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Tag: Roger Federer

  • Federer: Alcaraz career Grand Slam at 22 would be ‘crazy’

    Federer: Alcaraz career Grand Slam at 22 would be ‘crazy’

    Roger Federer said that Carlos Alcaraz winning the Australian Open to complete the career Grand Slam aged just 22 would be “crazy”.

    Spain’s Alcaraz already has six major titles but success on the Melbourne Park hard courts is a glaring hole in his resume.

    Should the world number one snap his Australia drought at the tournament starting on Sunday, he would become the youngest man to seal a career Grand Slam.

     “At his young age to be able to complete the career Grand Slam already would be crazy,” Swiss legend Federer said at Melbourne Park, where he will headline a “Battle of the World No.1s” at the official launch of the 2026 Australian Open tomorrow.

     “Let’s see if he’s able to do ‘crazy’ this week. I hope he does because for the game that would be an unbelievable and special moment.”

    Alcaraz is aiming to surpass retired compatriot Rafael Nadal, who secured all four majors by the age of 24, but the top seed has not made it past the quarter-finals in four previous Australian Opens.

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    Federer, a six-time Melbourne champion, compared Alcaraz’s wait to lift the title there to Rory McIlroy’s agonising attempts to win a first Masters in golf.

    The Northern Irishman finally did it last year to complete the Grand Slam.

     “It’s like Rory going for the Masters. Those things are tough,” said Federer.

    Alcaraz faces home hope Adam Walton in the first round.

    The now-retired Federer was also asked by reporters about Joao Fonseca, an up-and-coming Brazilian tennis talent aged 19.

    Federer spoke glowingly of the teenager, saying: “What separates him from a lot of the other guys in the draw is just his power – forehand, backhand, serve and just what he’s able to bring point by point.

     “He’s exciting, he’s got good aura, he’s a very likeable character as well. I like watching him play.

     “The sky’s the limit.”

  • Federer insists he could beat Rafael Nadal

    There is not a fat lot of evidence to suggest that Roger Federer will beat Rafael Nadal in the French Open semi-final. Yes, one may argue that the Swiss may have won his last five meetings but in their 15 previous encounters on clay, Federer has only won twice.

    Five of their clay-court battles have come at Roland Garros. Federer has not won any of them.

    Indeed, only two players have been able to triumph over the ‘King of Clay’ on his favourite court: Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic.

    Their last contest on the dirt came in Rome in 2013, where 33-year-old Nadal wiped the floor with his great rival in the final, but the most recent encounter here, in 2011 final, was a much closer four-set affair.

    Federer’s best winning streak against his rival has coincided with his avoidance of competing on the crushed brick.

    Nadal grinned when asked about the 37-year-old skipping the 2018 clay-court swing in Monte Carlo a year ago: ‘He says he will love to play against me again in best-of-five sets on clay.

    ‘He said that a couple of days ago – and I thought he would play Roland Garros. Then a few days later he says he will not play in one event, so there’s a little bit of controversy with that.’ Federer, a champion in these parts in 2009, will no doubt take confidence from his recent winning record but knows that Nadal on clay is an entirely different beast. That said, the third seed insists their match is no foregone conclusion. ‘Like against any player, there is always a chance,’ Federer said after beating Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.

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    ‘Otherwise, nobody will be in the stadium to watch because everybody already knows the result in advance. And I think sport does that to you, that every match needs to be played before it’s decided. ‘And that’s exactly what everybody believes by facing Rafa. They know it’s going to be tough. But you just never know. He might have a problem. He might be sick. You never know.

    ‘You might be playing great or for some reason, he’s struggling. Maybe there’s incredible wind, rain, 10 rain delays. You just don’t know. That’s why you need to put yourself in that position.

    ‘For me to get to Rafa is not simple. It took five matches here for me to win to get there. That’s why I’m very happy to play Rafa, because if you want to do or achieve something on the clay, inevitably, at some stage, you will go through Rafa, because he’s that strong and he will be there. ‘I knew that when I signed up for the clay that hopefully, that’s gonna happen. If I would have had a different mindset to avoid him, then I should not have played the clay. So I think by that mindset, I think it helped me to play so well so far this tournament.’

    Eleven-time champion Nadal, meanwhile, believes their match-up is continually evolving.

    ‘There are no two matches the same,’ Nadal said after thumping Kei Nishikori. ‘All the matches are different because we always try things. Let’s see. Let’s see what’s going on.

    ‘I really expect that he gonna play aggressive, changing rhythms, going to the net. That’s my feeling, that he gonna try to play that way because he’s playing well and he has the tennis to make that happen. ‘I have to be solid. I have to hit the ball enough strong to don’t allow him to do the things from good positions. I need to let him play from difficult positions, so from there he gonna have fewer chances to go to the net or to play his aggressive game.

    ‘So at the end of the day is play well. If I am able to play good tennis and play well with my forehand and backhand, I hope to put him in trouble. If not, I will be in trouble.’

  • Federer keeps tennis’ prodigies in their place

    It might seem ironic that after a Miami fortnight that has proved the virtues of the emerging generation, Sunday’s men’s final brought together a pair of thirty somethings: John Isner and Roger Federer.

    These men are more seasoned than your neighborhood vindaloo. Isner, 33, is the defending champion in Miami – even if he won last year’s event in the very different surroundings of Crandon Park – while Federer, 37, first lifted this title all the way back in 2005. The previous season, he had faced Rafael Nadal for the first time here, suffering a dramatic straight-sets defeat.

    With the Old-boys stepping out in the center court in a contest won by ‘Fed Power,’ the memories of this fortnight seemed destined to surround the Canadian teenagers who battled their way into the semi-finals. Denis Shapovalov confirmed the talent he had announced with a similar run at 2017’s Rogers Cup in Montreal, while Felix Auger-Aliassime – who came through qualifying – was appearing in the headlines for the first time, though surely not the last. His semi-final against Isner had been considerably more dramatic than Federer’s thumping of Shapovalov. The challenger served for both sets, only to be broken each time, whereupon Isner seized the tie breaks to complete a 7-6, 7-6 victory.

    The culprit here was a glitch in Auger-Aliassime’s service action, in which he throws the ball up too far to the right of his body, limiting both where he can hit it and how much topspin he can apply. Impressively, he was pictured on his own on the practice courts soon after the match had finished, trying to iron out the kink.

    “I think I did the best that I could,” said Auger-Aliassime afterwards. “I just couldn’t serve from my part. It’s like I caught a virus or something.

    “I couldn’t put a second serve anymore. Even the first serve, if you put it in, you don’t have to hit the second serve. Yeah, that’s just very tough to swallow.”

    Shapovalov, meanwhile, became the latest victim of Federer’s red-hot form, which has thrown up a sequence of spectacular highlights clips in the past week. Federer has never been reluctant to express himself on the court – “playing creative is gold,” he once told The Telegraph – but recently there is the extra sense of a man who has achieved so much in the game that he is playing with house money.

    “He has every shot mastered,” said an admiring Shapovalov afterwards. “When he needs a shot, he’s going to go for it; he’s going to make it. I don’t think he has any weaknesses. That’s why he’s the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time].”

    Shapovalov was then asked which moment had been the best for him. He smiled and replied: “The warm-up.”

    One unusual detail of this semi-final was that, despite two competitors who possess an undeniable X-factor, there were numerous unoccupied seats on the Stadium court. This has been a theme throughout the new-look Miami Open, which has been created on the existing footprint of Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins.

    The event has an art gallery, several high-end restaurants and the largest TV screen yet seen at a tennis event. The outside courts, which are constructed around a water-feature that recalls the Billie Jean King Tennis Centre in Flushing Meadows, have buzzed with life from the first day. But the weakest feature of the site is the main arena, which has never filled its 13,800 capacity. Perhaps next year there will be adjustments to this central feature

  • Federer beats Stefanos Tsitsipas to claim 100th title

     

    Roger Federer claimed the 100th ATP title of his career by beating 20-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday.

    The 20-times Grand Slam champion became the second man in the Open Era to claim 100 titles after American Jimmy Connors who won 109.

    Swiss Federer also avenged his shock defeat by Tsitsipas in the Australian Open fourth round in January.

    “I’m delighted. It’s great to win my eighth here in Dubai and in combination with my 100th singles title,” Federer said.

    “Tough conditions and tough opponents. To win in Marseille and then come here was difficult for Stefanos.”

    Federer, who had been stuck on 99 titles since triumphing at his hometown Basel tournament in October, broke Tsitsipas in the first game of the match and saved two break points at 5-4 to claim the first set in 36 minutes.

    Tsitsipas, who will break into the top 10 for the first time on Monday, held firm up to 4-4 in the second set before the 37-year-old Federer switched gears to seal the decisive break and close out the victory.

    “I don’t know if Stefanos was born when I won my first title,” Federer joked.

    “It’s a privilege (to play against potential champions) because I’ll be watching them on TV. It was a treat to play Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. I’m sure Stefanos will have a wonderful career.

  • Roger Federer hints at retirement

    Roger Federer has dropped a retirement update while speaking at the Laver Cup. The 37-year-old, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles, has revealed to fans he doesn’t want to hang up his racket anytime soon and that he plans to keep on playing.

    Federer beat Nick Kyrgios in the Laver Cup on Saturday night when he was asked about playing in Chicago.

    The United Center venue where they are holding the tournament is home to the Chicago Bulls, who have numbers of shirts they have retired adorning the walls.

    One of them is the ’23’ worn by Michael Jordan and Federer says the mere mention of retirement isn’t giving him an idea.

    “It’s a wonderful city to play in, to have the Laver Cup in Chicago, what great fans. We made a perfect choice.”

    Federer beat Nick Kyrgios 6-3 6-2 to put Team Europe 7-1 up against Team World on Saturday.

    World cut that back to 7-5 with two late wins and Federer is scheduled to play twice today – once in the doubles and once in the singles – as he looks to retain Europe’s title.

    After beating Kyrgios he said: “I was very, very happy. I felt good from the beginning of the match and that’s not usual.

    “Usually you need matches to get going. You start playing your best towards the third round or quarters of tournaments, once you know exactly how courts react to all the spins and slices.

    “From the beginning it was great. I executed my game plan and had wonderful support from my team.”

  • US Open Crash: It was too hot for comfort-Federer

    Roger Federer admitted he struggled to breathe in the extremely humid conditions at Flushing Meadows after falling to one of his most surprising losses against John Millman at the US Open.

    Australian Millman had been given barely a sniff before the match, with excitement already building for a quarter-final clash between Federer and Novak Djokovic.

    The 29-year-old, who had never previously beaten a top-10 opponent, appeared to have even less chance of winning with Federer a set and a break up and holding two set points, but he somehow clawed his way back to clinch a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3) victory.

    While Millman, ranked 55, produced the performance of his life, Federer gave one of his poorest displays on the big stage, struggling with all parts of his game and making 76 unforced errors.

    The match did not finish until nearly 1am but the temperature was still around 30C with high humidity.

    Federer, perhaps looking and sounding his age, said: ‘I just thought it was very hot tonight. It was just one of those nights where I guess I felt I couldn’t get air. There was no circulation at all. For some reason I just struggled in the conditions. It’s one of the first times it’s happened to me.

    ‘It’s uncomfortable. Clearly you just keep on sweating more and more and more and more as the match goes on. You lose energy as it goes by.

    ‘But John was able to deal with it better. He maybe comes from one of the most humid places on earth, Brisbane. I knew I was in for a tough one. Maybe when you feel like that, as well, you start missing chances, and I had those. That was disappointing. ‘But, look, at some point also I was just happy that the match was over, I guess.

    ‘When you feel like that, everything is off. But I’ve trained in tougher conditions. I’ve played in the daytime at 120(F). Some days it’s just not the day where the body can cope with it.

    ‘I do believe since the roof is on that there is no air circulation in the stadium. I think just that makes it a totally different US Open.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ondo first lady launches 2018 Summer Tennis Clinic for children

    The Wife of Ondo State Gov., Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, on Friday launched the 2018 State Summer Tennis Clinic for children between four and 13 years old.

    Speaking at the ceremony, which took place at the Township Stadium in Akure, Akeredolu expressed joy that the dream of initiating the tennis clinic was gradually being realised.

    She said that she was impressed that the children who participated in last year’s edition attended other competitions and won laurels.

    “This clinic is essentially to identify and develop talents in our children.

    “It is important to encourage sports development among youths in the state, particularly at the grassroots level.”

    She said that the essence was to discover and develop the latent potential and skills of young ones who were capable of becoming champions.

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    “The benefits of catching our youth’s young, especially in sports, are enormous.

    “Let us look at champions like Venus and Serena Williams. They all started as young children.

    “Today, they have become world champions winning numerous awards. We have Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Billie Jean King, just to mention a few.

    The governor’s wife said that the programme “is not a government thing”.

    “You can give into it. Let nobody wait for the governor to bring money here,” she said.

    Mr Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, the state Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, commended the governor’s wife for the initiative.

    Yusuf-Ogunleye said that the programme would go a long way in building future tennis players for the state and Nigeria.

    A participant, Aanuoluwapo Efunsile, said the participants would use the opportunity provided by Akeredolu to develop themselves and become great tennis players.

    300 students are participating in the programme holding from August. 23 to Septemper.1, 2018.

    It is organised by the Office of Wife of Ondo Governor in collaboration with the Ondo State Sports Council. 

  • Federer delivers shot-making masterclass to reach round three

     Roger Federer was back making a style statement with his dazzling tennis as he gave Lukas Lacko a 6-4 6-4 6-1 dressing down to reach the third round on Wednesday.

    It came two days after the top seed created a stir at Wimbledon with his new mega-bucks clothing deal.

    The Swiss champion was at his breath-taking best as he crafted 48 exquisite winners during a 90-minute match.

    In fact, it seemed more an exhibition of his shot-making than a charge towards a record ninth Wimbledon title.

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    When Federer turned up to defend his crown in 2013, he suffered a shock second-round humbling by Sergiy Stakhovsky.

    There was no danger of a repeat performance against Slovakia’s Lacko, however, and a forehand swish on match point gave the top seed a 26th consecutive set at the grass court major.

    Federer will face either Croatian Ivo Karlovic or Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff for a place in the fourth round.

    NAN

  • Federer Returns to World No. 1

    Roger Federer celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings by winning the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

    The Swiss, playing his first tournament since March after skipping the clay-court season, beat Milos Raonic 6-4 7-6 (7/3) for his 98th career title.

    His run to the final in Germany ensured he usurped long-time rival Rafael Nadal as the world number one, and if he wins in Halle next week – a traditional Federer stronghold – he will arrive at Wimbledon in July looking for a century of wins.

    It was Raonic who memorably left Federer on the Centre Court floor on his way to the 2016 Wimbledon final, but the 36-year-old was in no mood to allow a repeat.

    A single break of serve in the first set was enough for him to take that, though he did have to fend off two break points on his own delivery.

    Neither player could muster any break points in a second set heavily dominated by the serve, meaning it had to be decided by a tie-break, which Federer won.

    It secured his third title of 2018, his 18th on grass and puts him on the verge of a century of crowns.

    The 20-time grand slam singles winner next heads to Halle for a tournament he has won eight times in total and in four of the last five years.

    Victory there would put him one away from becoming just the second man to win 100 singles titles, behind Jimmy Connors on 109.

    Richard Gasquet ended a two-year wait for a title after winning the Libema Open in s-Hertogenbosch.

    Gasquet won an all-French battle with Jeremy Chardy 6-3 7-6 (7/5) to lift a first trophy since Montpellier in 2016 and first on grass since 2006.

  • The Generation Game: Golden oldie era of Federer, Djokovic and Rafa rip tennis rulebook

    For the first time in nearly half a century, the top five seeds at last year’s Wimbledon (Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka) were all 30 or older.

    In the top 100 in the men’s game, 40 of them are 30 or older. The average age of the top 100 is approaching 29. Back in 1990 it was 24.

    Federer is world number one and just won his 20th slam at the age of 36. Nadal is the third oldest player ever to hold that ranking at the age of 31. Wawrinka won his last slam in his 32nd year and Murray and Djokovic had their best ever years at the age of 29 and 28, respectively.

    So is it about time we dismiss the notion that a player peaks in their mid to early 20s?

    Novak Djokovic’s tennis analyst, Craig O’Shannessy, says not only do players peak in their late 20s to early 30s; the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have been playing better than ever.

    “This is the best Roger Federer has ever played,” he said.

    “He is serving better than ever, 80% and 59% of first and second service points won and his backhand is far better than it was during his ‘peak years’ over 10 years ago. That is why he has been able to dismantle Nadal in a way he never previously could.

    “Nadal arguably had his best ever clay court swing in 2017. He won 56% of all points that he played last year, which is the first time he has done that.

    “When he won nine out of 10 French Open’s he was winning 56% of all his points, so that shows how well he was playing.

    “Novak and Murray all had their best years over 2015 and 2016, when they were 28 and 29 respectively. You don’t just stop improving when you hit 25 – practice makes perfect.”