As the first round of news stories rolls in in anticipation of next week’s ATP World Tour Finals, I’m realizing that there’s a hidden bonus to staging the event in London: the British press! And as with any tournament that pits Great British Hope Andy Murray vs. the Great-White-Chocolate-Loving Roger Federer, the U.K. papers have started stirring the pot.
Here’s Federer quoted in Tuesday’s Independent (I believe these remarks were taken in Paris or Basel, not sure):
“I had a lot of trouble against those baseliners (like Nalbandian and Hewitt) early on just because they were too consistent. They could always get one more ball back. Maybe they didn’t have the best serve, but I wasn’t the best return player, so I couldn’t take advantage. My serve wasn’t solid enough yet, so I would always get tangled up in those horrible baseline rallies.
“Murray can still do that to some degree, but when I play too well or too offensively I can take time away from him now. And I’m too physical, whereas in the beginning I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t get around backhands like I can now. Now I can mix up my game too well for him to get under my skin.
“I know what I can do and I know what he can do. When we both play well it’s a close match, but I always feel it’s the attacker who holds the key to success, so it’s up to me whether I win or lose, not up to him. That’s why I don’t mind the match-up, to be honest.
“It’s like when [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi played. Agassi was more aggressive [than most counter-attackers], but still Sampras held the key because he was serving, pushing the limits, taking the risks. Which Murray doesn’t do so much – though that doesn’t take anything away from Murray. That’s just his game style.
“Everybody has his own game and you can’t change the way you play. It’s just something you’re born with. He comes to the net more, for instance, than other players. I think if you look closely, every player needs to have something aggressive in his game to play well. If you want to be a top player you need to have offensive skills.“
I know, I know. Sometimes Roger just can’t help himself. Since ascending to the throne as King of Tennis, there’s always at least one Impertinent Prince that gets Roger’s goat (GOAT?), whether it’s the “unimpressive” Novak Djokovic or the “one-dimensional” Rafael Nadal. Murray should take Roger’s trash talk for what it is: a compliment. (Backhanded, of course.)
Murray leads Federer 6-3 in their head-to-head. Roger trounced Murray the last time they played, in straight sets this summer in Cincy. Before that match, Murray had beaten Roger four consecutive times, including in last year’s round robin portion of the year-ending finals. That loss knocked Roger out of the tournament, though Murray had already qualified for the semis and was psychologically playing a dead rubber. (Roger’s other loss at last year’s WTF was to another counter-puncher, Gilles Simon. )
Thanks to Judy for the tip!
Loading ...Tags: ATP, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Federer, Murray, tennis
(from a non-Roger fan – and what am i doing at GTT?)
I don’t feel the ‘trash’ at all. It’s honest, professional opinion. Some fed-haters may find it’s hard to digest.
This is better than “I’m trying to do my best, take my chances, blablabla.”
Some other players (i.e. my Gillou *blush*) says something like this all the time (honest opinion about his strengths and weaknessesssss).
dont know why Federer makes it sound like he’s all over murray like a table cloth just because he won their most recent match
Maybe thats because he hasnt won a grandslam and FED won 15?lol
I’m so sick of the British press playing up this issue every time. For every time Roger counts Murray as one of the new guys in the game, and a legitimate top player. The fact that he says “I know I can beat Andy Murray” every now and then seems to get on people’s nerves for no apparently reason.
You could hardly expect him to walk around saying “hey, not only have I got Nadal in my head, now Muzz is in there too. Don’t I suck?”
Go kick ass, Poop.
“Don’t I suck!” That would be an awesome practice tee for Rog!
you two are funny. how about ’super bad’ to go along with the ’super fly’ practice t he once wore? what about ‘go ahead, hit to my backhand’? anyway…
i get less and less concerned about rog’s head to head against nadal and murray when it really matters. sure it would be great if he was on the winning sides of those match ups (esp v nadal), but you never know what will happen and you can’t ever count out the GOAT and 15 slam champ in high pressure situations, even when he hasn’t been playing his best as of late. look at what happened post miami when most people said he was in decline.
i think i’d feel pretty good about my chances if i beat a player the last time we played, in a masters event, in convincing fashion. plus being back in london after his triumphant history making 15th slam, getting back the wimby crown and becoming #1 again has to be very positive.
though it’s been a long season, rog should be fresh and ready to go!
Great! I’ve forgotten how much I’ve missed the British press. Not.
There’s far more in this long article than the inevitable “What do you think of Murray?”.
There’s lots about the twins and how Rog feels about parenthood and how he feels about his parents, and what he enjoyed during his time off.
Well worth reading.
Wait, so I’m the only person who gets a kick out of the trash talk? I must be depraved!!!
I think he can prove whether it’s just a ‘pump-up’ talk or a good assessment of game plan soon
can’t wait.
like i said in our off gtt exchange, i think fed is just speaking honestly and confidently because he knows andy’s game and beat him last time in cincy. i do think in higher pressure situations, fed still has the advantage vs. murray mints. for ex: us open final ‘08. rog has much more variety and offense if he’s healthy and moving well.
maybe you’re excited about this because we haven’t heard much talk in this dept since wimby where people were mostly picking murray to make his breakthrough over fed? and we all know how that ended…
there is no love lost between the two, but it can make things very interesting! hopefully there’s less of a weird vibe (like there can be during rog v nole matches) and more just fiery, slugging it out at a high level tennis! we want to see some of those great volleys and touch shots too! i cannot wait to see them play each other again.
Well, you come by your depravity honestly. I love trash talk and the only thing worse than the Brit press is the idea that it would somehow clean up its act!
that was a pretty good interview. let’s face it, it took roger years to start complimenting rafa, murray’s just gonna have to keep winning year after year and plugging away to stay at the top. i actually thought fed said some good things about him.
i do want fed to kick his butt tho
The draw is out!
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Scores/Daily-Scores.aspx
NOT THE BEST FOR ROGER – i’d much rather have Davy in his group any day for obvious reasons…. Dude you MUST win 2 RR to secure your YE no.1!!!
Group A
(1) Roger Federer
(4) Andy Murray
(5) Juan Martin del Potro
(7) Fernando Verdasco
Group B
(2) Rafael Nadal
(3) Novak Djokovic
(6) Nikolay Davydenko
(8) Robin Soderling
where it counts, Roger wins…
like last year US final
the cub can beat him just when Rog is not interested ( or when he’s worn out, like last ATP finals) otherwise, no game
Whoa! That’s some heavy weights on Roger’s side, well, I guess on Rafa’s side too. The best 8 nonetheless…
OH, Rog, know when to shut up… totally unnecessary.
BTW, isn’t t obvious that Rafa is the Agassi to Fed’s Sampras?
Something to hope for: Notice on Nadal’s side, his 3 opponents won their last match against him in very convincing fashion…
Funny that both Nadal and Fed got their kryptonite draws (as far as either could). Fed just lost to DelPo and has obviously the losing record to Murray, while Nadal has lost recently to his 3 poolmates.
Should make for some drama and surprises, and highly unlikely for an undefeated run.
As for the comments: Fed has said the same thing about Rafa (and others) many times. For years, its, “I know how to play him now. I just have to be aggressive. Its up to me.”
Watching Fed, I see all to often how he comes out aggressive, takes the lead and then changes his mind and plays baseline for the remainder of the match- like against Soderling and DelPo at USO.
I love aggressive Roger, but I’d rather see it consistently than hear about it repeatedly.
Having read the full interview, agree it’s a good read, Roger sounds happy and relaxed, which is great for all you Federer fans. Roger and Novak seem to get v. annoyed when Andy M. is mentioned in interviews, whereas Rafa doesn’t seem that bothered. To me Rafa and Andy M. are the ATP’s real “bromace”, they always have nice things to say about each other. Murray and Federer respect each other’s ability but they’re certainly not friendly (which makes them very much like Agassi and Sampras).
As for people slating the British press, give me a break. According to my (American) friends the US media spend most of their time discussing Roddick, Blake and the Williams sisters. I don’t suppose the Australian media bothered much about foreign players when Mark P., Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt were slam contenders. Anyway, there are a lot of tabloids south of the border who enjoy slating Murray because of a comment he made more than 3 years ago, so not everyone in the UK likes him. Just spare me the “only British newspapers are partisan” sanctimony, OK?
Roger is right. When he is in form, Murray just can’t dictate play. It is cocky, but that’s what top athletes thrive on…like Ali, Schumacher, Woods…