It is what it is folks. I for one can’t be too bothered about Roger’s withdrawal from the big final with Djokovic, as I have already made clear on many occasions that after the Basel title I was happy with Roger’s season and anything else would be gravy. And what is more I was really torn between watching this match and putting my health first. I guess me and Roger had something in common as he withdrew for his health, and in the process saved my health too. The final would have been at 1 am my time and I was wrestling all night with the thought as to whether I should stay up and watch the match or go to sleep for my health. I knew if he played I would have watched because how can you miss that match? Roger must have gone through something similar, wrestling with the thought as to whether he should play or withdraw, and in the end he made the right decision to put his health first.
So thanks Roger for doing the right thing and in the process helping me to do the right thing too. I know many Fedfans are devastated by this and I sympathize with you, but expectations does create disappointment. The best thing is just to count your blessings and live in the moment. That’s what I did and this situation haven’t affected me. Sure I was surprised to hear about Roger’s withdrawal, but there was no lingering disappointment(and before I continue let me just say kudos to Veronica who called this beforehand, saying she noticed Roger’s back looked stiff right after the match with Stan). If anything I am disappointed in Stan, but more about that later. First I want to get back to the year Roger has had to date and why I am not disappointed about this withdrawal. Roger set a target for himself of winning five titles this year and he achieved that when he won Basel.
I was already delighted after he broke the Masters final curse when he won Cincy. I vowed that I would let go of expectations after that but I allowed my expectations to get the better of me again at the US Open, where it hurt when Roger got straight setted by Cilic. I guess sub-consciously I realized Roger had not achieved his goal of five titles for the year yet, which is why I still had expectations. But then Roger reached his peak this year in Shanghai where he straight setted Djokovic in the semis and won the title. That was epic stuff, and it assured me that Roger still had it in him to win a slam. Yet I still wanted him to get that target of five titles and also set the finals record straight in Basel while shutting Brennwald up in the process. When he achieved that I was content. The target was achieved and the rest would be gravy. Moreover, I knew that slow conditions in London would not favor Roger against Djokovic.
Now we will never know whether Roger could have beaten Djokovic on the slow indoor courts. Personally I thought he had a great shot, and it would have shut many people up for the millionth time had he done so. But the match with Stan proved too demanding, coupled with the playing schedule. I’m gonna say something surprising now: I am happy this happened. Why? The way I see it this is karma for the ATP who keeps putting Roger on last because he is still the biggest star they have and in doing that to him at age 33 they make things very difficult for him. Mridul summed it up well on my last post. It’s all about the money and the greed, but karma always catches up with greed whether you believe in karma or not. Roger’s withdrawal meant that the ATP must have reimbursed those people for their final tickets I’m sure and who knows how much they must have lost in advertising revenue.
Not cool to see
But it’s not just the scheduling from the ATP that is disturbing, but the insistence to slow down surfaces and in the process making things even harder for their biggest star. The impression that one gets is that the ATP only sees him as a cash cow, with no consideration for his personal needs at all. Well they got what they deserved. Their biggest final of the year(slams are not ATP) was a massive anti-climax and disappointment. Epic! Now I will deal with Stan. Here is another case of greed as well as jealousy getting the better of someone. First Stan doesn’t show up in his round robin match against Djokovic and gets bageled 6-3, 6-0. Then in the semis all of a sudden he is back to his best against Roger and injures him in a three hour battle from hell. Still, no problem can be found. I fully accept it. Then after Roger’s withdrawal something is brought to my attention which I posted on Facebook.
I’m sure you know about this by now. Stan was directing a tirade of abuse towards Roger’s box late in the third set, and more specifically it was aimed at Mirka because it was overheard that Stan said she did the same at Wimbledon. I find this somewhat disturbing. Why would he first of all abuse Mirka? Wouldn’t it be better to tell Roger to shut her up first? Of course I don’t know the situation and maybe he did. It just seems in poor taste. I’m sure if he told Roger about this Roger would have done something about it. But again I don’t know the situation and maybe he did tell Roger and Roger did say something to Mirka about it. One doesn’t want to jump conclusions without knowing first hand what went down. The problem is I have sensed a kind of jealousy and hatred from Stan before. This is not the first. Some time back before he won a slam he criticized Roger quite heavily about his Davis Cup participation or lack thereof.
There was no need for it because Roger has always been supportive of Stan and have his best interests at heart. He had always been gracious in victory against Stan, and in defeat. When he lost to Stan at Monte Carlo, one of only two Masters he never won, he was very gracious in defeat and was genuinely happy for Stan in the prize giving ceremony. Finally after the semis of London, even after Stan had directed abuse towards his wife, you could clearly see on his face how bad he felt for Stan after he defeated him. Now this is where it gets interesting. Roger said afterwards that it was in the third set tie break where his back pulled up again. Therefor it would have been crucial to get it worked on right away before it cooled down. But then he gets into an altercation with Stan about what happened after the match. First of all it would have been a stressful situation because he wouldn’t have wanted to play the final without solving the Stan situation.
He is a sensitive guy and these things can weigh on your mind. He needed to be relaxed and clear-minded if he wanted to have a chance against Djokovic. So it’s not like he had much of a choice to have a long stressful discussion with Stan after the match, when he really needed to rest for the final. Also he probably wouldn’t have gotten treatment for his back when he was having an altercation with Stan. If the back was allowed to cool down at that point, forget about it. No chance of playing the final. And although I can’t confirm that Roger was not getting treatment while talking to Stan I don’t think he could have. Folks, I am not impressed with Stan. Not at all. You would have thought he would have settled down some after winning a slam but now he wants more. He wants to steal Roger’s thunder too. He wants to be Stan the Man. That is just the nature of man’s greed.
He’ll be back folks…
Once he gets a taste of the big time he wants more and more. He will never be satisfied in his eternal lust and greed. Forever hungry and dissatisfied. This is why I said in my post about Roger’s match against Murray that I don’t mix competition with friendship. The two are not compatible. It is truly admirable how Roger always wants the best for Stan despite Stan’s jealousy and greed. It is a testament to Roger’s greatness as a human being. But he is also beating a dead horse. Competition and friendship is just not compatible. Not at professional level anyway. That is why I don’t care much for Davis Cup either. Look at the difficult situation the Swiss are now in with the Davis Cup final coming up. And it is not the first time. Stan and Roger already had issues in that rubber against Kazakhstan. Lord knows what is gonna happen against the French.
If I was Roger I’d withdraw from Davis Cup to rest my back, and he still might. I’d withdraw and let Stan take the heat from the Swiss public for it. Stan had to go and injure Roger and draw him into a late night feud, now let him deal with the consequences. Let him be the Swiss #1 and see if he can fill the ever reliable shoes of Roger. He is not impressed with Roger’s Davis Cup participation anyway, right? Can you imagine the consequences if Roger had to withdraw from Davis Cup too? I can’t think that the Swiss will be very happy with Stan. He could become very unpopular and we may have instant karma manifesting. But knowing Roger he will do whatever he can to help his country and Stan. Again that is just the measure of the man and I want to make it clear that I have great admiration for that. For me personally it is just much simpler to keep competition and friendship separate because I don’t believe they can co-exist.
Who knows what will happen now. In a way I want Roger to play Davis Cup because I know if he wins it it can really propel him towards great things next year. On the other hand I want Stan to lead the Swiss against the French without Roger since he is so keen on being the Swiss number one. Lets see how much he still wants to be the Swiss number one after he leads his country to defeat. But aside from that I don’t want Roger to take any risks at all with his back. Ideally he wouldn’t even have the option of Davis Cup now and he could just skip India too and make sure his back is 100% for what could be a very important 2015. Come to think of it, how is this Stan situation gonna affect the harmony in the Swiss team now? If there isn’t harmony between Fedrinka they can forget about winning the final. The rubber against Kazakhstan was awkward enough. I say forget the Davis Cup and make sure the back is 100% and ready to go in Australia.
That is just me though. I know it is much more complicated for Roger. The most important thing for me is that he doesn’t aggravate his back anymore. He has played an awful lot of late and his body is finally telling him that it has had enough. I think the wise thing would be just to let the Davis Cup go. I know it is easier said than done but health comes before everything else. If he aggravates his back it could cost him much more than the Davis Cup. It could cost him the rest of his career. As in having to retire because of it. I’d rather he just calls it a season and set his sights on 2015. More so because he reached his goal of 2014 already and anything else is just gravy anyway. I probably wouldn’t want to be in Roger’s shoes right now but he is a relaxed and level-headed guy who I’m sure will make the right decision. I hope so anyway. I hope this post has not been too long for you but there were important things that I needed to get off my chest.
The ball is now in your court.
Hey, Ru-an!
I just read your new post in its entirety and I must say that you hit the nail on the head. You reiterated all the points that I was looking forward to discussing and you put it much more eloquently than I ever could.
That being said, I think that Roger and Stan have sorted their differences. Obviously at the price of Roger’s final preparation…. Possibly.
I am sure that they’be talked late into the night but then coming from Roger’s mouth he did try everything. He took painkillers, massages, etc.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Roger could have been getting treatment while still taking to Stan. It may actually make sense because if Roger’sbsck was fine he would be going to sleep. But since his back was very stiff, it’s definitely plausible that the doctors had bee working on it tirelessly while at the same time Roger and Stan might have been sorting out their differences.
Who knows? I’llgive Stan the benefit of the doubt this time. After all we have two warriors who are supposed to be on the same team with one being physically injured (Roger) and one emotionally hurt (Stan).
Friendship should surpass all negativity and hopefully both Roger and Stan can gather their strength for the final push next week.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 17th, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Admirable comment Vily. I’d like to believe you are right. Lets hear from some more people first.
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Well guys I think Mirka did say something to irk Stan. I am gonna quote a comment I read and then clear proof of what happened. First the link:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2344262030001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAB3OVQoyE~,bQIJFW4YgkSAcqiAMKK4W3j6jM523fde&bctid=3894620532001
Listen carefully here but its pretty clear what is happening.
Here is a comment from some Swiss guy in some other post.
shnicshnac
I am swiss and I can tell you what happened, its in the papers here.
At 5 all and deuce in the 3rd set, between first and second serve.
Mirka is cheering very loud.
Stan interrupts Rogers Serving motion.
Mourier asks in French: “Whats up?”
Stan looks to Mirka and says: “Not just before the serve..”
With that he means, she should be quiet between the serves and not cheer so close before the serve.
Then she replies: “Cry, Baby, cry.”
And the Stan gets mad and answers to her: What?!?”
He adresses Mourier: “Did you hear what she say?”
Stan also says: “She did it already at Wimbledon..”
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Ru-an Reply:
November 17th, 2014 at 4:47 pm
Hmmm the plot thickens. This is why I was afraid to draw conclusions without knowing first had what went down. If this is true then Mirka(and the Federer camp) is to blame here. Sounds like a very childish thing that she did.
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Vily Reply:
November 17th, 2014 at 5:00 pm
And all of this supposedly happened as I watched the live broadcast and it looked as if nothing happened.
To me even if it is true, in the grand scheme of thing is not the reason why Stan lost. It happened at 5:5 at deuce..
Now I do remember that Stan was just broken while serving for the match. Then Roger went down 15:40 on his own serve at 5:5 so after he saved the two break points, it’s perfectly explainable why Stan would be furious. He just got broken, ok and missed two straight break points..
So in any case.. I think that we are reading too much into this. It’s in the past.
Possibly it’s karma..
Stan won Australia after Nadal hurt his back.
Now he causes Roger to hurt his back and he withdraws from the Final with Djokovic.
I guess it is what it is.
Let’s see what will happen next in Davis Cup..
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Interesting views there Ru-an! I agree with putting your health first, something many people take for granted!
With Stan, it’s interesting because until Stan and Roger actually say anything on the subject (which I doubt they will soon) it’s all speculation.
Perhaps it was just something that happened in the heat of the moment that he didn’t mean because Stan was so close to winning and just lost his head. Roger may have said to him in the locker room ‘look, I know the stakes are high in these matches, but don’t take it out on my wife’ and then Stan may have apologised and the two of them had a good long chat because they’re two good friends. Who knows, but that’s just me I look for the best in people, maybe I’m naive.
For me though I think this is definitely what screwed him over:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/30074849
“Federer did not complete his post-match media duties until after 01:00 GMT on Sunday”
Roger is far too nice! He should’ve just said my back’s stiffening up, I need treatment while it’s still warm, otherwise you won’t get a final. That’s probably another example of the greed of the ATP you were talking about!
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Ru-an Reply:
November 17th, 2014 at 4:59 pm
Well I realized a lot of it is speculation but there was also the past incident where Stan said some less than complimentary things about Roger’s DC participation, so I was basing my assumptions on that too. But since reading the last poster’s comment I realize it was pure speculation. Does look like Mirka was at fault here.
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“But he is also beating a dead horse. Competition and friendship is just not compatible. Not at professional level anyway. That is why I don’t care much for Davis Cup either. Look at the difficult situation the Swiss are now in with the Davis Cup final coming up. And it is not the first time. Stan and Roger already had issues in that rubber against Kazakhstan. Lord knows what is gonna happen against the French” –
These lines made me very emotional. I must say Ru-an you have got better and better down the line in writing.
On another hand, McEnroe addressed this before itself but I didn’t believe him. But he was correct about the Stan situation. I’m hugely disappointed with this huge fuss and I hope this doesn’t affect Federer
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Ru-an Reply:
November 17th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
Thanks Hari. I read what Mcenroe said too and that is another reason I thought Stan was at fault.
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Stan surely was frustrated by not closing the match and maybe overreacted to Mirkas cheering. But you can blame her for talking to Stan after his complaint.
But what bothers me most is this bad call at 5:3 in the Tie Break, which would have been a service winner and 3 match points for Roger. I’m sure that both, Feds back injury and the Mirka row would not have happened then.
I know that the Davis Cup is very important for Fed, but it is even more important to be healthy for 2015.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 5:28 am
Yeah in the end it doesn’t help to assign blame Florian. I’m sure everyone played their little part and pressure does strange things to people.
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I don’t see how Mirka cheering for Fed when he was serving would have interfered with Stan….surely Stan was at fault to stop and complain. The whole stadium was cheering and shouting. If Stan had been serving I would have understood. It’s all such an awful way to end what has been a great year for Roger. Stan seems to me to complain about something or other on a regular basis, he needs to get over it he lost a match he should have won except that Roger had other ideas. Just a pity that Stan was so passive against Novak. This whole thing of course brought to the attention of everyone by ‘MAC THE MOUTH’ a shallow man, good tennis player, but why should we be surprised Mac loves the limelight and will be laughing his head off at the fallout, sad when he is more famous for ‘you cannot be serious’ than his great tennis. As for Roger I’m sure if he can play he will, maybe he will win his matches and Stan will lose. Ridiculous timing for a Davis Cup Final so C’mon Roger be well whatever you decide x
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 5:29 am
Shallow man is right Elizabeth.
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Ruan, 1 Suggestion- Please reduce the Usage of the Words “I” and “me” in your posts. By your posts it appears that what you write is more important than Roger Federer. I was an avid reader of your blog, but unknowingly that has come down. I appreciate your loyalty to Federer and would like to see your blog a better one.
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Jiten Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 6:47 am
Cannot disagree more. On the other hand hand, I find it a better and correct way of emphatically presenting one’s own viewpoint. Come on, be a sport! This is Ru-an’s blog and he is entitled to write whatever he wants (in decent language). He is not under any gagging act; it is not that he is submitting a paper in an Elsevier Journal which is going to be reviewed by experts and he has to adhere to the Journal policy. Literally this is Ru-an’s Home Production and he can do whatever he wants with his production. And yes Ru-an, get healthy soon. (Looks like you already are going by the length of this article.) Cheers for Ru-an and Roger!
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 7:01 am
Thanks Jiten. The reader is probably just disappointed and doesn’t agree with my viewpoints. I’m sure there are many Fedfans who are pretty gutted by this situation who can’t understand my lack of disappointment, but like I said expectations create disappointment. Also some fans probably don’t agree with my views about DC. But like you say it’s my blog and I can have any viewpoints I like. I’m definitely not one of those fans who say DC is meaningless as long as Nadal wins it and when Roger has the chance to win it it becomes all important all of a sudden. I said it was meaningless when Nadal won it and I say it’s meaningless now. I don’t change my views to suit the situation. At least you can say that much about my views, even if you don’t agree with them.
Ps. You probably noticed some spelling mistakes which was due to me being ill and having laptop problems. Only just corrected it.
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Rajeesh Reply:
November 24th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
Hello Ruan, I liked your polite response. I observed that the words “I” and “Me” where getting projected too much and made me feel that these were the things I wouldn’t like to see if I were writing a blog. Hence I shared the same to you. Apologies for the blunt way I posted the comment. Your latest post on Switzerlands DC win is really good! Hope your blogs grows bigger in every way!!. (PS: Ironically too many “I’s and Me’s” in this comment for which I apologise
)
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Ru-an Reply:
November 25th, 2014 at 12:36 am
No worries Rajeesh. I’m just sharing my experience as a Fedfan which some people apparently have related to. But I agree one shouldn’t use I or me too much.
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Ru-an,what a wonderful post this is!Sums up everything so nicely.
Federer is going to make the right decision.Let see what it is.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 5:34 am
Cheers Muhammad. In hindsight maybe I was to fast to assign blame in my post. We will see how Roger and Stan gets along if Roger does play DC. The main thing is anyway Roger’s health. Everything comes after that.
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Ruan, 1 Suggestion- Please keep on writing the way you are, and if someone wants their own blog, they can do it the way they want to, and not mention their opinions with “I” and “me”. Thanks, G
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Joe Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 6:03 pm
This post is JUST TOO GOOD Gary!!!!!
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Ru-an Reply:
November 19th, 2014 at 4:43 am
Haha concurred.
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I just saw a photo which shows that Fed played the Semifinal with a strap or tape on his back. https://twitter.com/chiaragamtwi/status/534628058410782721
This suits Ljubicic’ observations, who twittered that Fed looked stiff during practice before Semifinal and would also explain why he was playing so passive against Stan. Maybe the long Semifinal was just too much and forced him to pull out primarily for precautionary reasons. Stan also said in an interview yesterday that his back already felt better on Monday so my feeling is that he will play on Friday.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 12:30 pm
Well lets hope that is the case Florian. I know winning the DC could inspire Roger to great things.
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Its been a while since I posted comment, whole heartedly agree with you post. If Stan can’t stand crowd at London, imagine them French at Lilie. DC is known to have rowdy crowd, so is he going to torch Tsonga or Monfil’s family. Mirka has sat through more than 1000 Roger’s matches, though she might have slipped a little but Stan being a pro player need to learn how to block out little noises. The net exchange after the match did not indicate they are at boiling point. Look pretty ok unless they are so Swiss that both held it in their belly and blow out at locker room.
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elizabeth Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 2:12 pm
Funny though that the only one to have mentioned a burst up is McEnroe, at least although there are plenty of posts his name is the only one that is quoted.
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The rantings of an utter mad man.
You chose to go to bed early “for your health”, you should probably also go see a doctor.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 1:48 pm
Judging from the other comments, you are the one who needs to go see a doctor. Now get to it before it’s too late.
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Ajay Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Ruan, I would advise you not to reply to these dumbos and just delete their comment and ban them.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 18th, 2014 at 4:55 pm
That would probably be the best but I kind of enjoy replying to them before I ban them. That’ll teach them not to leave dumb, unoriginal comments on blogs. Not on this one anyway!
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Katyani Reply:
November 19th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
Hey Ru-an, I am getting somewhat tired of reading about your spelling, etc. (imagine what it is for you). What is wrong with some people?? Just ignore them… Seriously, don’t they have more important things in the world to worry about??
How about they prey for and worry about the “reason” (aka Goat) we are all here for…
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http://www.eurosport.com/tennis/davis-cup-2/2014/federer-and-wawrinka-play-down-london-row_sto4481967/story.shtml
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Joe Reply:
November 19th, 2014 at 9:23 pm
That’s good news – potentially – but it’s difficult for me to wonder if they’re not just putting a good face on the situation. They would have to do that anyway. And several others have mentioned Stan’s willingness, on several occasions, to criticize Roger…
But for the sake of Davis Cup if nothing else, I hope they have or will put all this behind them, in truth as well as on the public surface, before they are playing again on the same team.
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But damn Ru-an… that picture of Roger all above…. wow…. the dude SERIOUSLY looks good
He was talking about not playing the final and all I could think about is how damn goodlooking he is. How can THIS man be the same boy who lifted the Wimby trophy in 2003?? All acne, not shaved, greasy hair, too big clothes and that ponytail.. 
But the 2nd pic where he bows down his head…. not nice to see….
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Great news !! Federer has started playing again folks !!
https://twitter.com/VIBHUISM/status/535150154601345024
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That is certainly great news all right. Thanks for sharing Ajay!
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Katyani Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 7:46 am
Hey Joe, is it great news?? I read that Roger only practised like 20 min. And for a match against Tsonga and Monfils you need atleast 3 hours… He should not be playing and risk further damage. DC is not worth it. If they made the final this year… they can also make it next year or after that.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 7:59 am
Yeah I don’t know this DC sounds risky to me. Roger even said he would play singles without any practice on clay at all. He did practice on clay before Basel so at least he’s got that. But he sounds a bit too eager to play. What if he makes his back worse or have to retire mid match? We already saw what happened last year when he played with a bad back. He made it worse and it cost him badly. I just hope the fact that it’s DC and this is his one big chance of winning it makes him risk everything…
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Joe Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 2:26 pm
Hey Katanyi and Ru-an,
I just read the tweet that said Roger was having no pain in practice, but as I look around on the net I can see the details you mentioned, and thanks for pointing them out.
I hope Roger is just starting slowly and carefully. It’s obviously a good way to go after injury, and I’d say it’s possible that he is doing that, at least based on what I know currently.
But of course I agree completely that DC is not worth sacrificing 2015, or any significant portion of it. I’m really not very happy with Stan at the moment. And I have a feeling that we could be in for something special at AO ’15, if Roger stays healthy.
And from the ‘big-picture’ standpoint, here’s a URL that may show the most relevant question about DC:
https://twitter.com/SwissMinipeople/status/534356878458122240/photo/1
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Ru-an Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 3:05 pm
In hindsight I was way too harsh on Stan Joe. But of course I didn’t know what the deal was with Mirka. I think it’s very unfortunate she got involved. She really doesn’t have any business talking trash from outside the court, especially when Stan is waiting to return serve. I owe Stan an apology. It’s really Mirka I should blame if I was gonna blame someone. Stan just did what he had the right to do and what any pro would do, which was trying to beat who was in front of him. As for the Djoker match Bharata is right Stan probably tanked after he lost the first set and figured he would save energy for the Cilic match. It is a strategy that paid off and given the format it was totally legit and appropriate. I guess Mirka was just desperate for Fed to win, but she should have known better. But it’s over now and it’s nice to see Fedrinka seems to have put it behind them.
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Joe Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 7:04 pm
Hey Ru-an!
I agree completely with all that. Btw the name Mirka means ‘Tranquil’ in Czechoslovakian but ‘Bitter’ in Yiddish. I guess we are all free to suppose which suits her better…
But my issues with Stan aren’t related to this incident, where Mirka seems to have clearly stepped out of bounds, at least if the stories are (even half-way) true.
My problem with Stan is that he’s felt too free to criticize Roger for years. DC criticism comes to mind for example. But in my book there’s no one who’s give more TO tennis than Roger. And I think Stan would do well to ponder that once in a while!
P.S. BTW I am NOT happy that Roger has to face Monfils in his first match.
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Ru-an Reply:
November 21st, 2014 at 12:37 am
I totally agree with that Joe. The criticism from Stan was uncalled for, just like Mirka’s trash talk from the side of the court was. Maybe that was one of the reasons Mirka did it…
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Hey guys, it is kind of sad isn’t it? After the TERRIFIC year Roger had (after he showed all the haters and critics how wrong they were to write him off)… now the tennisworld is more focussing on the Mirka story than on what an amazing year Roger had…..
This may sound terrible, but I mean it…. I hope Roger won’t play DC matches. We all know Stan pushed Roger into playing, but it IS actually Roger who got Switzerland to the final, so now… let Stan take care of the winning. Let him bring the trophy home. It is the LEAST he can do after what he did to Roger. And I mean that. Roger should not play DC and the Exho’s in India and the one with Stan. Let him rest, rest his back and take care of his health and practise and then come back in January to roar !!!
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Katyani, I hope that if Roger plays DC this weekend that that will be the end of DC for him, of course I would like Swiss to win! I don’t blame Stan for trying to win at the ATP but really it didn’t look as though he was trying all the time. Stan’s attitude was totally different in his game with Fed difficult to undertand why he couldn’t bring this game against Novak…because it looked as though Stan was firing bullets at Roger not tennis balls. Will be interesting to see how aggressive Stan will be against the French. Talking about French, French media guy saying it was Mirka, Umpire saying it was Mirka do I detect a French theme here? Last thing kinda strange that having sat through 1000 matches now Mirka finds her voice, so C’mon Roger shut them all up x
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Katyani Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 11:32 am
Hey Elizabeth, just a quick reply. Please don’t get me wrong. I am NOT blaming Stan for trying to win WTF. How can anyone blame anyone for that?? I mean, come on, it is Stan’s job, his right and his DUTY to try to win WTF. And if it is Roger who stands in his way…. sorry for us…. but Stan HAS to defeat Roger.
BUT….. what I don’t get is where was this “I won’t let you win no matter what”-attitude against Novak?? I saw the complete match of Stan vs Novak. The way Stan played the first 2 games, I honestly thought he would beat Novak. He was firing down unreturnable winners like he did in the 3rd set of MC against Roger. But then… Novak broke back and Stan just…. disappeared. He stopped trying. He literally did. He tried, he “fought”, but he stopped trying to beat Novak.
That is my problem. Why not the same attitude against Novak? And it had nothing to do with a bad matchup against Novak, because Stan stopped trying.
I don’t blame Stan for wanting to beat Roger, he has to do that. But why not give it your all and try to beat other top guys as well….
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Bharata Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 1:04 pm
I was also frustrated watching the Djokovic-Wawrinka match (as were others, judging from the posts I saw that day). He just turned to garbage in the 2nd set, although Djokovic did have some big pickups. Come on, Wawrinka, you beat Djokovic in a 5 setter on even slower hard courts at the AO.
Of course, that match was not an elimination match. It’s as simple as that. Wawrinka, after losing the 1st set, realized it was not worth the energy to try and come back. He probably knew subconsciously that beating Berdych was enough to get him in at no.2. So he tanked it.
Hard to blame Wawrinka for trying his best to beat Federer though, that’s his job. It’s just the problem with a round-robin format, you can throw games. It happens in football and hockey in international competitions.
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elizabeth Reply:
November 20th, 2014 at 1:29 pm
Totally agree with you, that’s what I was trying to say, where was he against Novak?
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