Roger Federer Receives A Death Threat In Shanghai, Security Tightened

That’s messed up. Too bad. It’s really a shame.

October 4th, 2012 at 7:46 pm

OMG!! this is disturbing indeed. I know that not everybody likes him but to give him death threats, it is outrageous.

October 4th, 2012 at 7:47 pm

I am glad so far, no one in this respected forum has brough up the possibility that he could the fan of Humble Highness. Everyone knows that my fans are of the highest order – in respect to other players, just like me.

October 4th, 2012 at 10:01 pm

Scary and sad… good to hear they’re taking extra precautions.

October 4th, 2012 at 10:36 pm

Wacko.

Play on Fed!!!!!

October 4th, 2012 at 10:43 pm

@HR, This is not something to inject fun into, or be flippant about, but some concern over the seriousness of the situation is deserving. No one cares whether it’s one of your fans who’s involved, we care about Fed.

I can’t begin to fathom the fear and tension Fed’s family have to endure over this awful threat. I only hope no one gets hurt, because in these situations several people could get injured. We can only hope nothing happens.

October 4th, 2012 at 11:44 pm

Yuck…i will die if anything like that happens…God pls save my feddy bear…Rather Feddy bear should withdraw!!!!

October 5th, 2012 at 12:34 am

Gannu ever believe in conspiracy theories? Uncle Toni and the Djokovic family are behind this.

October 5th, 2012 at 12:40 am

This is profoundly distressing. I have never been to a tennis tournament, but I can’t imagine they have airport-level security screening in place or anything. I only hope that the sick individual responsible for the threat left digital tracks and is being apprehended even as I type.

My heart goes out to Roger and his family. If he should decide to pack up and clear out of there, I’ll certainly have no qualms with it. The race for year end number one is absolutely meaningless compared to his personal safety. And it’s not like this is a frequent occurrence and there aren’t plenty of future tournaments to be played where he isn’t going to be receiving death threats with set dates.

October 5th, 2012 at 12:58 am

Wow! What in the World!!

Have people gone mad!!!

October 5th, 2012 at 3:11 am

Humble Rafa and Noogie what is the matter with you both?this is a distressing time for Roger and the family,theres a time and a place for making silly jokes,now is not one of them.

October 5th, 2012 at 4:25 am

Federer has received several death threats on this Chinese website the last two weeks. Apparently Federer has been under police protection in Switzerland for two weeks.
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sport/tennis/Morddrohungen-gegen-Federer/story/11036137

October 5th, 2012 at 5:19 am

on tennistalk there are posters who are cheering it on!
Moderation is being used thank goodness. But that goes to show what regular posters are all about.

October 5th, 2012 at 5:36 am

This is the photoshopped image “showing a decapitated Federer on his knees on a tennis court, with a masked executioner dressed in black and holding an axe next to him.” Warning: image is disturbing and bloody.
http://www.20min.ch/ro/sports/tennis/story/La-photo-douteuse-qui-menace-Federer-25099038

October 5th, 2012 at 6:22 am

OH Dave that is horrible,surprised the moderarors actually let that through,still it lets the public and the authourities know this is a threat that needs taking very seriously.

October 5th, 2012 at 7:14 am

This is warped and twisted. But I hope Federer doesn’t let it get him down. Play like a champ, Roger!

October 5th, 2012 at 7:30 am

alison @4:25am

I am shocked you are shocked………

I thought this is why it is called the dysfunctional tennis-x blog, no? Anything goes, apparently!!

October 5th, 2012 at 8:23 am

This sounds like a conspiracy to me, hoping that psychology, it will affect him, and obviously his performance will be affected too. Some sick Son -of-Bitch obviously doesn’t want him to play in this tournament!!! All I can say is, PLAY ON ROGER REGARDLESS!!!

October 5th, 2012 at 11:04 am

It’s unbelievable how sick some people can be- just plain disgusting!

Hope fed is safe and well throughout the tourny!

October 5th, 2012 at 12:13 pm

[…] In the other semifinal Marcos Baghdatis battles Kei Nishikori who excited his home fans upsetting Tomas Berdych. So it’s shaping up to be a good weekend of tennis, and it’s on TV courtesy of the Tennis Channel. Hopefully the sickos stay away. […]

October 5th, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Yeah alison. This is going to be a ‘lonely’ tournament for Roger. Federer arrived in Shanghai from Dubai without Mirka, without his twins and without the large entourage of relatives/friends he had originally planned to bring for this trip. (Blick is the largest Swiss german language newspaper).
http://www.blick.ch/sport/tennis/foto-montage-erschreckt-tennis-welt-id2058467.html

Picture: Roger at Shanghai airport.
http://tinyurl.com/8s2sq8y

Picture: Roger at Shanghai airport.
http://tinyurl.com/9sgtzmb

Neil Harman, Tennis Correspondent, London Times: “…A pensive looking Roger Federer was ushered into the back seat of a waiting car at Pu Dong airport in Shanghai today as officials in China attempted to find the culprit of a bizarre threat made against the life of the world’s most famous tennis player… As the Chinese authorities attempted to keep news of the threat under wraps – insisting that local journalists should not write anything about it – it was clear that extra security was on parade… The Federer cavalcade then swept – as much as traffic can sweep in the teeming city – to the hotel where there are certain to be some very nervous people as the next couple of days pass. There are few more popular international athletes in China than Federer who won two of his six Masters Cup titles when the final event of the ATP Tour season was staged in Shanghai and there is always a large group of fans camped on the steps of the hotel all day and most of the night. However, one does not dismiss warnings like this lightly. After what happened to Monaca Seles reading stuff likes this turns my stomach…” (this is a subscription article if you wish to read the rest)
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article3559886.ece

October 5th, 2012 at 1:11 pm

First look at this picture of Roger at Shanghai airport.
http://tinyurl.com/9sgtzmb

Now look at a slightly cropped version of the same picture and read these idiotic comments by USA Today’s Chris Chase. He made several stupid assumptions and jumps to conclusions that there is “the lack of security coordination in this photo” and “it appears everybody is fairly laid back about the whole affair.” This is an example of how some tennis writers allow their biases and ignorance to mislead them.

For example:
– Chase says that “The man in jeans behind Federer isn’t looking at him” — we can see from the first photo that it’s really Tony Godsick talking to someone else.
– Chase presumes “That photographer behind the car door surely isn’t there in an official capacity” — actually, it’s likely that photographer is in an official capacity. It looks like only one official photographer was posted at the front of the car and one at the back of the car, and that’s it.
– Chase presumes “oversized Woody Harrelson has his gaze fixed in other places” — that’s what a security guy is supposed to be doing, duh. Or maybe that guy’s face was simply be caught by photo at a moment in time.
– Chase presumes “the stray hand on the right of the picture seems more concerned with Federer tripping off the curb” — the stray hand is more likely someone (e.g., security) trying to keep the photographer back.
– Chase presumes “the lack of security coordination in this photo is likely a good thing” — the fact that it looks empty behind the car and there are only a few people in the picture indicates the whole area is locked down by security (good security makes itself invisible). Shanghai airport is extremely massive, busy and congested in real life, so this looks unusually quiet.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2012/10/05/roger-federer-security-shanghai/1615113/

October 5th, 2012 at 1:43 pm

Bullet proof windows by the looks of it.

Then again, perhaps that’s standard for Federer.

October 5th, 2012 at 3:00 pm

noogi, it wouldn’t surprise me at all! Novak is so desparate to get back to No. 1 !

October 5th, 2012 at 3:26 pm

Right, Noogi.
Uncle Toni and Marian Vajda want to kill Fed. Back to the asylum for you.

October 5th, 2012 at 3:56 pm

“noogi, it wouldn’t surprise me at all! Novak is so desparate to get back to No. 1 !”

This is a serious issue, a death threat!

Slagging Nole, Rafa or their coaches – in jest or not – doesn’t help matters in my opinion. :/

Besides which, I don’t see Nole as desperate. Of course he’d love to end the year number 1, especially as he’s leading in the race already. But in 2012, he’s played the least amount of tournaments of the top guys (excluding Rafa for obvious reasons). If he was super concerned I’d imagine he’d be adding small events to his schedule, and instead he seems to have dropped them. This year, so far anyhow, he doesn’t have Basel on his calendar, and in past years, he’s typically played there.

October 5th, 2012 at 4:52 pm

“on tennistalk there are posters who are cheering it on!”

That does not surprise me at all. A lot of Roger-haters probably secretly wish him to be sidelined from tennis if not physically eliminated. To be fair, this applies to Rafa-haters and Novak-haters too. Andy will also become an object of hatred once he becomes a very successful player. A Novak acolyte and an Andy acolyte on this site once talked disgustingly about death to Fedal so that Nolandy could take over. Even if it was in jest, the humor was sickening. If normal persons can talk like that, Psychopaths can certainly do much worse.

October 5th, 2012 at 5:13 pm

Nole played 18 tournaments so far. The least amount of tournaments … not between the top4, not between the top10 but between top the100. Where is desperation here, it is more likely that desperation (and something else) is in the head of the person that said such nonsense.

October 5th, 2012 at 6:41 pm

Should say “between the top100” and not “between top the100″…. There is some picky lecturers of English language on this side, so just to be on the safe side and not to get a bad mark in English.

October 5th, 2012 at 6:47 pm

I’m surprised the main stream media has said nothing about this.

October 5th, 2012 at 8:00 pm

Lol, nole is desperate to be no.1!

He is as desperate as fed, muzza and rafa when he is fit!

Lol, post USO he is scheduled to play:

– China open, shanghai and paris.

Federer:

– Shanghai, basle and paris.

Muzza:

– Japan open, shanghai, Basle and paris.

All play WTF.

So based on this, exactly how is nole the ‘desperate one’. Since if anything his schedule seems to hint the same desperation as fed’s and less than muzza!

LMAO, nole is not desperate but others seem to be at knocking him down for petty reasons unfortunately!

Good luck to nole, fed and muzza in the race for no.1!

October 5th, 2012 at 8:13 pm

“majurej Says: I’m surprised the main stream media has said nothing about this.”

As soon as I read it here, I looked it up, and actually ESPN, CNN, The Telegraph, The Guardian and I think CBS all had internet stories on it. So people are taking it seriously, as they should be.

October 5th, 2012 at 8:29 pm

“On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination.”
thats not so crazy at all…
i bet when federer retires, tennis watchers will drop by millions all over the world.
cant you wait a few years? psicko!!!!!!
besides, can your highness shows us mere mortals what sport should all venerate?
cause i can hardly think about a better one?
1. one vs one, no teammates help
2. need of complete mastery in body, mind and tech.
3. no time limit match
4. no physical contact between adversaries (zero tricks or faults)
5. you always had to win the last point, and both always had a chance to win the match until that last point.
6. your next action always depends of what the opponent do (no formulas here)
7. level match field, luck, even what many think is nowhere here.
yeah, after played all kind of games, hobbies and sports, some are fun to play/watch, others are fun to play/watch with friends, teamplay is cool but for the ultimate sport my vote is for tennis, and thats an easy one.

October 5th, 2012 at 9:26 pm

“on tennistalk there are posters who are cheering it on!”

Yep, so true, but disgusting. There’s an air-head on there who never talks anything tennis. She’s joined by some Nadal fans and a Murray fan, and their main agenda is to put down Rog and his fans. All Fed fans’ screen names are turned into something nasty. Sick.

October 5th, 2012 at 11:35 pm

It is a sick World we live in, not sometimes, but many times. To issue a death threat to one of the living legends of this Sport is outrageous. I think somebody jealous of his pinnacle of achievements would have dared to issue such sickening threats. Although it may not be serious, yet due care must be taken to protect Roger from any potential assault. That said, I am worried about Roger’s well being !!

October 6th, 2012 at 12:16 am

Fed won’t go anywhere. The hate Rafa has for Fed is much deeper than u think. The train bombing in Spain a couple of years ago. The work of the Nadals

October 6th, 2012 at 1:54 am

Keeping in mind the security issues, Roger should withdraw from Shanghai. But having said that his withdrawal may not solve the issue but only aggravate it further for it will give added ammunition to such death threats in future which might be used as a tool of igniting fear. Therefore, Roger should go ahead and play in this tournament and probably win it.

October 6th, 2012 at 6:23 am

[…] for Roger who hasn’t played since Davis Cup in mid-September and for someone dealing with a disturbing death threat. Rising Slovak Martin Klizan in also in the Cilic/Monaco section, he’ll play Tomaz Bellucci […]

October 6th, 2012 at 11:27 am

Fed won’t go anywhere. The hate Rafa has for Fed is much deeper than u think. The train bombing in Spain a couple of years ago. The work of the Nadals

noogie, you are wacko.

October 6th, 2012 at 1:42 pm

I am sure all pure Tennis Fans wish him well and safe travels!
Go Fed!

#WhosBad

October 6th, 2012 at 2:22 pm

I hate to be the one to do this but, “in lieu of the threat”, probably should read, “in light of the threat”. “In lieu of” actually means “in place of”.

BTW – I’d be surprised if this is the first death threat he has received. A famous person like him probably gets them all the time.

October 7th, 2012 at 12:16 am

I would take a bullet for Roger anytime. I hope this sick f*ck is found and put in jail.

October 7th, 2012 at 6:36 am

If I may, I’d like to take the chance of looking at the broader picture. Roger is one of give or take 7 billion people on this planet. Out of those 7 billion estimatedly 2 billion can’t take it for granted that they are going to survive the day. So in that respect you could argue that the world is in a, constant, “sick” state.

October 7th, 2012 at 7:50 am

I don’t think Fed should withdraw because that means the “nutter” has won.
But bound to be on his mind, I’d have thought.

October 7th, 2012 at 8:09 am

[…] Speaking to the press in Shanghai Sunday, Roger Federer shrugged off the death threat that he had received last week. […]

October 7th, 2012 at 11:08 am

That’s what religion can do.

October 7th, 2012 at 2:07 pm

[…] Earlier this week the psycho blogger who nearly turned tennis on its axis came out and issued an apology to Roger Federer for making a death threat against the Swiss. […]

October 10th, 2012 at 10:18 am