is arrogant as well. READ them janhavi - don't just turn a blind eye and superficially glorify Roger because he's no. 1 one in the world. There's no denying he's a great player, but he has some character traits that a number of tennis fans don't admire (see Cheryl's other blog enrty). And you're correct, there's nothing you can do about that...and vice versa!!

'..all those who are in tennis world say that'!!!! You must be exahusted after interviewing EVERYONE in the tennis world and finding they all admire humble little Roger! I'm impressed!!

And I fail to see a connection between boredom and arrogance. If people are bored seeing roger at no. 1 or winning all the time (and there is truth in that), how on earth is 'arrogance' attributed to that. You insult readers' intelligence by such ill-informed accusations.

And there is no such thing as the accusation of roger being arrogant or not arrogant a fact or a lie. It is an opinion people have and they are entitled to it just as much as you are entitled to your opinion that roger is not arrogant.

what I am saying is true and Roger is in no way arrogant..i havent interviewd everyone in the tennis world..but i have heard many people say that time and again..now about the comments in the artic;e which you mentioned..i read them and found that they are comments from stupid haters...one more thing-Roger is not the only athlete i admire..but i will never stand anyone calling him arrogant for he IS NOT...I do not glorify him for he's no 1 ...i am only saying he's not arrogant..he gives his honest opinions and he gives credit to his opponents as and when required..that's it...and the number of tennis fans are you are talking about are infact very few...I agree he's a bit sulky now...but even you would be had you been in his place...anyone would be if the media started going so crazy....now there is no connection between boredom and arrogance..but there is connection between people finding him boring and just finding all sorts of reasons to pick at him...you are entitled to your opinion as i am..but you have no right to label him that..

one more thing..have i said anything bad about rafa or any other tennis player?????? no i havent because i know nobody is perfect...roger is not arrogant..you interpret his words as hints of arrogance..just because you have a critical eye on every word of his...what does he have to do to prove he's not arrogant??kiss his opponents feet everytime he leses???? he gives credit to his opponents...but at the same time is not hesitant to speak out his opinions if he's asked about something ...

one more thing..he does have faults..like he is maybe a bit resentful ...but he's not arrogant...he's humble..i will never say that roger is perfect...but no he's not arrogant.....

Cheryl - I must apologise for being one of the monopolisers of this entry's discussions! :-) ..off the mark too focusing on Fed's character rather than his relationship with Nadal. I definitely enjoyed reading your article and am looking forward to the next segment! I haven't read all of your articles (as I'm not always on this site) but the many that I have read have been very thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable! I didn't get a chance to see the FO and am very intrigued by your report of Fed's hatred for Nadal 'and not for the first time' as a result of the recent FO result. I haven't noticed that before.. but that the FO is not one we get here. (Need to get onto Foxtel :).

Hi everyone, I've recently signed up, I have to admit, all of you entertaining me a lot, your discussions are more than interesting, I've got an impression, you don't have anything else than commenting the people you even don't know at all, I do understand all of us have our own favorites, but the fact is Nadal is the best player at the moment, Novak is the second and His highness is leaving the tennis scene after the Olympic games, regards from Serbia

Federer is going nowhere..anyway..i think he shares quite a good relationship with Nadal..I dont see hatred there....but they aren't exactly friends.....as far as i know they're okay with eachother.

i meant federer is not leaving the tennis scene like our dear gordona here predicted..go get yourself checked....as a player..roger is a great player..one of the best of all times.. i really admire rafa too....now about poor results....why dont you try to play at the level he has been playing for 4 years and then talk? you're the biggest loser out here..anyway..who cares about you..federer dosent have to prove anything to you....lol..

Gordona - welcome to the forum! :)
Like it or not, Federer is still no. 1, rafa no. 2 and novak no. 3. On Aug 18, nos. 1 and 2 will swap places and novak remains no. 3. You are obviously a big fan of Novak and he is a great player like the other two and has a great fighiting spirit. But he is 3rd in the rankings. Like I said before, I do think you should give credit where it's due. There are two players ahead of Novak and they both deserve due credit.

I wonder if this is such a big deal that a thesis is required.

nirv - wouldn't it be great if a handful of paragraphs actually DID count as a thesis? University would have been a lot easier. :)

Cheryl Murray writes a thoughtful, reasoned opinion piece on a topic few would touch. This is an excellent tennis site. This is a blog with high-level engagement. I would like to see it remain that way.

i don't think roger is too arrogant compared to other tennis players or some people but he seems arrogant relative to rafa. this fact results from their balance of honesty and arrogance. rafa sacrifices his honesty a little bit in order to appear humble. don't get me wrong i'm not calling rafa a liar (i can't do that as a big fan of him) but for roger,to say things as they are is much more important than being humble. otherwise,we would not hear from roger "i'm the biggest favorite" before wimbledon as he thought that was true at that time.in contrary,rafa always says in roland garros that he's not the biggest favorite and everyone knows that it's not true.

Jude,

I did not edit your comment, though obviously one of the moderators did. We try to keep insulting other posters to a minimum. I apologize that you were called a stupid hater, as that certainly qualifies as an insult as well.

I agree many of nadal's comments are fabricated..but i think honesty is not always the best policy..in a today's world u have to use fabrication to win the hearts of fans and cast an image of humbleness.Nadal is a true champ ..he has alot of respect for ever player(not only roger) ..same goes for roger but roger probably hates rafa a bit from the perspective that nadal denied him a french titiel in 05 where fed had the best chance to win it..nadal stopped him from becoming the greatest ever so may b roger hate's him a bit for this reason.

I don't think Rafa has any INTENTIONS of fabricating his comments. Nadal doesn"t speak English that well, even his grammar is understandably incorrect most of the time. So, he answers the questions as simple as possible to the extent of trying to punctuate them by comments that don't need any further answer.
In fairness to Roger, his answers to questions are DIRECT and PRECISE. If you would listen to the interviews after his matches, especially recently, the questions were sometimes stupid and irrelevant that it REALLY deserve an "ARROGANT" tone.

agf, I'm not sure I can agree that Nadal doesn't purposely fabricate his comments. When he is asked directly "are you the favorite on clay" and he says "no", I can't think it is anything but fabricating.

Hhhmm... maybe Nadal really believes that the right answer to that question is that the best player in the world must be the fav rather than the 2nd best player. As no. 1 you must be the fav for everything. All the no. 1 players were more or less treated as favs before each major and roger wasn't exactly bad on clay, was he?

Better be arrogant and honest like Roger, than arrogant and hypocrite like Rafa.

It's not very nice to say that Roger is the best player on clay, it's very stupid. Maybe some provoc from Nadal. You know, if Roger is the best on clay, what does that makes of Rafa? the super best? Ridiculous.

Far easier to be an arrogant twit than a humble champion who has the ability to keep checking himself to ensure he doesn't get too big for his boots!!

Roger Federer grew up in one of the most cosmopolitical countries on earth, he grew up with three languages, he is the paragon of Swiss elegance and perfection as well as the poster boy for Rolex and various other lofty brands.

Do you expect him to stutter, pick his butt before serving, and act all sycophantic? We don't neen a second Nadal.

tenstar 8/8 "WHAT he says and sometimes THE WAY he says it" I agree. I hear the left handed compliments from Roger all the time in the interviews.
Janhavi -- there are none so blind as those who will not see. Roger comes acrosss many, many, many times as arrogant in his comments and tone. 5 times Wimby champ, 12 GS titles, 4 yrs at number 1 -- why wouldn't Rafa say that Federer is the best -maybe best in history - everyone else says he is the GOAT, why not Rafa? Wouldn't the GOAT be the favorite? If not, what is the point of being the GOAT? Why would you call Rafa a phony for saying that -- facts speak for themselves. Cinderella, Roger and every other school kid he went to school with learned 3 languages -- that is the norm there. Federer is not perfect, you just wish he were --- to make up for that, you feel the need to put down other people. I am sure your idol Federer would not make the kind of mean-spirited comments you are making in this post. By the way, Paris Hilton grew up in cosmopolitan cities-- but that doesn't make her anything special -- money and expensive clothes don't make you special or perfect; didn't your parents teach you about that?
Janhavi, you can throw a fit or whatever you want, but people have their opinions and express them here. Many of us think that Roger is arrogant sounding in many interviews. You have a different opinion, but you cannot control our opinion, so quit telling us what to think. Let's just disagree and go on.
I love the way Rog and Rafa act towards each other, speak about each other - it is a joy to watch. And in a way, I don't care if it is sincere or not -- but I think it mostly is sincere. Sure they are not close friends, Roger lives the "cosmo" life in Monaco and Dubai and Rafa lives the family life on Mallorca -- but they are friendly and have a 'good relationship' as Rafa says, in his broken English which I think is admirable since I can only speak one language.

All, I found this website that has fans getting quite vocal and vicious http://tennisplanet.wordpress.com/ (this one about Uncle Tony is disgusting) It makes us all seem like tame puppies. I'm not supporting put-downs and rude comments and our moderators here do a good job deleting inappropriate comments but I have come across one or two in the wee seconds before they get axed and they have thoroughly amused me... my laughter must have been heard for miles in the quiet of the night. It just astounds me how protective we get about players we adore, present company included... indicative of the primal tribal instinct in us??

Tennisfan, you have to think first and then type. Not the other way around, kid. I didn't write one word about "money and expensive clothes". Roger Federer is
elegant and refined regardless of money and expensive clothes. Rafa doesn't live in poverty either. He's adorable and an exceptional athlete but he is NOT elegant and refined.

Cosmopolitan is not the same as COSMOPOLITICAL, by the way. Consult your dictionary. NYC and LA are cosmopolitan. Switzerland is cosmopolitical. I'm sure you're ashamed of your Paris Hilton comment by now.

I'm very sorry that you speak only one language. Maybe you should consider coming to Switzerland since learning three languages is "the norm for every other school kid" around here.

tennisfan when did i say anything about rafa????? i respect him just as much as i respect roger...if you think roger is arrogant thats your opinion..i dont care about such opinions anymore for they are NOT facts...and i cant make you accept the truth..ive already given up on that..if you think federer is arrogant so be it.

Well, it took rather long time to read your comments guys&girls, several times I had to "consult my dictionary" :) and , of course, all this amused me much. As expected, fans of federer praised federer and fans of nadal praised nadal respectively. But the heart of this article was discussed only in passing. And..let it be so.I don't think we know HOW do they relate to each other. I, personally, do not know. And it's interesting, if THEY've ever been to this website and read comments concerning their every saying and doing. Would be interesting to know this.. I like them both. Really. Ok, ok, ok, my heavy favourite is nadal, but, as I mentioned before I respect federer much, and believe he's the best tennis player of all times. But he can't be No.1 forever! By the way, I was surprised about %age of votes here. Such mad difference between them two!! I think majority of people who were gaving their vote for federer, were simply wishing him to win this gold medal. I said "were", because Blake didn't gave him a chance to do this :( I am upset too much. I wished to watch these two titans in the final. This brilliant couple is the only one which can play such unbelievabale and tennis. And they are not comparabale!!! How can you compare them? They are completely different: they live different lives, have different material and spiritual values, their behaviour is different, in different way they express their thoughts etc. As for federer's ability to speak 3 languages and nadal's only "modest" english (and spanish, of course), I want to stand up for nadal, because I'm russian-speaking and in Russian I would have written all this in completely different way. I am sure, if nadal could speak spanish everywhere, he could say much more that he says in English now..But to name him 'hypocrite'...and 'arrogant'...and 'sycophantic'...who? nadal? no..it's ravings of a madman!!!!!!!! And how it was said..the way it was said..it's nonsense. ANY SANE human understands this.

Innochka, since you're the only sane person around we're highly delighted to have you here.
But before you start typing , however, you should get your facts together. Don't ignore the most important parts of our comments, such as "Nadal is adorable and an exceptional athlete" or "I respect Nadal just as much as I respect Roger" (janhavi). Nobody wants to slam Nadal or his achievements. So calm down for Pete's sake! It was a crazed Nadal fan who started this whole argument as far I remember.

"Blake didn't give him a chance ..." Innochka, did you come here to gloat?

I think you should have a close look at the comments too and there is also another blog where these discussions also take place. You will see that it was in fact a roger fan who actually used some very impolite words and name-calling and got uncontrollably emotional. It was not the nadal fans, who in fact, kept discussions to the tennis. It was the name calling and childish ravings of roger fan who caused the arguement to spiral out of control. So don't go calling people crazed or whatever before you check your facts properly too.

if you are here to blame others jean then let me tell you that a roger fan..or me if its my name you are referring to did not start the argument..as for 'stupid-haters' thing that was not directed to anyone in particular..it was generally to those people ive come across..there was no intention to offend anybody..but there was an intention to stop biased judgements.....and if you think you are so perfect..then i bow down to you.if that makes you happy.. but before teaching someone else look at yourself please...

i have very much kept my discussions to tennis..but i see that some people are fabricating their comments here...and using sarcasm to offend others( do not mean to offend anyone..)if you are so interested in glorifying nadal fans..there's nothing i can do about it..but i am blunt..i am frank..ofcourse..i have decided to give up on the biased nature of some comments here....if again that makes you happy....

i have also apologised for i did not want to offend anyone at all..but if thats what people thought..then i am really sorry...as for being emotionaly..please read the comments carefully...i was plainly stating the facts...i am not a diehard fan of any player to get emotional..and go crazy...but i do not tolerate nonsense..thts it...end of story...

Cinderella-thank you so much for compliment! hahahahaha. However, I am not the only one sane around here..And it's a pity, that you gave such a hostile reception to me. You did not understand me. U r too sensitive and emotional. I will not write in the way you do, only want to say, that I did not find anything in my comment what could wound your favorite..what can hardly be said in your comment concerning Nadal.

although people refer to roger as a complete gentlemen, i prefer rafa's attitude off-court than roger's..i don't know why..i remember this charlie rose interview that fed did and in that interview, he said that if there's one player who completely "bothers" him, it's rafa.i wouldn't know what the word bother meant in that sentence but i think it is just veiled insecurity on roger's part. why he should be insecured, of course, is another debatable matter.