In the past 4/5 years i’ve seen at least 200 matches with Federer involved. This one was the worst I can remember.. He lost against the no. 95 of the world (with all due respect for Fish) who served 34% first serves and who could have lost against a Nalby playing at 60% of his abilities max. Roj couldn’t return the easiest of serves, couldn’t defend, couldn’t attack, but most of all; couldn’t do anything about what was going on court. It was embarrassing.
Apart from his lack of rhythm, timing, I haven’t seen anything that looked like the will to win. Not even close.
I don’t think anyone can blame a performance like this to previous illness or lack of competitive matches, this was beyond that.
I’m sure the cry for a coach for Federer will be all over this board tomorrow…

Right now I can only think of Roger calling Tiger and begging him to tell him how to do it. How to keep the determination, momentum, spirit, composure, inspiration, and quality of shots!… At the moment it seems all gone :o

Glad i got that out of my system, now i can sleep
Tomorrow i'll be more nuanced ;)

It's ok GP, it happens to us all now and again...

Not sure if he needs a coach....looks like Roger has a problem, if no one else can help, and if he can find them, maybe he can hire... The A-Team. :ok: :ok:

I heard Mirka his GF is pregnant. Maybe that's why he was not concentrate, who knows ?

Really? Well on top of all his other worries that could add something. If you are to have a child you have to decide if you want to spend quality time at hime or go on tour. You can't do both and maybe that is on his mind then? :shrug:

I think there must be more to it than that though. Maybe there is illness, even if he's gotten over it he might feel lackign confidence as he has has his worst start to the year imaginable.

He absolutely without any doubt needs a coach straight away if he wants to do atleast reasonably well on the clay courts where his movement is going to be hampered even more owing to the surface.He's got to wake up..it is ALERT time.How could he lose to a player like Fish? he doesn't even have a remerkable serve(I wonder whether roddick would have defeated Fed here :yikes: )

Im just to disgusted to even comment! :angry:

This defeat was unpredictable, not only because Fish is only 98th in world, but also because Federer had very easy victories in the previous rounds, and he didn't even play on friday because Tommy Haas pulled out. He should've been fresh for this match :shrug: Something is wrong !

I agree Gav.

GP, the start of your post is perfectly right and points to anything but a need for a coach. A coach won't teach him to retrieve serve or get his timimg back. He knew how to do that a couple days back and will probably know how to next week for for a match or two. The issue is health.

The slump that I thought would come has happened in a big way.

I thought that would happen next year,i'm speechless to this sudden turn of events,and it's happened to Nadal,who really has mirrored Federer's loss of a killer instinct.

I know there's reasons,but there always is when top tennis players lose.
Djiokovic must be smelling blood by now,and at the current rate,I would suspect he would be No1 by the time we get to Monteal or Cincy.

I am staggered at the different forums I've come across where so many people are writing Fed off, slagging him off, dissing or trashing him as if he has personally let them down. I've been a long time fan and I simply refuse to believe that yesterday's one admittedly dismal performance (agree worst I've ever seen) is what we can now expect from Fed from here on in.

His attitude in the soundbites I heard from his post match press conf seemed like "tomorrow is another day ..." and that's how I look at it in the cold light of day. I've also watched what must be a couple of hundred Fed matches since 2003 and could tell immediately that his body language was all wrong, and in the first close up of his face, the fire that's normally in his eyes wasn't there either. There was no real power in his shots, his movement was slow - does that seem like the "normal" Federer? Not to me it doesn't.

Since Fed's disclosed illness, I wait with trepidation before each match, waiting for his "off" day - and I think there will, sadly, be more to come. I never expected him to win IW and I'm certainly not saying that a 100% Federer would have beaten Fish. I don't expect him to win in Miami either. If his real aim was to gain ranking points in IW, then he has accomplished this and if he passes the quarters in Miami, he'll have done the same. He also said that he felt flat after Haas withdrew as he was really looking forward to playing Tommy.

I totally agree that the main issue is health ... I cannot tell you how worried I felt when I heard he contracted glandular fever - an illness that can take months for the body to recover from. My main worry now how his body will fare in the upcoming hard slog of the clay season. My only concern is that he is 100% for Wimbledon - being the wonderful grasscourter that he is, he deserves to stand alone as being the only player in 100+ years to gain 6 titles there. (Well, can't really count Willie Renshaw as he only played one match ... the final!).

I still think he has it in him to win Wimbledon this year. Although I wouldn't say he deserved to win 6 Wimbledon titles in a row until he has actually ahcieved it. It's no mean feat....and to deserve it you need to be at the top and healthy for 6 years on the trot. If he does it, then he deserves it, but not before.

Form is temporary,but class is permanent.I don't think it's the case on this forum that people are slagging off Federer,just more disbelief than anything.

Remember though Sampras went through 2 years without winning a tournament of any description,so I just think this is a slump that Federer has to come through.

Confidence,health,timing,mental strength,they all have to be working together at the same time.

Illness-coach-form; this is how i see things;

Ilness should’t be the issue. Roger never took any risks when it came down to his health. Why would he play an exhibition match without being fit? Why would he play MS double under tough conditions (heat, strong field) with no points to defend? If he wasn’t fit he could have easily have taken another month off without losing his position. BTW; he doesn’t look ill to me, his body mass looks just fine.
Even i turn out to be wrong here; right now illness shouldn't be an issue.

Form is an issue. Many thought he played a great tourney here, well, I’ve seen the match against Mahut and there was something missing. Serve ok, volley ok but from the baseline it looked ..euh.. different. It looked like football player Inzaghi; the ball went in allright, but don’t ask how. I had the feeling during that match that he would have problems against a better baseliner. I’m sure he wouldn’t have won against Haas eighter..
What’s concerning me is his attitude. He seems to get used to losing matches very well, doesn’t he?
Sorry folks, I can’t help to compare him once more with Tiger Woods. A few years back, every golf fan thought Golf was never better played than by the likes of Woods. He was unbeatable. And what did Tiger do? He changed his swing. It cost him 18 months but he came back as a even better player. Nowadays the man is not human anymore. That kind of determination is what Federer lacks. He too much relying on the breakdown of opponents what up till last years US open did work out that way but not anymore. At least in the “Roche years” he did improve some parts, specially the BH. But the last 18 months nothing improved and that’s costing him dearly. I needs to change something, get back to that form of 2006 of even better; improve.

With his current team, nothing will change.

it's just really weird, he goes from winning everything to winning nothing. granted, he's played 3 tournies thus far in 08 :rolleyes:

And he was in such brilliant form at the Masters cup, what happened to that ?

People have been saying Mirka's been pregnant for years, i just think she cant stop eating :lol:

Well form can escape even the best of them, form is never always sustained from year to year. I mean look at Justine this year, nowhere near the form of 07 :shrug:

I didn't see the match yesterday.

Naturally I'm shocked and disappointed. And from what I read here, he wasn't in the form he had in the early rounds.

Ever since a year ago, I have been feeling like there was something missing that was there before - even when he won Wimbledon and the USO. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I hope he will find it again. :pray:

Maybe he's been playing (and at the top) for so long, that it can maybe be difficult to be motivated 365 days a year. We also don't know what things are like for him personally, and in the end it is only speculation.

Or maybe we'll just have to get used to the fact that Roger can have an off day more often now than he used to. :cry:

ha ha ha maybe :lol:

Concerning Roger, I'm not sure his health was a problem in IW because :
- Just before IW he said he was in a good shape again
- He played a useless exhibition match vs Sampras a few days before IW
- He didn't lose a single set before the semi-finals
- He had a rest one day before the semi-finals (Tommy Haas pulled out)

Well it's very hard to "judge" when we're not in Roger's mind but in my opinion this loss may have something to do with psychology :shrug: sometimes when a player doesn't play as he'd like to, that he misses easy points, etc. he can be angry / fed up and throw away the match to get rid of it ? The other possibility is motivation : maybe he's not as motivated to win another Master than he is to win 2 more Grand Slams, but he should take care because as he loses, his opponents take more and more confidence (especially Novak Djokovic who's in a great shape).

There's no doubt in my mind Fed will be currently under a lot of self induced pressure maintain his position as top player, which ironically will not help his situation-this i feel is the main reason for his recent erratic, or at least inconsistent form. Fed may be able to project an image of relaxed optimism, but i think his comments regarding Murray, speak of a deep underlying frustration.
A comparison with a certain Mr Sampras me be interesting, in 1998 Sampras was almost exactly the same age as Fed, i found this on the web:-

'In 1998, Pete began to hear footsteps, as youngsters Patrick Rafter and Marcelo Rios were gunning for the # 1 ranking. Pete won just two tournaments in the season’s first half, raising questions about his ability to fend off this new crop of challengers. He silenced some of his critics when he overcame Goran Ivanisevic in a five-set Wimbledon final, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (11-9), 6-4, 3-6, and 6-2. The victory was Pete’s 11th Grand Slam title, drawing him even with Bjorn Borg and his idol, Rod Laver. A loss to Patrick Rafter in the U.S. Open semis, however, refueled the argument that his best days were behind him.
Late in the year, Pete admitted to Annacone that he was obsessing over his #1 ranking, and that it was starting to affect his game. He desperately wanted to be the first player to hold this honor six straight seasons—so much so that he had lost his appetite, couldn’t sleep, and was losing his hair.

As soon as Fed began dominating to the extent he has, there has to come a moment when his grip is loosened=It's inescapable.
Now to what extent, and for how long he is able to win, is unknown, but sampras did win four slams from 1998 onwards, playing for the main part below his best and i think Fed can certainly do the same.
The problem may be greater for Fed as his domination has been if anything greater than Pete's but i think the comparisons are there.

Good post. It's something I've touched on quite a bit - The domination has to come to end at some time, like all Empires do. In Federer's case, he's lost so few matches since 2004 that any loss now will be seen with almost paranoia among Federer fans.

But that's life, illness or no illness, motivation or no motivation - he simply has to start losing at some point - and that point may be now unless he turns it around soon. A guy with his ability can do just that.

In 1999 when Sampras got the number 1 record, he skipped the Australian open, to get away from it all, then split with his then girlfriend and din't win any tournament until Queens when he won a 3rd set tiebreak against Henman. Up until that point everyone said he was finished at the age of 27. Then he won 4 tournaments in a row until he injured his back and played some of the best Tennis of his career, some of the matches he played that summer are still talked about they were so good.

As I said earlier you just don't know what's gonna happen. Things will either click for Federer at some point or it will get worse.

It makes this all very exciting as far as I'm concerned.

Now I'm off to watch Svetlana Kuznetsova v Ana Ivanovic

Looks like this is not going to be Roger's year. (Okay Fed lovers you can whip me now :hide: ) Gav-Love the A-team reference :lmaao:

Here is an interview Roger Federer gave to Eurosport France (a sport channel) after his defeat again Mardy Fish.

http://www.eurosport.fr/tennis/ms-indian-w...to1519321.shtml (french site)

QUESTION : Are you surprised by your defeat, as much as we are ?

REPLY : I suppose, but I don't know how much it surprises you. I always had very good results against Mardy Fish (5/5 victories). I always controlled our matches. But today (saturday), it was different. I could barely do anything. He attempted a lot of things and they worked.

Q : Did you have the feeling to play bad tennis ?

R : It's not that I played bad tennis. He was reading my serves very well, had a good defense, and when he attacked it succeeded. He didn't have a particularly good serve but I couldn't return his second serves. I'm disappointed by this part of my game. What's sure is that Mardy's ranking is not 98th. He were previously Top 20. We all know that he's a good player. So no one should say he's 98th. He's better than that.

Q : The beginning of this season is not easy for you. What do you think of your tennis ?

I think that I played well this week. I'm satisfied. Today, of course it's more difficult to judge because Mardy Fish didn't make any mistakes. The points we played were short. I even feel like I've just been training. But, taken as a whole, I'm satisfied. I've played a good tennis against my opponents this week. However, it was weird that Tommy Haas pulled out, since I counted on that match to keep my rythm. But I had to deal with it. So a semi-final for the first Masters Series of the year is a good result. I'm feeling better than 10 days ago. I hope I'll win Miami and have a performance in the claycourt season afterwards.

Q : Are you soon going to Miami for the tournament that starts Wednesday ?

R : Yes, very soon. I haven't reserved the plane ticket yet, I didn't expect to leave so soon.

Good posts guys :ok:

I don't think it is over for Fed at all, my only concern though is how much can a player if his calibre take losing? Especially to players that he would normally eat for breakfast. I don't think he can hack that for long, and what worries me is that if it all gets too much, he may consider quitting earlier than we had thought, or quit on a high liek Pete did - and Pete quit in an awesome way :bow: . Failing that he might just decide like Pete that he needs time out to get things together and in perspective. Maybe that will do him good? I think it would, and I do think he needs to take a fresh persepctive and have some ne winput, be it coaching, psychologist, or whatever ti takes. He looks stale and needs something new.

Anyway in terms of making decisions about his future, I think the crunch time will be Wimbledon. If he doesn't defend his title on his manor as it were, then i think he'll take drastic action. What i don't know, but maybe a break :shrug: I'm hoping he'll not quit and bounce back becuase I think he is still motivated by the GOAT slam haul and yet another consective Wimby, and of course the FO. It is lookign less and less likely that we'll see him do the Grandslam in oen year though.

Yeah Wake up Roger, you've been kipping on my lawn for too long now! :lol:

Is that where he's been? You could at least have let him have a shave dl :lol: I hope he didn't brign hsi caravan or you'll neve rget him out dl. :rolleyes:

agreed. remember how Mc enroe just played brilliant tennis and then just faded away and didn't win a GS in the last few years he played?

I don't think Mc's tennis faded away as such. he had this encounter with Tatum, probably drugs as well but above all the generation of young players (edberg/Becker) who had learned to play with a larger frame found themselves with a considerable advantage when playing Mcenroe who developed hs game in the wooden racket time. The power from becker and the new generation was simply too much for McEnroe's crafty game.

Federer's game is still up there, but he smply has off-days now that in my view are clearly down to this mono virus. I have read a few web sites about Mono and they all say the same thing: One day you might feel great and suddenly one day without energy, lethargic, etc..... In his interview with the NY times, Federer describes just that "one day I was great, the following sick" and those symptoms can last months. We just saw the way he returned serves versus Mahut who is also a great server, the way he can retrieve first serves from Roddick and Karlo and then a few days later he coudl not return Fish's second serve. Unfortunately there is no treatment to it. We just hope he can get out of it without further complication as he shoudl actually not be playing at all to maximise a swifter recovery. Hopefully those off-days will get rarer and rarer but he might get through this for more months. players like Ancic, Henin, Corretja simply pulled out of the game. I am not sure Federer wants that but he might be forced into it.

Yeah Mac's demise is more complex than folk think. he was among the last fo the rock 'n' roll lifestyle players and he did get messe u p on drugs and the likes. And well observed that eh was also one fo the last greats of the wooden racquet generation which made things much harder and power kidn fo took over and ruined things from his point of view, being such a great artist.

I'm just glad that Pete might keep his record :yahoo:

Seriously though, it's good to have other guys winning for a bit, makes the tour more fun.

Latest loss raises questions about Roger's reign
Federer's slump puts his quest for the Grand Slam title record in doubt

OPINION
By Harry Cicma
Special to NBCSports.com
updated 3:29 p.m. ET March 23, 2008
Let's start by establishing the true question surrounding Roger Federer: Will he break Pete Sampras' all-time Grand Slam record of 14 titles?

As for Roger's recent 6-3, 6-2 loss to Mardy Fish at the Pacific Life Open, it isn't the biggest tennis upset of all time, as many are already dubbing it.

It does, however throw a major monkey wrench into the upcoming Key Biscayne predictions and summer Grand Slam circuit.

In defense of Roger, Fish may be ranked No. 98 in the world, but he is realistically a top 30 caliber player and has been ranked as high as No. 17. Regardless, it's still time to shift into "panic mode," because now is not the time to slump if you're Roger Federer.

Major issues facing Federer

He may potentially have to take time off to fully recoup after being struck by mono during the Australian Open. With the packed tennis schedule, there is virtually no time for him to rest from now until the US Open.
Roger's recent losses to Fish and Novak Djokovic weren't particularly close, proving that not only is he vulnerable, but he also can get dominated at times. That's a thought that seemed impossible 18 months ago.
Rafael Nadal is on the brink of surpassing Roger as the No. 1-ranked player in the world; with the clay court season approaching, Rafa is in a great position to make his move to the top.
Federer is now 26 years old. That's not young in the tennis world. Each year that passes will make it more difficult to win Grand Slam titles. Assuming that Roger won't win the French Open, if he continues to slip up at Wimbledon and the US Open this season, he could feasibly only win two to three more majors throughout the rest of his career. That's especially feasible considering the rise of young talent such as Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Murray and Nadal.
Positives for Roger

He still could have 10 strong years left in his career (guys like Jonas Bjorkman are still maintaining a high caliber of play into their mid-30's).
He's losing to some of the best players in the world and going deep into tournaments (with the exception of losing to Murray early in Dubai).
Federer has a smooth/low impact game, which is less conducive to injuries and could buy him a few extra years on his career.
Roger is phenomenal on grass and could have 10 more tries at winning Wimbledon throughout the rest of his career.
Despite his recent losses, Federer can still win a lot of matches on intimidation.
Final Thought
Pete Sampras' all-time Grand Slam title record is the ultimate standard of who is the best men's player, or it's at least the most reasonable measuring stick. If Federer can surpass that mark, he will most likely get the edge in the history books. If this losing trend continues throughout the 2008 French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, however, he will be running uphill in his quest to surpass Pete, and a tie would seem like his most realistic scenario. If nothing else, this recent turn of events will make for an exciting summer of tennis and will give guys like James Blake and Andy Roddick some hope of finally getting the "Federer monkey" off their backs.

Nice analysis...
I pretty much agree with the whole thing ;) Although to compare the longevity of Bjorkman and Federer doesn't seem fair enough...

I agree with the postives to an extent, but I don't think it is wise to predict 10 yrs ahead becuase we don't know who else is around the corner who might also eb great on say grass. Comparing him to Bjorkman isn;t helpful because I think his main motivator is to increase the slam count and break records, neither of which Bjorkman is doing. And 10 years would make him about 37, will he want to still play then? :shrug: Players who have achieved a lot seem keener to give up on a high unliek those who haven't won a slam and keep going for other reasons.

I also am not convinced Federer will be able to rely on using intimidation anymore than any other top player. For a start we've seen youngsters refuse to be intimidated and actualyl beat him, and once this happens the intimidation wears off with the auara of invincibility.

Federer is ill. I feel assessing his possible GS total achevement in today's condition will lead nowhere. Once he recovers, should he hopefully recover within the next months, we will have a better chance to gauge how he matches up against the other top players. Nadal he is fact in the very same situation which this article seems to ignore for some strange reasons.

Hey Tenez :D

Yeah I agree, it doesn't seem to take into account the fact that Nadal is not at 100% this season and may well be having sone similar worries to Roger.

I wouldn't say Nadal is in exactly the same situation. He is yet to be tested on his favourite surface this year. I'll wait until then to see how we can judge his condition.

With regards to the article, it seems slightly baised against Fed....and this part I found silly....

That part is slightly daft as it's more Nadal who has a lot of points in the near future.

Djoko is probably the one licking his lips at gaining points both Roger and Rafa in the near future.

True but clay or not clay, Nadal does not move as well...which if anything could be even more problematic on clay where lots of running is needed (despite clay being kinder on the joints).

Anyway hopefully they'll be both back soon.

Thanks for the article Laurie. It would be nice to see Fed break Pete's record, but even if he doesn't he'll still go down as one of the GOATs (as you folks like to say :D ) in the history of the sport. :bow:

Also does anyone know if the stories about Fed & Mirka expecting a baby are true?