Talk About Tennis 2.0

The tournament director will be fine. The tournament OWNER may be doing a value assessment, for when the offer comes in.
Prices for the Laver Cup seat are already at 54,000 POUNDS, for the premier seats. Basically the same effect that Serena had at the open.

Roger is masterclass. Always. End of.

I've been sitting on this post for few days while I process my thoughts and emotions.

I'm sad he's not getting his goodbye while playing at a grand slam. Between his knee and COVID, it's been a cluster couple of years. After being off the radar for so long, the announcement, which should not have come as a surprise to anybody who remotely follows tennis, was rather anticlimactic. He deserved a better way to go out. He might visit Wimbledon next year and getting a standing o (I hope he does), but it won't quite be the same.

After losing interest in following tennis once Agassi left the sport, Roger got me back into watching tennis as an adult (there's a reason my username is 2004), and what an amazing ride it was. His tennis was superlatively spectacular to watch, and he was such a great ambassador to the sport. So many accolades have been written about him, that it seems superfluous to write more, but every one of them is well deserved.

Above all, he's a genuinely nice person and good human being, something that comes across as unquestioningly real. I'll leave you with this quote, which exemplifies why he is so loved and respected.

"Mike Nakajima, who was a director of tennis at Nike, remembered Federer coming one year to the company’s headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., for shoe testing at Nike’s research lab. They walked out of the building and were headed for their next meeting when Federer stopped in his tracks and said, “I’ve got to go back.” Nakajima asked him if he had forgotten something, and Federer said he had forgotten to thank the people who helped him with the shoes. “So we ran back into the building, downstairs, through security so he could say thanks,” Nakajima said. “Now what athlete does that?”"
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/maga ... egacy.html (the entire article is fascinating for those interested in the business of Federer)

So thank you Roger. You are missed. You will continue to be missed. We wish you only the best in whatever you might do moving forward. (Any thoughts to that commissioner of tennis position?)

From the point of view of stature and respectability, sure, Roger Federer, tennis Commissioner (covering the ATP, WTA and ITF), sound just about right.
But you said it above: he is too nice. I don't know if Roger would come down hard on, for example, a Benoit Paire the next time he tanks a match. A Dayana Yastremska next time she quits when trailing 0-5 in the third. I am not sure if he would come up with some plan for the next time Stefanos goes to the hairdresser between sets, of the next time Nick goes cuckoo because he thinks somebody in the upper levels of Ashe gave him the eye.
You would need a bit of a hard-ass attitude for that job.

ponchi101 wrote:the next time Stefanos goes to the hairdresser between sets.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stefanos at Wimbledon:
https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxvf8eqwqB8q ... GZE8FqAkjC

(Sorry, off track, but this scene jumped into my head and I couldn't resist).

Some comments from Federer's peers, assembled together...

Nadal Leads Tributes to a Sporting Great...

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ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 16, 2022 5:37 pm The tournament director will be fine. The tournament OWNER may be doing a value assessment, for when the offer comes in.
Prices for the Laver Cup seat are already at 54,000 POUNDS, for the premier seats. Basically the same effect that Serena had at the open.

That's obscene. I know that's probably resale, but this is what I mean about selling out and retiring at Laver Cup rather than Basel. His retirement has the stench of commercialism and vanity to me. Not love. Basel would have been about love, where it all started.

You can't say a critical word about Roger. It's not allowed. I was always a Roger fan, but the sainthood toward the end bugged me. I know some people called him arrogant and such, so there was a teeny bit of criticism. But he became untouchable, and he actually isn't perfect. I also don't think that reputation really reflects who he is. I think he truly is a normal guy in many ways, and normal guys have flaws. We couldn't even suggest they exist, much less get to know what they are.

I actually dropped my fanhood when he simply was too good, on court. When he would go three, four MONTHS without playing a match that was anywhere competitive, when you knew he had won the match on the locker room. There were times in which his victories were too easy.
But then I came back, simply because he behaved well. I understand what you mean, but when you get to the point he reached, he could have become the ultimate jerk. He could have become the most arrogant athlete in history. And he did not.
So I admire the man.
Basel. He should, at a minimum, play an exo set, and indeed hand out the trophy. Those were his roots.

For all his achievements, I think the most astounding thing about Roger's career is that he surpassed his predecessors to such a degree that it felt like it would be generations before a similar talent might come along. Kind of like Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods. But by his retirement, there are good arguments that he's already back in third place! Insane.

When he reached 15, I said that was unbelievable. Then he made it to 16. I thought that was the record, forever.
He still added 4 more. And of course, Rafa and Novak...

I'm hearing that it is far from guaranteed that he'll be able to actually be part of the playing line-up for the Laver Cup...

Deuce wrote:I'm hearing that it is far from guaranteed that he'll be able to actually be part of the playing line-up for the Laver Cup...

He said he was planning to play doubles only, and even that was questionable.

Mods: I accidentally hit “report” instead of “quote”. If you got that, please ignore. Not deliberate.

You can report and then UN report.
It seems he will play doubles with Nadal, which will be a "cute" send off. However, he did not say that early in the week, which could have made a difference for the people paying 59,000 pounds for tickets.

meganfernandez wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 11:32 am

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 16, 2022 5:37 pm The tournament director will be fine. The tournament OWNER may be doing a value assessment, for when the offer comes in.
Prices for the Laver Cup seat are already at 54,000 POUNDS, for the premier seats. Basically the same effect that Serena had at the open.

That's obscene. I know that's probably resale, but this is what I mean about selling out and retiring at Laver Cup rather than Basel. His retirement has the stench of commercialism and vanity to me. Not love. Basel would have been about love, where it all started.

You can't say a critical word about Roger. It's not allowed. I was always a Roger fan, but the sainthood toward the end bugged me. I know some people called him arrogant and such, so there was a teeny bit of criticism. But he became untouchable, and he actually isn't perfect. I also don't think that reputation really reflects who he is. I think he truly is a normal guy in many ways, and normal guys have flaws. We couldn't even suggest they exist, much less get to know what they are.

Yes, those prices are obscene, for anything, let alone a tennis match. Can't it be fitting he bows out at his tournament? Does it have to be country centric?