Federer is 33!

Kieran

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Okay, so he's not my favourite player, but that's more because of his personality than his game. I love the guy's game. I think he's one of the greatest ever to swing a stick, he's a tough competitor, he's still schooling youngsters and players like Cilic, who are midway through their careers.

He's got 17 majors. For me, his most glorious one was the 2012 Wimbledon, where he kept firm and dismantled Nole in the semis, and then faced a stiff test against Murray in the final. The match reached a point in the second where, had Roger dropped that set, he might have lost - but once he won it, there was only going to be one winner. And what a show he put on, including this unforgettable gem, which is the type of thing that only Roger, and maybe Mac, would do.

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkIbmWxFCKw[/video]

Roger's always been a player who did great work in the media and promotion of the sport, as well. He's unlike anyone who came before him, in that regard. Pete would grudgingly do media stuff, but Roger goes out of his way and takes these duties seriously. I read about him once leaving a successful US Open to travel to Asia, a long flight, he musta been exhausted when he arrived, he went straight to work, played tennis with kids, then with journalists, stayed longer than was expected, gave more than he was asked for, and did it all with his usual smile.

To me, the records he has are unique, but the twin achievements that'll never be broken are 5 in a row at Wimbledon and the US Open. That's a bloc vote that we will never witness again, kinda like Bjorn getting 5 in a row Wimbledon and 4 in a row in Paris. The years don't seamlessly match - which kinda adds to it.

So, Happy Birthday to Federer, only one of the Big 3 left in Canada, not long since yet another Wimbledon final. It's a great career and I'll admit it now, I'll even miss him when he's gone! :clap :clap
 

shawnbm

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I don't know how tough that was you, brother, but well done. Yes, the five straight Wimbledon-US Opens is unreal, but I would still put winning three slams three times in four years might be more of an achievement, particularly when he made it all four finals of the majors I two of those years. The. There is 18 of 19 consecutive slam finals. Thirty three today and he seems capable of winning almost any event at the moment.
 

Kieran

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I think so long as he loves the sport and competing, he's going to be around at a very high level. He's driven, and he's a serial taker of opportunities.

It hurt me only a little bit, Shawn, but I thought that we should often have threads which celebrate the heroes of the sport, and their great achievements. Tennis is a great sport, and Federer is a huge name in its history...
 

Kieran

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Well, he had a long match against Cough Drop, and Daveed is a dogged character...but regardless, he'll keep some wind in the tank to blow out the candles...
 

shawnbm

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I, for one, never underestimate the Spanish Bulldog that is David Ferrer. He is capable of beating (or almost beating in the case of Roger) anyone. It would not surprise me at all to see him grind away against Fed and force a bunch of tiring errors and win the match. Then again, I would be even more surprised if this were not a routine 6-4, 6-4 scoreline in Roger's favor.
 

Kieran

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I wonder is he the highest ranked 33 year old in history? Agassi was 4 when he was the same age...
 

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Kieran said:
I wonder is he the highest ranked 33 year old in history? Agassi was 4 when he was the same age...

Jimmy Connors has him beat - Connors was #2 in February, 1985, when he turned 33.

And it could be Serena will be #1 when she turns 33 next month.
 

Kieran

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Moose said:
Kieran said:
I wonder is he the highest ranked 33 year old in history? Agassi was 4 when he was the same age...

Jimmy Connors has him beat - Connors was #2 in February, 1985, when he turned 33.

Thanks Moose! For a moment there I thought you were gonna tell us that Connors had pulled out injured! :snigger
 

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Kieran said:
Thanks Moose! For a moment there I thought you were gonna tell us that Connors had pulled out injured! :snigger

Oh good Lord - I have established a reputation here in less than 150 posts that I will probably never live down. Where's that "hide your face behind your palm" smilie? :)
 

Kieran

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Moose said:
Kieran said:
Thanks Moose! For a moment there I thought you were gonna tell us that Connors had pulled out injured! :snigger

Oh good Lord - I have established a reputation here in less than 150 posts that I will probably never live down. Where's that "hide your face behind your palm" smilie? :)

Your reputation is good, don't worry about that. We can rely on the news you bring, even if it's bad news... :)
 

JesuslookslikeBorg

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happy burfdayy..

happy buuurfdayy..

HAPPY BUUUUUUUUUURRFDAAAAAAAAYYYY. :)
 

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Kieran said:
Moose said:
Kieran said:
I wonder is he the highest ranked 33 year old in history? Agassi was 4 when he was the same age...

Jimmy Connors has him beat - Connors was #2 in February, 1985, when he turned 33.

Thanks Moose! For a moment there I thought you were gonna tell us that Connors had pulled out injured! :snigger

:laydownlaughing:lolz:

My birthday was on Monday and I see no thread about it. I must assume you like Federer more than me:cry
 

Kieran

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Billie said:
Kieran said:
Moose said:
Kieran said:
I wonder is he the highest ranked 33 year old in history? Agassi was 4 when he was the same age...

Jimmy Connors has him beat - Connors was #2 in February, 1985, when he turned 33.

Thanks Moose! For a moment there I thought you were gonna tell us that Connors had pulled out injured! :snigger

:laydownlaughing:lolz:

My birthday was on Monday and I see no thread about it. I must assume you like Federer more than me:cry

No! threads are cheap, but for you had something special.

Then I ate it! :snigger

Happy belated birthday! :smooch
 

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Federer was probably my first real favourite of tennis. His beautiful game, charitable nature, and humble personality is what attracted me to the sport.

I know some people don't care for him too much, but for a man of his vast wealth and fame, he's appears to be such a nice, friendly, and respectable person. This seems like a rarity in celebrity life. Same goes with Nadal and even Djokovic.

Happy birthday, Federer, and great post, as always, Kieran. :)
 

Kieran

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Rocket Rod Laver's birthday today and Pistol Pete Sampras birthday on Tuesday. Early August could put out a great Davis Cup team on its own. They could take on early June: Rafa, Bjorn and...anyone else?
 

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Kieran said:
Okay, so he's not my favourite player, but that's more because of his personality than his game. I love the guy's game. I think he's one of the greatest ever to swing a stick, he's a tough competitor, he's still schooling youngsters and players like Cilic, who are midway through their careers.

He's got 17 majors. For me, his most glorious one was the 2012 Wimbledon, where he kept firm and dismantled Nole in the semis, and then faced a stiff test against Murray in the final. The match reached a point in the second where, had Roger dropped that set, he might have lost - but once he won it, there was only going to be one winner. And what a show he put on, including this unforgettable gem, which is the type of thing that only Roger, and maybe Mac, would do.

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkIbmWxFCKw[/video]

Roger's always been a player who did great work in the media and promotion of the sport, as well. He's unlike anyone who came before him, in that regard. Pete would grudgingly do media stuff, but Roger goes out of his way and takes these duties seriously. I read about him once leaving a successful US Open to travel to Asia, a long flight, he musta been exhausted when he arrived, he went straight to work, played tennis with kids, then with journalists, stayed longer than was expected, gave more than he was asked for, and did it all with his usual smile.

To me, the records he has are unique, but the twin achievements that'll never be broken are 5 in a row at Wimbledon and the US Open. That's a bloc vote that we will never witness again, kinda like Bjorn getting 5 in a row Wimbledon and 4 in a row in Paris. The years don't seamlessly match - which kinda adds to it.

So, Happy Birthday to Federer, only one of the Big 3 left in Canada, not long since yet another Wimbledon final. It's a great career and I'll admit it now, I'll even miss him when he's gone! :clap :clap


Kieran, I share many of the same sentiments, but for the sake of playing devil's advocate, I do have to throw in a couple caveats:

1) I am not sure what all this talk about being an "ambassador of the game" means. I hear it over and over, how the likes of Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, etc. are great "ambassadors of our sport". But what exactly does that mean? That they show up at fundraising events and photo-ops with tons of people fawning over them and they smile for the cameras?

Big deal.

What's especially funny about that is much of the tennis these guys have played is in North America. And have Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal inspired much in the way of new interest in tennis in Canada and America? I really don't think so. Yes, they have American and Canadian fans, but very few people in America or Canada (no more than the economic, cultural, and educational elite that would like tennis anyway) have been drawn to the game by these guys.

I'm just telling the truth here. So - so much for "ambassadorship".

2) The legacy of Federer when it comes to North American tennis seems to be effeminate young players who think that shaving their face and legs and lotioning up their legs somehow makes them like Federer. Take Pospisil, for example. The guy is very athletic but he apparently thinks that emulating Federer means wearing pink shoelaces and shaving his legs.

Or how about Tiafoe? LOL. This is the new American up-and-comer with the funky-chicken, palm-tree-wave serving technique. You have to love it. If this is Federer's legacy in being an "ambassador of the game", then I am sorry to say, he really hasn't been as great of an ambassador as everyone says.

See - what many people seem to forget is that before Federer went royal and majestic in his mannerisms (touring the world like a king), he played the game with an edge and a chip on his shoulder that was almost akin to what ghetto basketball players display. Most Americans could never realize that, because to them tennis is just pure prissiness and elitism, but the fact is, it was there. Federer had a baller mentality. That contributed immensely to his success. He was always glamorous and refined, but he also wasn't a pushover or as gentle as Neiman Marcus shoppers looking for make-up. The likes of Raonic, Pospisil, Querrey, etc. have a gender identity crisis.

3) I wish Federer had spent more time studying tape instead of taking photos with Sudanese refugees or Asian schoolchildren for UNICEF, an organization that epitomizes modern time-wasting, so that his record against Nadal on clay and in general wasn't such a canker sore on his personal resume.
 

Kieran

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Well, in fairness to Roger, it's not his fault that America is in the doldrums tennis wise, or that lads are taking the lady razor to their calfs. He also did a lot of stuff in Asia, before they had the WTF and Shanghai as an MS tourney. He's helped bring the sport to new lucrative spots, which is necessary. He's also a great guy with the press and with any obligations involving fans, far as I can see. Fixture this into a hugely busy schedule where he's reached about a billion finals in ten years - sometimes two finals played in one day, across different time zones, and well...you get the drift. The man is good for the sport.

No scandals, good family man, pleasant, but with a hugely competitive streak that brought him a massive haul of titles. I give him huge props for this. I prefer Pete, as a player, but Pete didn't put half as much back into the sport, he was much more insular, and the tennis brand suffered globally by having such an isolationist great at the helm for so long.

Rafa too is a great ambassador for the sport, too, a player kids can look up too and idolise. Neither of these men carry any baggage, they're sportsmen, first and foremost, gentlemen players, as much as can be at that level, and in their time running the shop, I bet global business has increased...
 

calitennis127

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Kieran said:
Well, in fairness to Roger, it's not his fault that America is in the doldrums tennis wise, or that lads are taking the lady razor to their calfs.

That's not really the point. Of course Federer is not responsible for American and Canadian tennis being what it is, which is basically nothing. But if we are going to say he has been such a great "ambassador" for the game, shouldn't we judge his impact on tennis's quality on the continent where he has played half of his tennis?

Kieran said:
He also did a lot of stuff in Asia, before they had the WTF and Shanghai as an MS tourney. He's helped bring the sport to new lucrative spots, which is necessary.

Frankly I think this had more to do with business contracts and technology than Federer eating pizza with Chinese kids in front of 400 cameras. There is big money in tennis and Shanghai is a booming city in the modern world. Tennis going there was inevitable, with or without Federer.

Kieran said:
He's also a great guy with the press and with any obligations involving fans, far as I can see. Fixture this into a hugely busy schedule where he's reached about a billion finals in ten years - sometimes two finals played in one day, across different time zones, and well...you get the drift. The man is good for the sport.

I agree, but I don't think that smiling for photo-ops is as hard as you're making it sound. It's easy to show up when you're being paid $700k to dress up and smile for some people.

Kieran said:
No scandals, good family man, pleasant, but with a hugely competitive streak that brought him a massive haul of titles. I give him huge props for this.

Agreed.

Kieran said:
I prefer Pete, as a player, but Pete didn't put half as much back into the sport, he was much more insular, and the tennis brand suffered globally by having such an isolationist great at the helm for so long.

Did it really? Tennis in the post-Sampras era has been a much better product than tennis in the post-Federer era appears to be developing into.

Kieran said:
Rafa too is a great ambassador for the sport, too, a player kids can look up too and idolise. Neither of these men carry any baggage, they're sportsmen, first and foremost, gentlemen players, as much as can be at that level, and in their time running the shop, I bet global business has increased...

But this can be said of all major sports leagues in the past 10 years. Technology, business contracts, and inflation account for these changes more so than Federer or LeBron smiling for the cameras and signing off on new endorsements.
 

Kieran

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Hey, Federer isn't a philanthropist, he's a pro sports star. He's not going playing exos with Novak in Uganda, or Delhi slums. They're marketing the sport, that's their role, and it's expanding. You ever think that maybe the game would be in even more dire straits in the US if Roger hadn't been around? His good PR stuff doesn't guarantee success as you're used to, but success might be what you're getting, compared to how much worse it could be. This one might be difficult to measure...