2014 Bookended By FEDAL's Bad Backs

2014 started as it ended. The AO final proved a disappointment when Nadal injured his back during the the warm up and in the last match of the year Federer sadly withdrew from the final of the WTF with a back injury sustained during the tie break of his semi final.

Hopefully they both avail themselves of the best possible treatment to be fully fit for 2015

Seems like most players lack a backbone nowadays...

legendkillarV2 wrote:Seems like most players lack a backbone nowadays...

Ouch Lk, I like it. I will wait and see if he plays in the DC if he does play then maybe he ain't that injured. Has to nurse that H2h v. Djokovic it seems.

Surely you mean bookended?

Maybe Rafa could introduce him to his doctor

60 years ago, players couldn't risk the loss of income, and played on injured. The fact that Federer's now done this three times is exactly why he can't be compared to players of the past

It happened to Nadal against Wawrinka, and Federer for this final- oh well that is sport.

hawkeye wrote:2014 started as it ended. The AO final proved a disappointment when Nadal injured his back during the the warm up and in the last match of the year Federer sadly withdrew from the final of the WTF with a back injury sustained during the tie break of his semi final.

Hopefully they both avail themselves of the best possible treatment to be fully fit for 2015

Translation :

"There are apparently still lots and lots of evil, misguided people out there who believe that Stan Wawrinka won his AO title fair & square, after playing some spectacularly good tennis.
I need to point out the error of their ways, to keep plugging away with my asterisk theory, and thus discredit his victory whenever possible.
They probably won't swallow my version of things, but hey, that won't stop me trying".

lags72 wrote:

hawkeye wrote:2014 started as it ended. The AO final proved a disappointment when Nadal injured his back during the the warm up and in the last match of the year Federer sadly withdrew from the final of the WTF with a back injury sustained during the tie break of his semi final.

Hopefully they both avail themselves of the best possible treatment to be fully fit for 2015

Translation :

"There are apparently still lots and lots of evil, misguided people out there who believe that Stan Wawrinka won his AO title fair & square, after playing some spectacularly good tennis.
I need to point out the error of their ways, to keep plugging away with my asterisk theory, and thus discredit his victory whenever possible.
They probably won't swallow my version of things, but hey, that won't stop me trying".

Plus this WTF will be *

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Plus this WTF will be *

Mon Dieu ! Absolutely NO asterisks on this one LK.

I mean ......it's a 100% certainty that Federer couldn't have beaten Djoko today.

(even if he has beaten him three times out of five this year, for the loss of just one set ........)

Meanwhile ...... looking forward to IMBL enthusiastically posting photos of victorious Novak next time he beats Rafa. Or maybe it doesn't work like that ........

lags72 wrote:
Meanwhile ...... looking forward to IMBL enthusiastically posting photos of victorious Novak next time he beats Rafa. Or maybe it doesn't work like that ........

Did you notice what Djokovic was holding Lags...

lags72 wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Plus this WTF will be *

Mon Dieu ! Absolutely NO asterisks on this one LK.

I mean ......it's a 100% certainty that Federer couldn't have beaten Djoko today.

(even if he has beaten him three times out of five this year, for the loss of just one set ........)

Meanwhile ...... looking forward to IMBL enthusiastically posting photos of victorious Novak next time he beats Rafa. Or maybe it doesn't work like that ........

If he plays DC he is a giant douche, period and end of story. If he doesn't then this withdrawal makes sense. I once took Soderling to task for walking out against Djokovic in rome when he was getting bagelled in 2011 only to show up two days later at the powerhorse tournament in Germany. Same standard for Federer.

No, I didn't notice to be honest. But he sure looked happy.

Is it one of those "ethically corrupt" Moët awards .....??

lags72 wrote:No, I didn't notice to be honest. But he sure looked happy.

Is it one of those "ethically corrupt" Moët awards .....??

It was an asterisk Lags

It's good that you take these players (and whenever necessary, their fans too) to task socal. Or, to use your own words, spout venom at them.

At least there has never been any criticism of your man Novak for past withdrawals, and if only all fans could take a leaf from your book, and be so even-handed.

In other news, I spotted your fondness for Hennessy Cognac, and wondered if you are partial to their rather fine 'Paradis' blend ? If you fly back home with Emirates Airline (Tehran to LA via Dubai would be a suitable routing for you I think .....??) you can get your fill of it in First Class. Top tip !

lags72 wrote:It's good that you take these players (and whenever necessary, their fans too) to task socal. Or, to use your own words, spout venom at them.

At least there has never been any criticism of your man Novak for past withdrawals, and if only all fans could take a leaf from your book, and be so even-handed.

In other news, I spotted your fondness for Hennessy Cognac, and wondered if you are partial to their rather fine 'Paradis' blend ? If you fly back home with Emirates Airline (Tehran to LA via Dubai would be a suitable routing for you I think .....??) you can get your fill of it in First Class. Top tip !

Wait there has never been any criticism of Djokovic for his withdrawals maybe you should PM BB on that one. By the way I only fly Turkish business class, recession and all. Plus flying emirates means you spend 4 hours more in your trip as you fly over Tehran and down to Dubai and then take a layover and fly back over Tehran Russia and the artic circle to sunny southern California.

Hiarious stuff, I mean Novak has never been criticized for his withdrawals, that is funny.

Ah but it wasn't meant to be funny socal. Perhaps  the irony was lost on you somewhere along the way. I know just how willing you are to take the flak as well as dishing it .....! Nice & balanced.

You really should switch from Turkish to Emirates. Ok, so a few more flying hours from what you say, but the inflight service is better. AND .....still the only commercial airline where you can enjoy a nice refreshing shower onboard

Lags you can shower on Singapore Airlines, and Turkish has better looking stewardesses.

lags72 wrote:Ah but it wasn't meant to be funny socal. Perhaps  the irony was lost on you somewhere along the way. I know just how willing you are to take the flak as well as dishing it .....! Nice & balanced.

You really should switch from Turkish to Emirates. Ok, so a few more flying hours from what you say, but the inflight service is better. AND .....still the only commercial airline where you can enjoy a nice refreshing shower onboard

I don't like giving money to the gulf arabs frankly, I have flown both and Turkish has the best food. The gulf arabs are visibly racist against Persians I can give you many examples but I don't want to turn this nasty.

socal1976 wrote:

lags72 wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Plus this WTF will be *

Mon Dieu ! Absolutely NO asterisks on this one LK.

I mean ......it's a 100% certainty that Federer couldn't have beaten Djoko today.

(even if he has beaten him three times out of five this year, for the loss of just one set ........)

Meanwhile ...... looking forward to IMBL enthusiastically posting photos of victorious Novak next time he beats Rafa. Or maybe it doesn't work like that ........

If he plays DC he is a giant douche, period and end of story. If he doesn't then this withdrawal makes sense. I once took Soderling to task for walking out against Djokovic in rome when he was getting bagelled in 2011 only to show up two days later at the powerhorse tournament in Germany. Same standard for Federer.

I guess this is another one off these.

https://www.606v2.com/t6328-how-will-the-end-of-djoko-s-streak-affect-his-play

What a d*ck

socal1976 wrote:

lags72 wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Plus this WTF will be *

Mon Dieu ! Absolutely NO asterisks on this one LK.

I mean ......it's a 100% certainty that Federer couldn't have beaten Djoko today.

(even if he has beaten him three times out of five this year, for the loss of just one set ........)

Meanwhile ...... looking forward to IMBL enthusiastically posting photos of victorious Novak next time he beats Rafa. Or maybe it doesn't work like that ........

If he plays DC he is a giant douche, period and end of story. If he doesn't then this withdrawal makes sense. I once took Soderling to task for walking out against Djokovic in rome when he was getting bagelled in 2011 only to show up two days later at the powerhorse tournament in Germany. Same standard for Federer.

He walked out? He finished their rome match and got battered 6-3 6-0. Ey????

What on earth is Djokovic lifting in,that pick? Looks like a giant pokemon gym badge

bogbrush wrote:

socal1976 wrote:

lags72 wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Plus this WTF will be *

Mon Dieu ! Absolutely NO asterisks on this one LK.

I mean ......it's a 100% certainty that Federer couldn't have beaten Djoko today.

(even if he has beaten him three times out of five this year, for the loss of just one set ........)

Meanwhile ...... looking forward to IMBL enthusiastically posting photos of victorious Novak next time he beats Rafa. Or maybe it doesn't work like that ........

If he plays DC he is a giant douche, period and end of story. If he doesn't then this withdrawal makes sense. I once took Soderling to task for walking out against Djokovic in rome when he was getting bagelled in 2011 only to show up two days later at the powerhorse tournament in Germany. Same standard for Federer.

I guess this is another one off these.

https://www.606v2.com/t6328-how-will-the-end-of-djoko-s-streak-affect-his-play

What a d*ck

I know all those people who disagreed with me are a bunch of d$cks.

So of that traditional Big 4, one has had surgery to repair his back, one his having stem cell treatment to repair his back and another has pulled out of one of the biggest matches of the year with a back problem (having struggled all of last year with a back problem).

HM Murdoch wrote:So of that traditional Big 4, one has had surgery to repair his back, one his having stem cell treatment to repair his back and another has pulled out of one of the biggest matches of the year with a back problem (having struggled all of last year with a back problem).

Well considering his age he has been lucky thus far. It was inevitable surely that at some point something had to give

Haddie-nuff wrote:

Well considering his age he has been lucky thus far.  It was inevitable surely that at some point something had to give

Yes, true. I think at this age and given how long he's played for, he's in permanent decline now.

Hopefully the stem cell treatment will be effective too.

I can understand Fed pulling out even if he might ahve been able to limp on and put on a show. Its not just himself if he misses DC hes letting down, its his whole team. Hes prioritising it I guess.

Haddie-nuff wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:So of that traditional Big 4, one has had surgery to repair his back, one his having stem cell treatment to repair his back and another has pulled out of one of the biggest matches of the year with a back problem (having struggled all of last year with a back problem).

Well considering his age he has been lucky thus far.  It was inevitable surely that at some point something had to give

Sounds like you think the back is a new problem.

kingraf wrote:Surely you mean bookended?

Yes that's exactly what I meant...

Haddie-nuff wrote:Maybe Rafa could introduce him to his doctor

They appear to be friends maybe they will

HM Murdoch wrote:So of that traditional Big 4...

Pfft! "traditional Big 4" Novak is still canvassing night and day to try and get the term "Big 3" accepted.

IMBL. That is one huge asterisk Djokovic has got his hands on.

hawkeye wrote:Pfft! "traditional Big 4" Novak is still canvassing night and day to try and get the term "Big 3" accepted.

Well, although Rafa has failed to finish higher than third in two of the last 3 years, it would be harsh to ignore him.

HM Murdoch wrote:

hawkeye wrote:Pfft! "traditional Big 4" Novak is still canvassing night and day to try and get the term "Big 3" accepted.

Well, although Rafa has failed to finish higher than third in two of the last 3 years, it would be harsh to ignore him.

HM Murdoch wrote:

hawkeye wrote:Pfft! "traditional Big 4" Novak is still canvassing night and day to try and get the term "Big 3" accepted.

Well, although Rafa has failed to finish higher than third in two of the last 3 years, it would be harsh to ignore him.

Another gem from you HMM. You're so naughty !

Mind you, hawkeye does make a habit of walking into these, so I can't blame you when offered it on a plate

^ Good grief! I did genuinely forget for a minute that Nole is number one

I can't believe its being suggested he is exaggerating an injury like he has previous, this isn't an ankle or wrist problem. Your back affects everything, I've had back issues where it can go as quickly as it came. He already said if he had an extra day he may have recovered.

Surely he's done the right thing, going out there not being able to move properly, getting bread sticked twice in 50 minutes when people have spends 100s on tickets. Instead the crowd got hours of entertainment, priority for next years final and partially refunded tickets.

Then after a weeks recovery he turns up for a Davis Cup final that his country has never won making him a douche? The reason Federer has this incredible longevity is he listens to his body and makes tough decisions.

What if he played, and limped around the court I bet the same people who are saying he should have played tonight are the same people who would say he shouldn't have turned up for the match if he knew there was an issue and ruined the spectacle

Sample mid-match retirements of some ATGs are Borg (5 RETirements), Lendl (10 RET), Connors (14 RET), McEnroe (1 RET), Nadal (7 RET).

Federer (I think has 3 W/Os - Paris 2008 v Blake, Doha v Tsonga, WTF v Djokovic) and no RETs in his career, IIRC.

I'm sure if the DC wasn't very close he would have played a few games and hoped for the best. Excellent schedule management by the GOAT/God of the game. Proof also that he cares about the DC (Socal etc said in the past he didn't care).

But then again it's been said by others in the past that the DC is not an important tournament. Were they wrong ?

Personally, I'm not the least bit interested in Davis Cup.

Too long, too frequent and success in it is really no barometer of an individual player's quality.

But I can understand why it might mean something to the players.

Let me make it easy for you.

Winning the DC to complete for the 1st time would be better than winning the WTF for the 7th time. Especially when your whole country wants the DC more

Everybody moans about the DC and yet it generates tremendous matches and excitement every year. It's a great strain on the players, though. One possible solution is to play it once every two years but I doubt they'll change the formula.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Let me make it easy for you.

Winning the DC to complete for the 1st time would be better than winning the WTF for the 7th time. Especially when your whole country wants the DC more

Ok. Then people should not deride it when other countries win it because their favourite hasn't won it previously.

I think the dc needs a World Cup type formula every 2 years or so for the world group and more streamlined qualification matches

Calder106 wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Let me make it easy for you.

Winning the DC to complete for the 1st time would be better than winning the WTF for the 7th time. Especially when your whole country wants the DC more

Ok. Then people should not deride it when other countries win it because their favourite hasn't won it previously.

Who's deriding it?

Give quotes.

temporary21 wrote:I think the dc needs a World Cup type formula every 2 years or so for the world group and more streamlined qualification matches

I'd prefer something more like the Ryder Cup.

Two teams that compete every 2-4 years.

Not sure how to group the teams though. East v West perhaps, with east of Germany being the boundary?

Get two veteran captains, say Connors and Lendl to pick 6 players from each region. So we could have Federer, Nadal, Murray, Wawrinka, and Raonic against Djokovic, Nishikori, Berdych, Cilic and Dimitrov.

Could have a doubles match, a swap-players-each-service game match and a couple of singles matches.

Or I could just go to the circus.

Keep the DC as it is.

All that needs tweaking is the scheduling and participation. I think the ranking should be deteminded by the players rankings (work out a formula which would give them a certain ranking) say make it a tournament of 32. Pre-qualify the top 16 and then have say 16 places fought over out of the other 32. Do one lot of RR knockout matches in Feburary and it culminate last week of November/1st week December.

I just think it's stretched out too far for the tennis season.

HM Murdoch wrote:

temporary21 wrote:I think the dc needs a World Cup type formula every 2 years or so for the world group and more streamlined qualification matches

I'd prefer something more like the Ryder Cup.

Two teams that compete every 2-4 years.

Not sure how to group the teams though. East v West perhaps, with east of Germany being the boundary?

Get two veteran captains, say Connors and Lendl to pick 6 players from each region. So we could have Federer, Nadal, Murray, Wawrinka, and Raonic against Djokovic, Nishikori, Berdych, Cilic and Dimitrov.

Could have a doubles match, a swap-players-each-service game match and a couple of singles matches.

Or I could just go to the circus.

I dont think we can only have 2 teams in tennis. Unlike golf theres not really 2 "major" powers in tennis, every 2 to 4 years might be ok, maybe you could have a regional qualification for it, and then make it a knockout style tourny. Though the matches might have to be 3 sets then.

2014 Bookended By Talk Of FEDAL Feigning Back Injuries

I wanted to make a new article but didn't want to waste any valuable 606v2 internet space

I salute your restrain.

hawkeye wrote:

I wanted to make a new article but didn't want to waste any valuable 606v2 internet space

Hasn't stopped you in the past HE.

Why change the habits of a lifetime .....?