Federer slammed by Swiss

First topic message reminder :

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/tennis/federer-slammed-by-swiss-1.1415695#.UJJ7omjab-Y

Surprising comments

I'm not saying the guy's a saint or that he lives like St. Francis of Assisi, but there's more to this than Fed wanting cash in his ass pocket. He's got to balance a number of things:

a. Like other leading players how much money he can raise for his foundations whilst he can maximise his earnings is usually one of the big drivers for negotiable/discretionary items such as appearance money and sponsorships;

b. He's got to balance how much to ask for at Basel with what other opportunities it screws up or what it does to his schedule - now that we know for 2013 Basel is again the first of three straight weeks Basel/Paris/WTF it's obvious that going there is a major headache for Fed's schedule and involves a major sacrifice. The price is bound to reflect that sacrifice. In previous years Basel was much less of a hassle to go to;

c. I think he doesn't want to go there because it's now such a bind, and he's naming a price so that he can say he offered and they declined to pay so he's free to do something more beneficial;

d. As he says, he's supported Basel for years and for a not unreasonable price he has been been the driving force behind its status as a 500 - it's not unreasonable to say that he's done his bit by them

e. Once he's gone Basel will most likely revert to a 250, which it was before, because it won't have affordable support from a big name - he's hardly damaging a prestigious tournament fatally

f. He has again rightly pointed out that he's not always chased petrodollars and Far East dollars, he's been considerably less mecenary than he could have been.

I think this is all about schedule - he wants to drop Basel because of the awful scheduling problems it causes, but he is giving them a chance to make it worth his while. DC is similar - he wants to protect his schedule, and why not?

Its farsical to have a 500, then a 1000, then WTF.
Makes more sense to have 1000, 500, then WTF.
Players can then drop the 500.

But then again the whole tennis calendar makes no sense!

lydian old buddy old pal can i ask how you would restructure it?
Always interested to hear your views

Why not play DC for two-three weeks as group team event instead of spreading it out across the world across the entire year and making players travel unnecessarily, like Olympics, if possible?

I sympathise with Fed, but something like this was inevitable

His problem is that he's set himself as some kind of God (i.e. the 2005-2009 spell) and of course he isn't

Usaul thing though, when you like to come across as perfect - you sure disappoint a lot of peopel when it's clear you're not

banbrotam wrote:

Usaul thing though, when you like to come across as perfect - you sure disappoint a lot of peopel when it's clear you're not

There's something in that - I'd argue that his more deluded fans and hagiographic journalists are more responsible for his image as the second coming. After all, he's not afraid to say what he thinks at times in interviews.

barrystar wrote:

banbrotam wrote:

Usaul thing though, when you like to come across as perfect - you sure disappoint a lot of peopel when it's clear you're not

There's something in that - I'd argue that his more deluded fans and hagiographic journalists are more responsible for his image as the second coming. After all, he's not afraid to say what he thinks at times in interviews.

Good point. I actually think Roger comes across as an OK guy most of the time, but perhaps has allowed, probably 'advisors', to mould his image giving the world the wrong impression