So Roger Federer’s season is over. Thank God the off season is short. Fed will return to the court on New Year’s Day, playing either Robin Soderling or Stan Wawrinka in the Abu Dhabi exhibition. He’ll play an ATP 250 in Doha the following week before the Australian Open begins on on January 19. (Click here for Roger Federer’s 2010 schedule)
In the meantime, Federer will be spending the bulk of his holiday and training time in Dubai, as he recently told the Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung (my google-assisted translation):
“We will not spend much time in Switzerland these next weeks. We fly to Dubai and have holidays there for the time being. Then the preparation season follows: Conditioning training with Pierre (Paganini) and tennis training with Severin (Lüthi).”
“Hopefully I can again take a step forward in December and improve myself further. This is of course the goal of preparation: to eliminate the problems I had at the end season, so that I can better play next season.”
Folks in the know at RF.com report that Fed had a quick layover in Prague this week, where he was shooting a spot for Gillette.
Which brings us to the bone-chilling Gillette Curse. With both Thierry and Tiger recently caught cheating (click here for the latest from Tiger) will Roger soon be nicked by something more damaging than a safety razor?
The Times offers Fed this advice (thanks, Laura!):
Federer remains, thus far, relatively undamaged (by the “Curse of the Gillette Three”). But if the Swiss tennis legend is in any way a superstitious sort, imagine how often he will be looking over his shoulder at the moment.
Specifically, imagine how often he will be looking over his shoulder for his wife rushing up to his car with a tennis racket. If I were him, I would grow a beard. A thick, long beard. And I would start growing it now.
Hmm. Given what we know about Roger’s personal life, I’d wager the biggest scandal to come out of Club Fed this winter will involve Roger cheating at Bejeweled. (Though I don’t doubt Mirka’s ability to free Roger from a car wreck using only her bare hands and a KSix-One!)
Even though he’s in seclusion, you can still indulge your Fed Fanaticism by voting for Roger to be the United States Sports Academy’s Athlete of the Year (click here.) Roger lost Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year” award to the Yankees’ Derek Jeter, but you can read about Fed’s nomination here (at least Fedophiles get some props!) And yes, there is also something called “The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx.” Stay safe, Rog!
Tags: Abu Dhabi, ATP, Federer, gillette, tennis, Tiger Woods
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The link to Fed’s nomination doesn’t exactly quite work.
I don’t think the Gilette curse will affect Fed. I mean, after all, that guy took 8-9 years to marry Mirka. That’s total dedication. But seeing that I’m superstitious…*knocks on wood*
I’ve been thinking that I bet he’s glad that he’s done doing interviews for a while because you know people would be asking him what he thinks about what’s going on with Tiger. He’s probably relieved not to have to deal with everyone’s questions about it. I imagine he is disappointed in Tiger, though (at least I hope so!).
I don’t know about Roger growing a beard but I lovvveeed his 5 o’clock shadow look (US Open final 05)<3 I wouldn't mind seeing that look again.
Roger needs a nice long vacation, but I miss him already and it hasn't even been a week
Roger growing a beard would not be a good idea. But if he grows a bit of stubble like the 5o’clock shadow he had in 2005 that would be great.
I’m glad he will be training in Dubai. But, I miss him already and it hasn’t even been a week
i love stubble roger too!
http://imstars.aufeminin.com/stars/fan/roger-federer/roger-federer-20060611-136390.jpg
when does that contract run out?! they just don’t know how to treat a champion in their commercials. take notes from rolex please!
i bet he is happy he’s done w/interviews. love the rogmirka photo.
I have no illusions about any athlete’s or politician’s fidelity. I find it easier to assume they *all* cheat so that when I’m proved right, I’m not disappointed in their actions.
That said, I’m surprised the Federers don’t celebrate Christmas in Switzerland. With Roger and Mirka traveling so much for his career, I would have thought spending time with family and friends at the holidays would be sacrosant.
Funny article. If there is a “Gillette curse,” Fed’s version is more likely to be a sprained ankle or a stubbed toe than infidelity. He seems to be one of those (wonderful) men who is naturally uxorious, and, besides, an affair would be too untidy for our Roger.
As for SI’s “Sportsman of the Year,” if Roger were an American, he would have already won it at least once. Being from Switzerland and a true sportsman to boot, he will never receive it. I did like Price’s article, though. At least someone at that magazine recognizes the oversight.
“uxorious” – I like that word! You get the vocab props of the day, lk28!
dear Fed
didn’t you hear Dubai is crushing down?? on your way to middle east i advise you to take a left turn and land in Tel Aviv!! so much better than the gulf… great weather, great people (most of the time) – and oh, i’ll be waiting with flowers in the airport!!!!
I knew Roger wouldn’t get Sportsman of the Year. They want people to buy the issue and baseball sells better than tennis. It is still hard not to be disappointed, though! He deserves it and his story is the most compelling and moving of the year.
I know our heroes can have feet of clay. But if Roger ever is afflicted by the Gillette curse, I don’t want to know. I just can’t imagine it for him.
Tiger Woods’s business is his own, but it bothers me for the sake of his family. His kids are small, but one day they will grow up and hear about all this garbage. I can’t picture Roger doing that to Mirka and Myla and Charlene.
C’mon … Our Rog is too good to be involved in anything wrong.
Love that RogerMirka pic…!!
i will miss rog, but i’ll be happy to get back to non-tennis things around here for a while. of course i’ll still be on GTT, can’t resist! it’s good to know rog is aware that he needs to make adjustments and improve before the next season. the competition is getting younger and stronger out there, he needs to kick it up. hope he and the gals enjoy their vaca. nothing like sand, sun and ocean to recharge.
mirka could absolutely free rog from a car with a tennis racquet, although fed would never cheat on her in a million years! he’s one of the world’s most successful athletes, GOAT, rich, handsome, charming, friendly, speaks multiple languages, and yet he’s been faithful and loyal for all these years. i’m sure women have thrown themselves at him (i might, ha!) and instead he hasn’t missed a night with his wife for many years. he would never, esp now with the twins. plus mirka is the boss and would absolutely kick his ass!
i love that they are such a wonderful example of friendship, love, support and trust.
“non-tennis things”? What do you mean? I’m assuming everyone is decorating their Christmas trees with Penns and using their vacation to watch last year’s Wimbledon final. . .
I agree with you that Fed isn’t the cheating kind – 1. Mirka is his “high school sweetheart” – if he’d actually finished high school. At least half the time, these types of relationships are pure, enduring love-matches. Have at least 4 personal examples in my friends and family. 2. They’ve never spent one evening apart – when would Roger find the time to cheat? 3. Roger’s probably similar to Andy Murray in that PlayStation is his biggest vice (along with haircare and eating at fancy restaurants). Roger’s never struck me as the Safin/Stepanek breed of ladies’ man.
hmmm… how can i incorporate tennis into my holiday decor?! getting a small tree so tennis ball ornaments would probably not be structurally sound.
who am i kidding? i’ll still be doing tennis things- playing and watching video clips from rog’s amazing year when i miss him. 
best vids are probably atp 15 fed tribute and rick reilly letter to fed’s child (before twins). i think someone needs to put aussie ‘05 semi of fed v safin on dvd, then i’ll have something tasty to watch during the break!
agreed on non-cheating pts. haircare made me laugh! i wonder if she loves the logo or gets sick of it, like, ‘i know who you are, you don’t need the RF on your pjs too.’ come to think of it, has anyone ever asked rog, ‘boxers or briefs?’ ha! he’s with mirka always. when he’s not with her, he’s with severin, tony, pierre or gary! sometimes with nadal and running the player’s council. come to think of it, add in tennis practice and sponsor obligations, it’s amazing rog has time to say hi to his fans once in a while! we are truly blessed. i really admire that he’s such a wonderful human being.
sure he comes first, but that’s how you get to be GOAT. mirka must be amazing to be supportive for all these years! for that reason alone, he would never cheat.
I miss Marat! I miss him so much! There should be a support group for Safin Withdrawal Syndrome…
Always happy to be of help!
Roger doesn’t seem to be the type to be unfaithful, but this article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article6939944.ece raises some interesting points about the mindset/egos that top athletes must have to succeed. Interestingly Rog is mentioned as the one example of happy long-lasting relationship.
I guess Rafa seems to be of the same stock, having been with Xisca for years and at such a young age, but he’s still very young.
Also, is it a coincidence that they’ve both fallen for attractive ladies but not supermodel types? And ladies with evident brains as well as looks?
Btw, it seems Murray is back on the shelf after losing the one nice thing about him (oops, not kind of me).
Anyway, got to dash, all this infidelity malarkey reminds me it’s time to snoop in the husband’s mobile – ONLY JOKING!!
Vamos Espana in DC!!!
Laura
Interesting article thre from The Times. I wonder if Mirka also did not have an induced labor or planned c-section or whatever cos it was so well timed between Wimbledon and the USO. Roger even got to show up in Toronto with the weeks old babies in tow.
Sure, Roger has the money to afford nannies and get the best medical attention, but I would think that taking 2 week old babies on a cross-atlantic trip is still risky (they could catch a virus or something). In that way, I think Roger’s career is still the controlling factor for everything.
Can’t find much fault with Roger, but I’m pretty sure he’s got to have a pretty strong ego (if not large) to be who he is. I wish him and Mirka have a long a fruitful marriage.
One last thing. Superstar athletes should not get married if they really want to play the field – just like Derek Jeter. Its better than to cheat on your partner.
Yeah, superstar athletes and Hollywood types should leave matrimony for those of us who don’t get love letters, thongs and naked photos sent to us in the mail (at least not by the bagfuls!) – they’re just setting themselves up to fail.
HA!!! You made me laugh, Laura!
Love the photo of Roger and Mirka, is this a recent one?
Hi Dolores!
No, the photo is a few years old. From a Men’s Vogue shoot. Hope Rog and Mirka sit for another shoot soon! And maybe with the twins!
Hi ff! Thanks for your reply, appreciated. Yes, a new photo with the twins would be welcomed by all Fed fans.