Not sure about that and even he isn't sure as he said that he will be skipping some of the clay season. Clay is more physically gruelling and won't be good on his back. Hard courts and grass courts he can keep the points short.
Tennis 2017
- Thread starter The Man Himself
- Start date
- Status
Not sure about that and even he isn't sure as he said that he will be skipping some of the clay season. Clay is more physically gruelling and won't be good on his back. Hard courts and grass courts he can keep the points short.
Australia has lifted all the weight off Fed's shoulders. He's just playing with such confidence it's great to see him back
I think he will have a great chance at RG if he maintains his current form. Djokovic and Murray are out and there's no indication they will be in top form by the time the tournament starts. Right now, I'd have to put Rafa as the fave at Roland Garros and Kyrgios as the surprise winner at Wimbledon (although I wouldn't be surprised if Djokovic, Murray, or Federer win it as well).
Nah, he beat Cilic, Raonic and Monfils already this year on hard. He'll struggle against Djokovic/Murray/Federer/Wawrinka but has a decent shot against everybody else.
Let's not forget he's #2 in the race since the beginning of the year and has 3 finals in the 3 biggest tournaments so far.That's better than 99% of the tour(basically everybody but Federer).
Ignoring wr8's comical hysterics, that was a pretty good display from Nadal. Fed won't get the same cheap points on clay so I still think Nadal wins at RG fairly comfortably.
What an amazing year so far for Fed!
What an amazing year so far for Fed!
The confidence and belief he has may just make him compete to win outright. He probably won't play so well next season so maybe he may go for it although he will most likely have his head set on Wimbledon
I think Djoko and Murray will both bounce back in the clay season. They're both too good not to get out of the rut.
Cilic and Monfils aren't really top players and Raonic has been struggling with injury. I'm happy with Nadal's season so far but I'm not getting carried away because it'll look very different once Djoko and Murray return.
I think Nadal was great till he got broken in the first set. He just went too defensive after that and hit way too many UE's.
The question whether they will be back in top form by then. If they aren't then Federer has a great chance. In fact, he still has a great chance if he maintains his current form.
Well Djokovic is a bit of a enigma right now. Especially upstairs. I doubt he'll be the same dominant force right away like we were used to in the last couple of years.
For first time since 06' Rome I feel confident that Federer can take Nadal at RG and could beat him.
Fed just said he won't play again til Roland Garros.
Be nice to have the tour back in Europe purely because my sleeping habits have been disrupted since the Australian Open
It's gonna be exciting this season. I can enjoy all the great tennis until Wimbledon where I'll get the jitters for Roger...
It's gonna be exciting this season. I can enjoy all the great tennis until Wimbledon where I'll get the jitters for Roger...
He's expected to enter Madrid, at least last week he confirmed it.
That's precisely what he said. He needs to rest his body after everything so far this year. Probably a wise strategy as he would be fresh at RG and would preserve himself a bit going into the grass court tournaments.
Not surprised by that. The way he's spoken about it all year, it looks like he's written RG off.
Well Djokovic is a bit of a enigma right now. Especially upstairs. I doubt he'll be the same dominant force right away like we were used to in the last couple of years.
For first time since 06' Rome I feel confident that Federer can take Nadal at RG and could beat him.
I think he'll be hurting watching these oldies dominate the tour right now. I expect a strong clay season.
The clay court season is long though so I think there's time to get back to some sort of form.
My stream is uber slow, just heard him telling that to Gilbert.
IMO, I think this is Rafa's year to win the French. He's playing well enough at the moment and is obviously far better on clay than any other surface.
I wasn't half paying attention, so maybe he said he won't play again after Madrid until RG - or may he just said he wont play again until RG.
Not surprised. Clay is brutal on the body and he really wants another Wimbledon.
Yeah he definitely said he won't play till RG now.
Really hope so! I don't see him winning any other slams and I'd like to see him move past Sampras.
Nah, Gilbert asked him - No Madrid? No Rome? And Fed just shook his head.
Must be feeling pretty tired, but then again there is awful lot of time till RG and could've had one tournament for preparation..
The way he's spoken about the clay this year, he clearly doesn't fancy it at this age. He'll be fresh for the grass.
Yeah, but he can pick up some points having only to defend a QF in MC last year. Plus one tournament should be good preparation for RG as he'll most likely enter RG not playing on clay for more than a year.
I don't think he cares too much about rankings. He's entered the Top 4 already and I don't think winning on clay is going to be worth overworking the body. One tournament before RG would be good prep if he was bothered about it but I don't think he'll be too fussed whatever the result there.
Smart decision, but sad nonetheless. No Federer for nearly 2 months
It's a smart decision but it might also halt his momentum a bit and give his rivals sometime to gain some much needed confidence and win tournaments.
I'd rather see him in rested and in peak form going into the next two slams than have him roll in exhausted because he opted to play smaller tournaments leading in...
He wouldn't have won the clay masters anyway so I can't see any downside apart from his remote chances at nr1 becoming even smaller, but I think he won't really care about that.
Doesn't need to play them all. One or two would be fine for some practice and to prevent rustiness. He must really want that one more Wimbledon title.
If the Madrid clay is still fast and blue, he'd have a chance there.
If he can win the AO after 6 months of not playing any matches at all, I think he won't really mind going into RG after some rest and intense practice. He'll probably try to make it to the round of 16 or the quarters, since anything more would be unlikely, and then try to peak after Halle. Smartest move he could make.
Federer's start to this year really has been the most pleasing thing I've experienced in sports in a long long time. Literally makes me warm inside.
Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid aren't small tournaments.
But smaller than RG and Wimbi...
He said he'll "probably" play RG in the interview with the journos. I wouldn't be too surprised if he just entirely skips the clay season.
He said he probably won't play until then and clearly said we'd see him again in Paris at the end.
They are in contrast to the French Open and Wimbledon.
That was the on court interview, no? The thing I mentioned is from the interview with the journos. He did say "probably" for RG.
MC is one of the only 2 Masters he's never won though so maybe he'd be interested in getting that but seems clearly not.
Federer is ridiculous really. How can he still be doing this.
I can't see it happening but if he somehow wins Wimbledon it'd be such a great sporting moment.
I can't see it happening but if he somehow wins Wimbledon it'd be such a great sporting moment.
- Status