Davis Cup is an integral part of the tennis calendar. Roger Federer must learn from Mara Safin to show more commitment to it.

Hi chet, great post. Roger Federer has sacrificed helping his country in the Davis Cup so he can grab more glory in ATP tournaments. However, when he burns out due to this schedule, it's likely he'll look back with regret on his failure to represent his country in the Davis Cup. It'll certainly be seen as a gaping hole in his career should he fail to win more than 14 Slams, which is very likely. Pete Sampras managed to juggle all kinds of tournaments at the same time, and incredibly managed to win his country the Davis Cup almost single-handedly on slow clay in Russia as well as winning his record tally of Slams. A true great.

Says who?

Nobodys perfect not even Roger.

Because he doesn't have enough good teammates to compete for that trophy

im sure once he gets the slam in 2007, he will make davis cup a priority for 2008 :)

If Federer starts learning from Safin, he will be in trouble - Marat's inconsistency is terrifying, we don't need any of the from Fed, thank you very much! ;)

With my heart, I would like to see Fed play more Davis Cup, but my head knows that there is very little point --- he cannot bring his country to victory on his own. However, Wawrinka is getting stronger --- perhaps in one or two years, they can actually be in with a chance?

Apparently Federer was quoted, "A Davis Cup victory is too ambitious and too important an objective to hope to accomplish on the side," which I suppose is right.

Saying that Sampras played the DC single-handedly is a bit of a joke, isn't it? There were usually other good players on his team - McEnroe, Courier, Agassi, Chang, ... That's the difference between large countries such as the US, Russia, etc. versus a small nation like Switzerland.

Also, Samples didn't play DC every year either, so let's remain fair to Federer here.

The ATP ought to do something to encourage top players to play DC, even if they are not part of a team that's likely to win. Ranking points, perhaps? Although I'm not quite sure how to do that so it's fair ...

Guess how many first round DC ties Sampras played?

Two --- one in 1992 (before he was #1) and one in 2002.

http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?player=10001217

Now guess how many Federer played?

Six --- the last one in 2004, when he was #1.

:ok:

I think he'll want the Gold Medal in 2008 ... ;)

If Wawrinka breaks into the top 20, I think Roger should really start taking the DC more seriously.

But it would still be tough. If they really want to win it, he would need more doubles practice. Given the amount of matches he plays each year (due to winning everything in sight), that ought to be something that's difficult to squeeze in ...

Marat Safin lost to Nalbandian in his first rubber did he not? roflmao

I don\'t see your point.
This thread is about commitment, and as far as I am concerned, your message has nothing to do with what Chetanpv has said.
And remember, Federer HAS lost to Nalbandian many times...

Has - as in past tense

Seriously guys...

Lost is in past tense too you know.

This thread was a waste of time from the start.

The trolls obviously haven't changed their behaviour, an IP ban must surely ensue.

At least the trolls/n00bs provide a catalyst for discussion xD

10 minutes - just long enough to log off one account, get a cup of tea, and then log onto another of his/her accounts.

I go away for the weekend and when I come back I have to say I am a little dissappointed that the kind of rubbish I hated being spouted on the bbc is alive and well at CC, albeit in small amounts so far. I agree that everyone has the right to their opinion but these guys will push their luck. Saying that, I do have faith that the mods will put a stop to it when/if that happens.

Have faith in the mods. As Nick has mentioned, if you find something offensive, report it..

People have been banned from here before. And usually they don't get back.

I think its a valid discussion he has brought up, although in a trolly way :huh: WILL we ever see Fed lift the Davis Cup?

Unless the Swiss Number 2 becomes world class I really doubt it

Has Fed ever won the Hopman cup?

Yea. He won it back in 2001 with Hingis

To be honest, I don't think anything (or at leat most things) written by these posters has really left the realm of what I would count as their right to an opinion.

As much as we may detest the games they played on the Beeb board, let's wipe the slate clean, and show them they are welcome to have a reasonable tennis discussion on here.

I have enough faith in the mods to not be worried, but rather to see it as a chance of the board.

Questioning whether Federer shouldn't be playing more DC is at least a valid point. And Safin has indeed been very committed to the DC, which is admirable, regardless of the fact that Russia naturally has a much larger pool of good players.

Fair Enough MJT, but these guys will push their luck, just look at "Sleepless in Switzerland" posted on this board now...and the "RafaSlam" post. I have faith the mods will step in.

I agree Gav. I'm just saying let's remain fair, and also let's not get worked up about it. Report threads which are inappropriate (based on their content, not who posted them), and then ignore them.

If more cr@ap gets posted, the posters will get banned. :admin:

It's as simple as that.

Gav, i wouldn't worry - Nick and the mod team are pretty on the ball, and i'm sure they'll stop any kind of spam as soon as possible. If you're bothered then just PM one of the mods and ask if they've noticed the threads that have been started, and let them take it from there....

I think two points are important here:

First, Federer has only missed a couple Davis Cup ties in the last few years. It's not like he's made a consistent habit of missing them. It's only really since he reached the point in the last year or two of having a legitimate chance of doing a Grand Slam that he has focused his energy on the slams over Davis Cup.

Second, in the grand scheme of tennis, Davis Cup is not as important a competition as the Slams. People don't consider Sampras best ever because he has a Davis Cup title, after all. Some people may be big fans of the Davis Cup and consider it more important than the Slams, but that would definitely be a minority opinion.

Yes,you're right Nick , Fed has always stepped in if it looked like Switzerland was in danger of getting knocked out of the top group.I think that Switzerland could one day win the Davis Cup as Fed isn't our only talented player.We also have Wawrinka and Chuidinelli and Fed has said it's one of his ambitions to win the Davis Cup so maybe one day he'll give it priority.

Gav don't worry, I totally agree with you mate, see other threads for what i've said

I think it’s reasonable to question Federer’s commitment to the Davis Cup which so far has consisted of ensuring his country doesn’t drop out of the World Group, but not much more.

However, to compare him unfavourably to Sampras is unfair. Sampras played in a total of 16 ties over 8 years; Federer’s participation equals 15 ties in 7 years. The difference between them is that Sampras was part of a world-class team featuring the likes of Agassi, Courier, McEnroe etc whereas Federer doesn’t have the same level of backing.

Hi sportsrep,glad to see you back after the demise of BBc messageboard.I think Fed has limited commitment to the Davis Cup because he wants to stay at number one as long as possible.He's kept Switzerland in the world group virtually single-handed so far.I suppose it's pretty rare for a country to have such a strong team as the USA had in Sampras's day.

‘glad to see you back after the demise of BBc messageboard.’

You too. :ok: Tennis is essentially an individual sport and to get to the top you have to be at least a little bit selfish, IMHO.

I love the Davis Cup (sorry, tv, we’ll have to disagree on that one :rolleyes: ), but I certainly don’t blame Federer for not commiting to it whole-heartedly until he feels Switzerland have a chance of winning.

The trolls always quote the 1995 DC final, but in the course of that campaign, Sampras had to play Renzo Furlan (quarter-finals), Thomas Enqvist (semi-finals), Andrei Chesnokov and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (final). If he slipped up, the likes of Courier, Agassi and McEnroe could be relied on.

If Federer played next year, his likely opponents – if the draw followed the seeding – would be Nadal and Robredo (1st round), Roddick and Blake (quarter-finals), Nalbandian and Chela/Coria/Acasuso (semi-finals) and Safin and Davydenko (final). Given that a defeat in any of those matches would almost certainly cost Switzerland the tie, it’s clearly quite a daunting prospect.

Daunting indeed,even for Fed, and unfortunately the Swiss number 2 (Wawrinka) is a bit erratic.

Exactly! Alot of the top players of the day were on Sampras' side. He could afford to play half-arsed tennis (not that I'm saying he did) whereas Fed can only really rely on Wawrinka to win some of the easier matches. Incidentally, this also is a quite a hard blow to the weak era theory. He knows very well that Switzerland isn't that competitive as a team. Maybe if Wawrinka improves some more, there could be a change to that...