Is Federer era over?

[WinningTipster]

Hi guys, Not much action this week, just one small tournament in Chile with some interesting match-ups in Fed Cup over the weekend. So, I’ve decided to entertain you with my thoughts on why Federer’s domination of the world tennis might be over :-) Is Federer era over? Is he overrated??? Well, in the last 12 months Federer has won just 6 out of the 14 biggest tournaments (4 grand slams + 9 master events + master cup) that he participated in, while Federer of 2 or 3 years ago was winning 10-11 out of those 14 with Nadal beating him in the other couple of tournaments on clay. But now it looks like his time might be over! And the reason to why Federer’s domination might be over is the following: he does not have anymore this aura of invincibility that was winning most close matches for him – even 2-3 years ago nearly all of the top players (Roddick, Agassi, Hewitt, Davydenko) came to the court against Federer knowing that they will lose and they played him accordingly – went for too much power shots and committed way too many unforced errors. Actually, Federer was playing defensively against most of his top opponents forcing them to go for too much because they were simply scared of him and his attacking game. But now, the next generation of top players believe that they can beat Federer and they do beat him consistently lately – Djokovic, Nalbandian, Murray, Canas. Technically speaking, all of those players (plus Tipsarevic) have one similar feature – they exploit well Federer’s wieakness – which is his backhand - their backhand is much better than Federer’s, while their serve and forehand can be compared with Federer’s. As a result, they play consistently to Federer’s backhand knowing that he will eventually make an error from that side (or throw a soft mid-court ball from which they can attack him). I am not suggesting that Federer will not finish 2008 as a no.1 player in the world but I am saying that the period of his domination is over and, consequently, those funny 1.02 odds on Federer-Tipsarevic match must be in the past also, as well as 1.22 odds on Federer-Djokovic or Federer-Nalbandian matches. In my opinion the more honest odds on those type of matches might be around 1.5-1.6 and any discrepancy in the odds might be profitably exploited :-)

[true world]

Re: Is Federer era over? I don't think his era is over. It's just that he has no motivation. Have you seen him against Djokovic? He really made me the impression of someone who got enough to hit a little yellow ball over the net every time. He played like a mediocre player, kind a ranked number 20-25 or something like that. He simply couldn't wait to finish the match, pack his things and go away. No wonder. He won everything that a tennis player can win several times in a row the recent years. If I were him I would disappear for half a year. I would do different things, would not even think about tennis. I know, it's impossible in today's tennis, because of the money, all the sponsors, tv spots and all that jazz. But if he can't find a way to be again who he used to be, if he can't find any motivation in tennis anymore, so it really can be over for him. But not because Djokovic, Nadal or even Tsonga are better than him. No. Remember Federer the year he became world number one tennis player. Djokovic wouldn't be able to beat that Federer. Never. So I think it's a pure psychological problem. It's very very hard to handle the situation when you are a way better in something than the rest of the world. You must be extremly strong mentally, otherwise it happens to you what is happening to Federer now.