The ‘Down’ Side of Being Roger Federer

For someone who seemingly has the peRFect life, it’s hard to believe that there is any down side to it. Roger has enough money to live very luxuriously for the rest of his life, he has found his peRFect match in his wife Mirka, he recently became the father of two twin daughters, he has celebrity friends, he does what he loves for a living, he is world famous, and the list goes on and on. So is there really a down side to being Roger Federer? Obviously Roger have nothing to complain about. When asked earlier this year whether he was the happiest guy in the world after having won the most grand slam titles in history, he admitted that there are many people in the world who are happier than him. So what on earth could possibly be better about Roger’s life?

That I can’t tell you for sure, only he would really know that. But one thing I can think of is the recent withdrawal from Tokyo and Shanghai and the reasons behind it. I think being as popular as he is around the world among his fans, and having achieved unheard of things on the tennis court, his fans expect him to keep living up to that image they have of him. Recently I read a thread from a disgruntled Fedfan on a tennis forum, saying that Roger has let him down in a big way by withdrawing from the tournaments in Asia. Here it is:

Who’s disappointed in Rogie…

I know I sure as hell am and any true Rogie fan should be. He’s pulling out of two events citing “fatigue” when Tokyo doesn’t start until 10/05. Pulling out of Tokyo and Shanghai is totally unacceptable. He’s only played in 63 matches so far this season, that’s not that many matches. Fatigue is such a bs excuse, I think he should just say that he wants to spend more time with his wife and two kids. He’s not scheduled to play again until 11/2-8 at Basel, Switzerland. I’d like to take a month and a half off from work at the drop of a hat. These tennis players take it for granted how easy their lvies really are. Rogie will have all of December to rest before playing tennis again in January. To me this is the worst possible thing he could’ve done thisseason. Even worse than losing in the AO and USO finals.

http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=151891

You can clearly sense the disappointment of this fan, and to a certain extent it is understandable. But is it also unfair. When I first heard that Roger withdrew from Tokyo and Shanghai, I was obviously very disappointed myself. We already had to wait something like three weeks to watch him play, but now it is five weeks. It’s disappointing, but it’s important to realize that Roger is also just a human being doing his job, and that he also has his own life to live. This fan  is clearly thinking only of their own interests, and not much about Roger’s interests at all. The idea of this post is not to bash this poster, but I think it is a good example of someone who is quite selfish and is not thinking any further than their immediate disappointment.

This fan failed to take several important facts into account. First of all Roger is not in his prime anymore where he could just play non-stop. He will experience more stiffness and sore muscles than a few years ago. After the Davis Cup against Italy he said that ‘everything is hurting’, and also that his arm and leg was hurting in particular. If this is not a clear sign that the his body needs rest, then I don’t know what is. Already I felt like the Davis Cup was a stretch and could have lead to injury. But here is the thing; people think Roger is Superman. Now I know it appears that way sometimes, but he is in fact still human. Having not played Davis Cup earlier this year after the Australian Open, he was under a certain amount of pressure to make sure Switzerland did not get relegated and remained in the world group.

As it turned out, he proved to be invaluable in the tie against Italy. Coming off a quarter-final appearence in Montreal, a win in Cincinnati and a five set final against Delpo in the US Open final, the Davis Cup could surely not have been easy on him. But he basically had no choice but to play. If Switzerland got relegated everyone would blame it on him. Yet if he plays and withdraws from the tournaments in Asia because of it, people blame him again. So in that sense it’s not easy to be Roger, because everyone wants a piece of him and he simply can’t please everyone. Not to mention the fact that he now has a family that also wants his attention. Personally I would have loved to see Roger play in Shanghai. It is a Master’s Series event and there are quite a bit of ranking points available.

But like I said he can’t just keep saying no to Davis Cup, because people get on his case for that as well and if he still wants to win the Davis Cup, he has to make sure the Swiss stay in the world group. What this ‘fan’ failed to take into account is if Roger just pleased everyone and failed to listen to the doctors or his body, he would end up like Rafa. And who would want that? Not me that’s for sure. Roger has been so injury free exactly because of the fact that he does not try to please everyone. It’s just a fact of life, you will never please everyone. You need to listen to your own intuition and do what is best for you. And thank God Roger is not phased by ‘fans’ like these. I don’t believe that Roger was just using fatigue as an excuse to stay with his wife and kids like this poster argues.

I believe if that was the case Roger would have said so. This poster also says that Roger has only played 63 matches so far this year. That is really misleading though as he has gone the full distance in all four of the grand slams, which is best of of five sets of course. That is 28 best of five set matches to be exact, almost half of his matches. Grand slams are much more physically and mentally challenging than the other tournaments. And the grand slams have been particularly challenging this year for Roger as well. Roger played two very tough five set matches in Australia against Berdych and Rafa. Then the French Open was even more challenging where he played two very tough five set matches against Haas and Delpo, and two tough four set matches against Mathieu and Acasuso.

At Wmbledon he had that marathon of a final against Roddick, and one four set match against Kohlschreiber. Again at the US Open he had a very tough five set final against Delpo. He also has four set matches against Hewitt and Soderling. Clearly Roger has played many mentally and physically gruelling matches this year, especially at the French Open. I think Roland Garros really took a lot out of Roger. It was an emotional time for him, making several great escapes. But really as a fan nothing could have been more rewarding. If Roger only won the French Open this year I would already have been pretty happy. The fact that he won Wimbledon really made it a dream year. Roger is not in his prime anymore where he can just blitz opponents like he used to.

He started to show signs of that again at Wimbledon and the US Open actually, but in the end a sixth US Open crown turned out to be one too much. Nevertheless, it has been another fantastic year, and the last thing I would want is for Roger to now push himself and get injured. That would be a much bigger disaster than not being able to see Roger in action for another five weeks. It would have been great to see Roger in action in Shanghai, but now at least we know he will be fully rested and on top form for Basel, Paris and the Masters Cup in London. If Roger wins all these tournaments, which could happen, then he will gain a lot of points. As far as the year end number one ranking is concerned, I’m not worried about that too much.

For me it is more important that Roger opens up a lead going into 2010, and I’m sure Roger will think along the same lines. Another thing that this fan failed to take into account is that December is not exactly a holiday for Roger. He won’t be playing any tournaments, but he will be working hard at getting in shape for 2010. This poster claims that he would take off a month and a half from work any day, and that the lives of tennis players are a breeze. There is no doubt that these professionals make a lot of money, but how much have they sacrificed in their lives to become professional tennis players? As someone who tried to play professionally for a while, I can tell you that you must sacrifice a lot. There are so many tough things you have to endure to make it as a pro that I won’t go into it here.

I’ll just say that these pro’s work damn hard, a lot harder than the average person. It really is quite shocking when you see a so called fan of Roger vent like this. This is the perfect example of what is not a true fan. It’s only about personal fulfilment with no thought of the player. I don’t know what it is about these forums, but the people seem to be sooo short sighted on there. That’s why I don’t post there anymore because the people on there seem so utterly clueless to me. They just bring out the worst in me. It’s like I want to slap them up the backside of the head and shout “WAKE THE F*** UP!!!” So you can see why it’s better that I don’t post in those forums anymore Anyway I know we are all disappointed and bored that Roger won’t be in action for a while, but I will try to make posts as often as possible to keep us busy.

Hopefully I can keep us busy so we can all keep from going insane. The important thing is that Roger rests up and recover fully so that he can have the best possible year end results. After such a great year so far this is really a deserved rest and I wish him a happy rest and speedy recovery!

Ps. If you could start digging my posts at the top right again that would be appreciated. I’ll always digg it first so you’ll only have to do a couple of clicks. Cheers.