Super fast Ricky

a performance like that one from Federer requires immediate posting of the article

until now I just thought he didn't care. Now it's safe to say that his game is just in shambles.

It was a terrible match Ricky. 50 unforced errors. a very erratic, astonishingly bad match from Fed. No time left to put this right before Madrid. He is in trouble right now. He doesn't care. It's terrible.

by the way, montanes played like a defending champ..
played well enough to win atleast!!

federer fans,

Here is Roger's presser after Estoril. (not good quality).


Poor quality in terms of crackling microphones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnsmXtz9rVk

A very down Federer.

He keeps saying - ?I hope I can raise my game, etc.?.

either federer missed or montanes was driving fed around in the rallies... a very one-sided affair

This roger guy would be in a slump only if he loses before the semis at a slam. Till then I am sure even other players on the tour would not think he is in a rut.
I think its time the law of averages as far as his semis record in slam is concerned catches up with him.
Great though for Espana. Another trophy seems to be heading Spain's way

no croc. i watched the match on www.fromsport.com. Federer was shanking balls. His forehand was NOT working. His backhand was NOT working. HE was NOT working.

Montanes didn't play that brilliantly either. But federer made 50 unforced errors in the match and it was a dismal display. It wasn't one sided at all.

In fact in the second set. Fed had only to get 2 more points and he would have got the set, but once again, he threw away 3 points so that Montanes equalised at 5:5, then got the win.

Poor display but I know that Federer will regroup. What choice does he have?

Roger is the classic greatest. Love Roger

Roger says he needs to "play aggressive". He been reading Rafa's quote book? Really weird match, tons of UFE's from both. I only saw the last several points of the breaker, was expecting Roger to take the set and then polish him off in the third. It certainly looked to me as if Roger was making an effort there. His face seemed a bit drawn but I was watching a pretty poor quality live stream.

ramara. same. live stream was poor. but a match probably best to forget. His serve was just not working. and when that happens, roger is always in trouble.

from a fellow friend on tennis.x - blank - thanks blank.

This is what Roger had to say after the match.

The Swiss world number one, Estoril champion in 2008, was ambushed on a slow, rain-soaked court by the Spanish specialist, who he'd beaten in three previous meetings.

But despite going down in just under 90 minutes, Federer is looking ahead with quiet optimism to a pair of high-profile title defences in Madrid from Sunday and then at Roland Garros.

"I'm not worried, the French (Open) is still too far away," said Federer of the clay Grand Slam, which begins on May 23. "This stuff happens.

"My goal is not to win 12 events in a year anymore. It's to win big events like Grand Slams, Masters 1000s and the year-end championships.

"It's a disappointing match to lose. I just couldn't get off to a good start and I struggled the whole way through."

After losing serve three times in the 30-minute opening set, Federer found a small patch of form against the world number 34.

"I tried to play from the back of the court, but this is not the tennis I wanted to show for sure," he said.

"In the second set I had some better moments, but I have to pick up my game."

The Swiss insists that faster conditions on clay at altitude in Madrid will help him out, as well as the faster clay of the French Open.

"I"m happy, at I least got three matches this week -- though I would have liked to get one more. Alberto played a good match," he said.

"He's a clay-courter and knows his stuff. He didn't give me much and I struggled from the beginning."

The contest began with more than two hours of delay after downpours drenched the Estadio Nacionale.

It's official - Federer WANTS to win Masters.

very drole carrie. enjoying yourself are we?

"He's a clay-courter and knows his stuff. He didn't give me much and I struggled from the beginning."


Does he think that (as chr18 and tennislover put it)that that Spanish Armada will make it any easier for him? I think everyone expects more out of Roger than this. Maxi, that was just a current comment by fed about an ongoing subject and blog that nadline posted. No need to get all snarky about it.

never knew montanes had the sufficient mental toughness to take down a giant like federer.
@maxi sorry to you but do not worry much, if he repeats these woes in madrid then u shud be worried but not now

anyway, who is gona challenge rafa ?!


madrid draws are out and federer can be in GRAVE trble again, wawrinka in rnd 3 and montanes/gulbis (both of whom have beaten roger) in a potential qtr final !
rafa may meet soderling/nando in the semis, no other obstacle visible for rafa, isner/tsonga are the biggest threats till the qtrs. Nadal is the heavy favorite once more

Although it would be great to see the FED win more (these days), like some of the others, as much as I would enjoy watching Roger Federer play tennis, I'm not worried about it. If I see Roger losing early in a grand slam, then I will definitely be worried about it. He is a slam man, especially now (since AO)that his game has gone astray. In my opinion it's a nerve thing. He is very hard on himself, but intelligent (enough) not to talk about that side of his psyche. He will get over it. It's not fatal, but yes disappointing (of course) for FEDfans. I don't expect much from Madrid, but if he does well, that would put a big smile on my face for sure! :) Go Rog! Go relax, and get over it. It would be clever on his part to find some new way to relax, mentally/emotionally. Only he can know how best to approach this. For instance, I don't believe this guy meditates, and honestly I seriously believe he should. :)

It's been a while that I've been wondering whether Federer will actually make it to the final at RG this year, even if Nadal were to be in the opposite half. Last year he almost did not.

After today's result and the other ones since January I am afraid it will be a while before we'll see the two of them compete against each other. It's now not too sure Federer will make the semi this time, let alone the final. In RG normally he should make the final (if Rafa does not meet him in the semi) but will he?

you may be right chlorostoma, anything is possible, but the FED has it in him, and honestly if he felt he did not "have it in him" to compete on the highest level, he would just simply give it up. he will win, obviously not just yet. Nothing is written in stone, not even for Rafa, albeit he has been playing extremely well, and is heavily favoured in the next slam...

STOMACH PUNCH !!!

im eager for madrid now....

Federer was less than average.

Thank you, Raindrops, for compounding on my already bad mood.

Federer did not play well. The first set was a display of absolutely atrocious tennis from him. The second set was better, but not by much. Only Federer knows what went wrong. I think the court conditions could have been a contributing factor - the rain slowed the clay down, disrupting his timing and momentum, but that is only a guess. His level of play was poor all week, but none of it was as bad as what he displayed against Montanes.

I hope Federer will do better in Madrid.

the reason is much simpler than all this..
the guy follows same old training method he used to follow as a 22 year old..
but now he is an old guy and hence his body can't cope up..
so he should change his training regime..
its time he realizes he is no spring chicken..
he should change his methods and maybe he can last longer and in the process get 4-5 titles more including maybe one or two more grand slams..

p.s. am i too optimistic???

clayking, morning. if you were a federer fan, (i know you are a "tennis fan"). you would know that roger HAS trained his training schedule. you only need to get onto web and see the two new members of his team, one of them now, sitting in his box with Sevri when roger plays. Big guy, called Stefan, new trainer (about 6 months or more now). (along with the same guy he has had for over 10 years now, 'pagni'). Age has nothing to do with it. montanes,llodra,luby, all winning tournys this year, all in their 30's. It's all about the passion. and right now, fed is not motivated for the smaller tournys, despite saying in recent interviews that he wants to win masters and slams and all other tournys. it's just not happening for him.

but, we will see what happens as he moves into madrid.

*changed*, not *trained*.

*changed his training schedule*.

He says he is practising hard, yet his movement is slow? - if you haven't got the mind right, the legs won't follow. This is possibly the problem? what do you think?

Notice the difference in Rafans' attidude to Federer losing to a player outside the top 30. Even when Rafa wins a title, Fedans line up to talk him down, like the Fedfan who said that Rafa only won MC because Federer wasn't there.

maxi,
age doesn't matter???
i was of the belief that when one grows older, the movements slow down a bit..
law of nature maxi..
and for a player like fed who depends upon his accuracy a lot, a little change in angles due to a bit less speed will be the difference between a stunning winner and an unforced error..
as i said he has to change his regular training schedule..
and you say montanes and all are 30..
so do you think they still follow the same regime they followed 10 years back??
no..
they must have brought some changes to it..
one has to bring changes..
or else you won't cope up with your ageing body..

Hello everyone. XO

My name is Fleur and I am new to this site.

I mostly post on a men's tennis forum, but have been reading many posts from here for the last 3 months, it provides me with a laugh, once in a while, (!!!) and helps me to offload some knowledge to other tennis addicts! The one topic that we seem to argue about a lot of the time, is Roger never giving others credit for their wins. It just is not true.

First was a massive Safin fan, but now, primarily, I am an RF fan. The Safin years provided me with a lot of fun and was a seriously underrated player. ERS.

I am not surprised that this great man seems to get a lot of bad press, especially when it comes to Rafael Nadal. Personally, I believe there is a lot of mutual respect between the two and often, a lot of what RF says is misquoted. There are many times when Rafael also has said things when he has either lost or won a title, as evidenced below.

Sorry, but it's simply not true to say that Federer never gives credit to his opponent or is gracious in defeat:

Australian Open SF 2005, l. to Safin:

"He was the better player in the end, you know, because we don't have ties or draws in tennis. So the winner is the better man, and that's him."

French Open F 2008, l. to Nadal:

"Rafa played well today, made it hard for me, and, yeah, was better."

Wimbledon F 2008, l. to Nadal:

"I mean, he's a great competitor, you know, a great player to play against, and I think he did very well today."

Like I said, Rafa served well and played well and deserved to win in the end."

US Open F 2009, l. to Del Potro:

"Juan Martin played great. I thought he hung in there and gave himself chances, and in the end was the better man."

Nor is it true to say that Nadal is invariably generous to his opponents in defeat, either:

Miami QF 2009, l. to Del Potro:

"I think he didn't play one of his best matches, no? That's what I feel. I don't know.

You can ask him later maybe. But I think he played well. His level is 6 of the world, no, so he's very good. I think he didn't play an unbelievable match, but I didn't play on my best level today."

"Always is a reason because you are not playing at your level during the tournament."

French Open 4R 2009, l. to Soderling:

"I didn't play my best tennis. No, I didn't attack in no one moment. I play very short, and I make him very easy to play at this level."

"I played very short, you know. I play very short. I didn't play great. I didn't play with calm at no one time during all the match.

That makes him easy to play at this level during all the match, no? So was my fault, and more than, well, sure, he did well. He did very well, but I didn't . yeah, I think I didn't play my best tennis. And I didn't play not my best tennis, no? I didn't play my tennis, and for that reason I lose.
That's it."

Q: So is it because he was very aggressive today? Was it having an influence?

RAFAEL NADAL: "No, not at all."

Q. Were you surprised by the level of his game?

RAFAEL NADAL: "No, not at all.

I've seen him playing quite a few times, and that was not a surprise. It was my game level that was a surprise to me today."

The people who suggest that Nadal is always generous, and Federer never generous, are simply basing their opinions on what they want to be true, without regard to what is actually being said.

Federer is one of the most honest and gracious players around. He gets an absurd amount of stick for answering questions frankly rather than necessarily rolling over and praising everyone unequivocally.

i absolutely understand what you are saying clayking, but i feel that age is just ONE element of the package. I think that many things can be accomplished with motivation, determination and self-belief IRRESPECTIVE of age. Roger has enough money to be able to employ high quality professional people in his team to help him continue to win more tournaments. Even if he is 100% fit, if his mind isn't firing with the belief that is needed, his legs won't move!

I think of Agassi a lot and how his movement in his final slam was brilliant. at the age of 35. Right now, I feel Roger is missing the self-belief. Once that clicks into place, then I think everything will fall into place.

I love how just last year at this time, people were claiming that fed had a few more years in him. Now the age excuse has cropped up. BTW maxi, money can't but Roger everything

*yawn*