Sean,

Volandri tripped Fed at Rome last year, not Monte Carlo…

Its April, so only about 4 months into 2008, not five…

Fed actually has a pretty rough draw at Monte Carlo, with Nalbandian, Djokovic, Gasquet in his half. Nadal is the one with the super easy draw.

It would be nice if you paid more attention to facts, before pronouncing judgments and forecasts….

Let’s see how Federer recovers from sickness before we write him off. He’s obviously not been healthy and in top form. If he can get back to his form from November where he demolished the field at the masters, he will continue to contend for titles, even on clay.

Is it possible to get someone to write these reveiws whose maturity has gone past that breaking-voice age, please? Or is Sean just a bit too scared to leave the easy jokes and stabs in the trash, and write something pithy?

Thank you,
Minoo

Already some interesting wins/ upsets in Monte Carlo:

Murray defeats Lopez
Querrey beats Moya

Who’d've thunk it?

Looks like Rafa will have to face Ancic in his first match - that’s a tough one.

this report is inevitable and anticipated. with roger playing estoril when the only other top 10 guy is nikolay, winning the tournament (nikolay’s retirement aside) would be “well, the didn’t have to beat any top 10 players”.

so predictable.

it’s a shame that davydenko had to retire - he’s shown some spunk recently. he is a good clay court player. with some of the focus off of roger this year to win everything hopefully davydenko won’t be faced with the same media ridiculousness last year at the french:

here is what happened: nikolay came off the court in the first round after a very clean and solid win, he’s sweating bullets and the first thing the interviewer asks him is ‘do you think it’s going to be a nadal and federer final’? poor guy.

that’s horrible andrea; davydenko is a solid clay-courter, who’s pushed both rafa and roger in the past. he should not be treated so dismissively. no player should, actually.

Minoo Saboori: Sean ith alwayths “pithy,” and I’m fairly sure he hasn’t a clue as to what that word means. Rarely is he correct in his reportage and/or predictions, so this bodes well for Federer IMHO.

Clay - God’s surface. Let’s enjoy it.

Stop picking on Sean. In our sport, generally we only need to count to 4. It gets tough after that and we keep repeating ourselves.

I like Sean’s writing; he’s funny. It’s also hilarious that his picks are always -almost notoriously- wrong (except for Davis Cup, right Sean?) but he puts em out there nonetheless.

And hey Sean - your man Monfils harnessed that jazz of his today; maybe he’ll win a title on dirt! But don’t predict anything. Just in case.

It appears a number of the big names are playing doubles also - Nadal, Djokovic currently on court.

Great for the audience and for doubles.

Nice to hear from you again, Agassifan.

see what higueras does for the Fed, maybe some better dirt tactics

I would love to see Fed grab the FO this year

Probably I don’t have my thinking cap on, and my eyes are not focusing, but what’s pitiful about this article? Absolutely nothing. Except for the Fed fans who probably feel that Sean is not lauding enough praise on Federer. Reporters are supposed to write what they feel and see, I’d say go for it Sean, and thank you for this thread, despite your silence to my post querrying whether there will be a Monte Carlo thread. I still enjoy reading your articles, and in this one you covered a few bases, which is fine with me.

AgassiFan, thanks for the correction. Fed lost to Nadal in the Monte Carlo final, then lost to Volandri in Rome. My mistake!

But, AgassiFan, i will maintain Fed has the easier draw than Rafa, who has Ancic to play Ferrero to play Ferrer, while Fed has Simon/Hidalgo to play Monfils to play Nalbandian.

Dave, regarding his health, as I’ve said before, we’ll never really know what’s going on with Rog until the “book” comes out long after he’s retired.

Minoo Saboori, I have no idea what you are implying. Care to elaborate?

Rogers Twin, you are correct. Pithy? Isn’t that a misspelling for “pity”?

Jane, Monfils won in straights over a Spaniard Verdasco, so that’s a great sign. I think he has a chance over Grosjean or Dr. Ivo. Then if Fed’s doing his “shank” thing I think Monfils could do it.

Von, thanks for the support. See i really do reply sometimes. Just been too busy since the morning to even post anything until now. Heck, I just saw the results for the first time a few minutes ago.

Carlos Moya should officially retire after losing to the only U.S. player in the draw, Sam Querrey. Any Spaniard who’s a former No. 1 and a French winner that loses to an American on red clay in Europe should immediately retire from the game.

Here are the results the present top 8 ranked players (minus Blake and Roddick) have to defend in MC:

Nalby: round of 32
Davydenko: round of 32
Djokovic: round of 16
Ferrer: quarters
Gasquet: quarters
Berdych: semis
Federer: finals
Nadal: winner

Berdych is out with an injury, so he’s not a factor, sorry.

Sean why you always have to underrate Federer’s achievements and his level of play, if you really think he is so lucky why has he been number 1 for 220 consecutives weeks? please I would love to see your honest answer about that and besides you definitively don’t have any idea of the effects of mononucleussis and for how long it affects you.

Sean: I’m positive that you know the meaning of ‘pithy’ - one from the Shakespearean times, but here’s the meaning — ‘concise, and/or full of substance’, as opposed to ‘pitiable’, — meaning mixed with scorn or desrving of pity. I’d say you’ve paid a backhanded, even though not intended compliment, without the writer’s knowledge. Well, comeuppance has raised its ugly head, but in your case, a beautiful one. As the old Southern guy stated: “I calls them as I sees them.” GO FOR IT!! But, you’re going to have to give me some help in dodging the bullets from the pitiableness that will ensue. Deja vu, been there done that, so what’s new.

“Carlos Moya should officially retire after losing to the only U.S. player in the draw, Sam Querrey. Any Spaniard who’s a former No. 1 and a French winner that loses to an American on red clay in Europe should immediately retire from the game.”

I’m happy for Sam, who’s our lone representative in MC. Don’t knock the Americans, we’re getting there. ‘Slow and steady won the race’, said the tortoise to the hare. And, again, ‘Rome was not built in a day’. Maybe in our dotage, an American will win the FO.

Poor Berdych. He’s one of the few who consistently plays in Davis Cup. His injury happened in his Davis Cup match v. Davydenko, he turned his ankle/foot. I hope that this does not discourage him from playing in Davis Cup in the future.

angel, take a moment to read a few of my earlier posts on Federer. in the last month I go into his mono ad nauseum. So much “nauseum” that i’m sick of it but unfortunately who knows when Fed will be in the clear of mono.

Fact is, as I wrote a few hours ago whatever the trouble has been with Fed - and I do believe it to be either health or off-court related or both - we are not going to find out for a very long time.

Sean is clearly a huge Federer fan. Since I’ve been reading this blog, he always has been. It’s not his fault Federer forgot how to play.

i don’t know if Fed “forgot how to play” sensationalsafin, or probably you’re just being facetious, like Sean often is.

Since 2007 Fed’s game has gone awry here-and-there. Even last year he hit errant backhands and shanked forehands. It’s not new. His match against Djoko in Montreal was very similar to their match up at the AO. And presumably he wasn’t sick in Montreal last summer.

I am not saying Fed was never sick, however, because if he & his doctors said he was, then he was. But what I am saying is that, imho, he’s been on a *micro* decline since post-AO last year.

That decline may continue - but I’m not suggesting he’ll suddenly disappear (how could he? He’s still number 1 in the world!!) but he may just continue to lose a little more often. Or, with his new coach’s assistance, he may figure how to better his game, how to cut down on the UEs, and how to focus, focus, focus. Heck, he may win the French Open this year.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

So a third round Murray vs. Djokovic match up? Should be competitive. I enjoy watching both players. Maybe this’ll be the time Murray beats Novak? Novak’s always won easily on hard courts, but this is clay and Murray has a “clay” coach, so you never know.

I still think Djokovic will win. This is one of those matches Murray can win but probably doesn’t BELIEVE he can win.

Maybe Federer will become better. I still think he’s gonna win the big titles this year. Not all of them but a few no doubt. But the losses will increase. The decline will continue. No one stays perfect. If he picks it up and steps his game to dominate some more, maybe not in the same way, but still dominate, then he really might be something above a human.

People forget the past too quickly…..

During 1993-98, Sampras’s peak year, he lost an average of 14-15 matches each year - his best year was 12 losses, I think 1995. He never won more than 2 slams in any one year. After 1997, he never won more than one slam in any year. In fact, he just won wimbledon in 98, 99, 00, then somehow squeaked out the US in 02.

Fed has been doing WAY better in his peak year. Even 2007, supposedly Fed’s down year - he lost only 9 matches, and won 3 slams. Better than Sampras’s best year ever.

And no, the competition isn’t any less today. Its in fact higher than in the 90s.

Point is - people hold Fed to a much higher standard, just because of his ridiculously high achievements. Even Laver never won 3 slams a year thrice. Nobody ever has. Fed has.

Of course, 2006 was Fed’s peak year. He will only go downhill now. Nobody can fight time. However, he is still performing better than the best ever did. He still has many slams in him, even on the way down, more than what Sampras did on his way down.

So lets apply Sampras like standards on Fed - wouldn’t you say that’s high enough? Because Fed’s peak standard are something that nobody can measure upto, not even he himself anymore.

The Sampras Standard is a good enough one!

We seem to forget sometimes that we are dealing with elite athletes who are superb at challenge and response. Federer raised the challenge to a new height and the others have had more than enough exposure to react to his game.

I think we have at least three more years of seeing Fed win a good many tournaments. But over the next three years, we will see the new dominator emerge. And that person is…….?

looking forward to seeing Safin against Ferrer tomorrow morning. Just a month or so ago, and you’d turn your head away and hope the score wasn’t too shaming. Now, there’s every reason to hope! Another Safin comeback? And I really did think that he was at the dead end of beyond! Ferrer’s got to be favourite, but if Safin pulls it off - well, how about a Fed / Safin final - there’s something to warm the juices….

A Safin vs. someone, anyone (!) quarter, semi, or heck, even final would be great. After he gave his post-loss interview at the AO, I thought, this guy still really, really wants to be on the winning end, so I’ve never counted him out completely. He has nothing to prove, he’s admired by many, has beaten the best, has a couple slams, etc. but he’s still here, week in, week out.

And then that nice win against Berdych at Davis Cup, and now a nice 1st round win here… Well, it’s possible he can keep it going. Non offense to Ferrer, whom I like, but I’ll be rooting for Marat.

hi there,
just a short comment:
Sean, you rock and I like your writing. You also take the time to read the comments and respond, which is great.

Now, I have to plead:

please, please, don’t pick Rafa for anything. Go with Federer and Djoko all you want, but not Rafa! please!

Considering how crazy this year has been, I think the whole tennis world, no, the whole world would be shocked with a Safin/Federer final in Monte Carlo. But god f*cking damn would I be stoked! Flat out stoked!! My 2 favorite players… making comebacks… argh now I’m gonna be so disappointed when it doesn’t happen.

Well, the dream of Safin is rudely shattered. The trouble seems to be twofold - lack of confidence and consistency. But these two demons reinforce each other - can’t have one without the other. So how to break the deadlock?

Yeah, but Ferrer on clay is no easy task, even for Safin. A win would’ve been mighty good for the confidence though. I think if Safin could put together a few successive wins over top 10 or 20 players he may start to believe again. I dunno though - tough deadlock to break.

I had thought that Ancic might give Rafa a little bit of trouble.

But forget about it. The King is back home.

nadal has to play 4 weeks in a row - if he has to defend all his points before the french, he must play 20 matches in less than 28 days, all on clay. I think he will run out of steam by Hamburg, and Fed will win there again, because he loves the courts there and he would be more rested and in touch by then.

The French is anyone’s guess….

Sorry Zola, but I am really starting to think Rafael is not just going to have another outstanding clay season, but finish the year No. 1!

I know Federer is winning, but who is he winning against? No one of any quality and that’s going to catch up up to him. My colleague Guerry makes some good points, but times have changed for Fed. The aura is on its way out, and the king may be right behind it!

Dkny Wallets…

I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you….