Do you think that roger federer's reign as king is coming to a close?

Question

Roger Federer can arguably be the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time), but this year, with loses at the Australian open and Wimbledon, Slams where he used to dominate in, could this show that Roger is finally coming down?

Answer 1

Okay here's a question to think about while everyone is so determined to believed that this is the end of Roger: Do you really see Nadal dominating men's tennis the way Roger has the last five years?

I mean c'mon people!!! The guy lost one match and suddenly his tennis obituaries are being written by everyone all over. As tennis fans and supporters of the game, haven't we learn't anything from the past champions of the game, such as Sampras, Agassi, Graf, Navratilova and even the Williams' sisters. Remember when they started to go through rough patches in their careers and then suddenly when everyone had written them off, they would come back and start to dominate all over again.

Roger is going through a bad patch right now and most certainly he might lose the number one ranking to Nadal, and it probably will happen in a couple months from now. But I just don't see Nadal dominating men's tennis in the way that Roger so brilliantly did for the last five years, and I certainly don't see him holding on to the number one ranking for a long period of time. I don't mean to take anything away from Nadal, but we have seen him go through too many periods in his short yet great career, where it takes him months before he wins a title. Take 2006 and 2007 for example where he did absolutely nothing after Wimbledon. Of course he might just prove me wrong and I am expecting him to, but until he does this, I am still not convinced.

Answer 2

It could be possible.

But the US Open is coming soon and because of his knees, I don't think Nadal could be so dangerous.

Let's hope that Djokovic (my favourite !) will be in the best conditions to beat again Federer (as he did last year).

Maybe it's just a bad year for Roger. I can't believe that he's near the end...

Answer 3

Yes, I agree. He's been the #1 player in the world for way too long and has to have someone dethrone him.

Answer 4

duh of course hes coming down and nadal is rising up

btw nadal can become number 1 at the end of this yr w/o winning the US open because he scheduled his matches right

Answer 5

yes

Answer 6

yeap he ain't the king no more sorry to say it but truth is truth don't take my word for it look at the matches he getting beat and don't understand it.

Answer 7

I agree with tennis_ken 100%. I mean everybody just needs to stop bringing up the Aussie Open because Federer was sick with mono and he still made it to the semifinals so it wasn't a total bust, give him some credit. Even after all that he's continuing to reach the finals of the other grandslams and so he loses them and he's done? If anything Federer has proved especially during his match against Rafa at Wimbledon that he's still dangerous and isn't going anywhere. Federer hasn't even turned thirty yet and he's still got quite allot of tennis left in him. He's still got the US Open coming up and even if he did lose the US Open, so what, he'll take this an inspiration and get himself back into form and 2009 could be the greatest year of his career. Every single great player that's graces tennis has gone through a bit of a slump in their careers, it was bound to happen to Federer, but that doesn't mean the King is dead. He might not be winning any grandslams this year but by continuing to get to the finals of just about all of them he's proving that he's still the King. GO FED!

Answer 8

I think Roger has not had the necessary competition to improve his game as much as he needs to.  Rafa has been chasing Federer for over 2 years, Djokovic has been chasing them for the past year.  Rafa and Djokovic have something to strive for, rather than something to maintain.  It forces you to improve more than chasing records can - an intangible versus the real live human at the other end of the court.

Roger Federer has been the tennis elite for over 4 years... he needs some strong competition to bring his game to the next level.  I think these losses are just what he needs to get there.  He might even break down and find a coach (it's also hard to improve when you only have yourself to answer to and compare performance from one day to the next).  

Without making excuses (because Rafa played 2 amazing Slams and is very worthy of his wins), Federer has also had health issues.  For most athletes, a bout of mono will take you away from your game for an entire season.  Although Federer  seems to have maintained the physicality of his game, there is a mental game that I haven't seen in Federer this year.  There have been a few kinks in his armor in terms of the emotions he shows on the court.  The uncharacteristic head drops, head shakes, racket swings, etc.  show that he is really not 100%.  His backhand is weaker than before, and his amazing forehand has been slightly less than amazing.

Perhaps a year of frustration and disappointment is exactly what Federer needs to regroup and really identify what has to happen to make 2009 the year he beats Sampras' record.

Djokovic blazed forward, then petered out in the middle of the year.  Nadal has had a blistering run, but is now limping after the king (his knees don't make it through an entire year).  That leaves numerous openings for Federer to show once again, why he has been #1 so long, and why he has more tennis greatness in him.

Answer 9

NO,                                                                                                                                                          Hes just going through a phase of trouble he will come back on top i think next year he will win all the slams.

     GO ROGER

Answer 10

NO he's only 26 don't rule him out just cos he loses a couple of matches out of 100 or so this year. he'll be back next year and although nadal is a very good player, that doesn't mean federer will stop winning. sampras won wimbledon at 29 and us open at 31. pat cash won it at 32, and they hadn't been winning it every single year, even though they were the masters of their time. so there.

Answer 11

Semis at A.O., Finals at French, Finals at Wimby. Man does this guy suck at tennis or what? Just kidding.  He's not number one in the world for nothing.

Okay, if he had results like Andy Roddick and was losing in the 4th round then I would start to wonder but right now. No

"The Swiss is too motivated, too talented, too strong, too fit, too professionally organized and too proud to give up working toward winning the biggest titles,"

Answer 12

Basically, I think he's been too successful for too long. He needs to stop coasting on being #1 in a decade's long weak field of challengers.

Answer 13

yah, rafa will soon take controll of the mens tennis game.