Monday musings

[louiselux]

Rafael Nadal played amazing tennis yesterday in the finals of the Indian Wells tournament, crushing Mandy 61 62. It was brilliant and he looked extremely gorgeous and adorable. Mandy got a bit angry and started shouting, possibly because he will never look as pretty as Rafa.

The day before that, Roger lost to Mandy once more, playing in an unfocused and undisciplined way. It wasn't good and Mandy played solidly and well. I'm full of doubts that, contrary to what Rafa says, Roger is not actually Roger at the moment for whatever reasons, which he won't or can't seem to discuss. Uncle Toni has pertinent things to say about this.

An interview with Toni Nadal, from El Pais this morning:

Toni Nadal who has always shown an exquisite admiration and respect for Roger Federer allows himself to wonder about the present form of the Swiss player out loud and in public for the first time. "In the match against Murray I saw a slower version of Roger and an unwillingness to work. This is not the same player as only a couple of years ago. He has lowered his standard of play."

"As of today, Murray and Rafael are the two best players on the circuit. As far as I can tell,they are. Murray has lost only one match this year.. He is probably the fittest player of the moment right now. I really believed that it was Djokovic who was going to be the next rival but he has lowered his game a bit....I'm not sure why.. but this is such a psychological sport..."

"Murray has a great talent and he is a very dangerous player. A rivalry, you ask, between him and Rafael like the one with Federer? Unfortunately (for Rafael) there are quite a few really good players out there who can make a lot of trouble. There are Djokovic, Nabaldian, Del Potro.... Murray and Rafael might one day have a two way rivalry but even though he's very, very good, it will be difficult for Andy to leave on tennis the mark that Federer has made."

Face it Mand, you're never going to replace Roger in Rafa's list of things to get obsessive about.

Comments

[fedal-fangirl.livejournal.com]

Mandy got a bit angry and started shouting, possibly because he will never look as pretty as Rafa.

Yes.

He has lowered his standard of play.

Ouch. But very true.

I do wish that Uncle Toni could be Roger's coach. Guess there would just be too much conflict of interest there, huh? XD

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

A bit. Sadly. I like to think of his honesty in that interview as being on purpose, like long distance once-removed coaching. You have to wonder what sort of player Roger would be if he had someone like Toni Nadal at his side now.

[del-naja.livejournal.com]

He has lowered his standard of play.

Very true indeed.

I read the newspaper l'équipe this morning and the journalists writes exactly the same thing. He says that Roger seems to have other focuses in his life : his child, his life as a man and to concentrate on other thing than tennis, etc...

But what amazes me and frighten a little too, is what Roger said after his loss to Mandy : "he's young and I'm old", added to his deficient first serve. I fear that if Roger really has big problems with his back and his family, he would continue to play tennis until 2012 as he said few weeks ago. He clearly has some other things and thoughts in his mind than tennis, so it is why, I think, that he's not 100% concentrated on court. And if his priorities are not tennis anymore, any coach or psy could fix that.

Not very joyful I know, but I really hope that Roger will get a grip on himself.

[tsamm.livejournal.com]

I agree and really hope that Roger will be able to turn it around. But do not worry about the age comment--I *think* his comment about being old was sarcastic:

ROGER FEDERER: Fitness. I'm old. He's young, you know. Makes a huge difference. No, I mean, those are best-of-three-set matches. I think in the last few matches I always felt Andy came on strong, as the match went on, you know.
This time was different. I think I played well in the second. Forced the issue a bit more and then played a shocking third set. It was one of those matches where it was very up and down from both ends, and today the better player won.

Q. You brought up that you were old. Do you feel the age factor?
ROGER FEDERER: No, I don't.


Hard to tell without actually listening to it, but my sense is what when he said, "No, I mean," after the "old" comment, he was distancing himself from that, telling us he was joking/sarcastic there. Plus, I'm sure he did not mean that his fitness level was bad, because he just spent those six weeks, etc.etc. Anyway, this is hopefully a more positive look at that remark, but I agree in general that he is acting in a fairly confusing way on court!

(edited to add quote, which I forgot to put in first time!)

[del-naja.livejournal.com]

Ok thank you. Now I understand better. As I didn't read this interview of Roger or didn't see him saying that if it was during a presser and only read what l'équipe had written I was scared by his words. Stupid journalists who didn't replace his words in context. ¬¬

I hope it was only ironic because we're not in Roger's head so who knew what he may think now.... Argh... Stop brain struggling, we'll se.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I'm glad tsamm showed you the rest of that quote - I really think he was not serious, but joking in that dry way of his about what everyone else is saying about him.

2012 seems a long way away at the moment. But then, that also means there's a lot of time for Roger to reflect on what's happening and move on and achieve his goals.

[frogglesthefrog.livejournal.com]

Just when I think I couldn't respect and love Uncle Toni more, he comes along and says this. Clearly he approves of his nephew's choice of boyfriend even when he doesn't approve of his standard of tennis playing. Well done Toni.

And well done Rafa, you totally deserve the trophy!!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Uncle Toni tells it how it is, no messin'. I wish he could be Roger's coach too. *wistful sigh*

[avierra.livejournal.com]

The last part of that interview is pretty cute. "Rafa will NEVER crush on Mandy!!!"

As for Rogelio, I have gathered he has a lot of things on his mind right now. I bet he snaps out of it in a couple of months, after the shock has worn off and he gets more psychologically comfortable with his new situation.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha, yes!

The baby thing must be messing up his head, right? It's a massive change and also kind of a threat to his goals, even though at the same time it's a positive thing for him as a person. I really hope he does settle down, it's not great seeing him all grumpy faced over tennis.

[emungere.livejournal.com]

Le sigh. I just want him to win.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Can he be an AU rent boy instead?

[avierra.livejournal.com]

There is ALWAYS room for AU rent boys.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[emungere.livejournal.com]

Yes, absolutely, and we should write moar of that.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

We totally should. I feel we must fulfil our artistic vision!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Poor Roger. He hs a lot of things going on right now, but he does *so* want that one last Grand Slam before he retires, and if he can't pull it together, he won't get it.

I just worry that these bad matches are becoming contagious and self-fulfilling. He used to be so good at turning himself around after a bad set, and now he just seems to lose heart :-(

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I think that's my fear as as well, that's it's all turning into a self fulfilling thing. From everything I've read about Roger, he doesn't historically seem to have the best mental resilience to pressure. I really think it's getting to him now, since he's been suffering losses to Rafa and Andy. It's hard watching him have a bad time but he might come out the end of it even stronger, who knows? I hope he does.