Roger Federer On His Back Injury: I Still Can’t Practice, But Hopefully Wednesday I’ll Be On The Court

I hope he plays if Switzerland has to have any chance in winning the Davis Cup. Remember the finale is being played on clay courts and so it gets that much tougher.

November 18th, 2014 at 11:25 pm

I don’t understand. Just days ago tennis-xers assured me the injury was faked to avoid humiliation to Novak/ save himself for Davis Cup/ appease alien overlords.
Now this.
Help me tennis-x, help me to understand.

November 19th, 2014 at 7:51 am

TennisVagabond.com. Seriously – you are one eluded dude!!! If you are under the impression that this is what Roger did – Man, you are one sick person!!

tennis-xers “assured you” like you truly wanted to believe this to be the case?? Oviously you are a “Federe-hater – do you really think that Roger would jeapardise his whole career by doing this????????? And as for avoiding humiliation to Novak – well your comment is not even worth commenting on !!!

November 19th, 2014 at 11:49 am

Not a Fed fan, as we all know, but I don’t believe for one minute that he faked anything…….Fed withdrawing from the finals of the year end tournament??? I just don’t see it, he had to be hurt. BTW, he hasn’t played in DC yet…..he could still pull out! At 33 the muscles require a little more time to recover. If he did do this on purpose, I would be very shocked………but of course it’s a possibility, I suppose.

November 19th, 2014 at 11:58 am

I don’t get the reasoning of those who say that Fed faked the injury. If he didn’t want to play Djokovic, why would he have fought so hard to win that semifinal? How come he hasn’t practiced on the French clay yet?

Also, this was only his 3rd withdrawal in over 1000 matches. Clearly not one to fake an injury to get out of a match. If anything, he learned from 2013 that he shouldn’t play through a bad back.

November 19th, 2014 at 12:15 pm

^ Also, why is there an assumption that Fed was scared to play Djokovic? They had split their previous matches this year and the two that Fed had lost (Indian Wells and Wimbledon) were very close.

November 19th, 2014 at 12:17 pm

Anna none of my buisness you will probably say?but Tennis Vagabond is a Federer fan,but also a tennis fan first and foremost,and one of the fairest,unbiased and most approachable fans on this forum,and by saying that your comment wasnt worth commenting on was rather contradictory anyway,as you already did….

November 19th, 2014 at 12:29 pm

Federer is on court training right now.

https://twitter.com/Isabellemusy/status/535125986573291522/photo/1

November 19th, 2014 at 12:48 pm

A simple; Tennis V’s comment was sarcastic would have sufficed.

November 19th, 2014 at 12:50 pm

Anna, the word for today is: sarcasm.
ˈsärˌkazəm
noun
the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

November 19th, 2014 at 12:56 pm

The other word for today is: blind

To use in a sentence:

I must be blind because I did not see the Jack Lewis post related to the word “sarcasm”.

November 19th, 2014 at 12:59 pm

Thanks Elina. It must be cold in that venue. All the training pics show the palyers layering up.

November 19th, 2014 at 2:02 pm

@ RZ

The Novak devotees and other detractors of Roger on most blogs are angry and gutted. The “smart” and “cunning” Roger deprived them of a great opportunity to see him “humiliated” by Novak. Everything was in Novak’s favor and Roger’s back issues would have definitely ensured a double bagel. Some think Novak would have beaten even a 100% Roger black and blue. That is why he “chickened out” as he was “scared” and “terrified” of playing this “monster” called Novak. By this logic, Roger should skip playing Novak in the future too so as to avoid getting humiliated as he gets older. I wonder if we have seen the last match of this storied rivalry.

Novak would have been my pick to win the final even against a fit Roger. That is not important though. I think Roger still thinks he can beat anyone not named Rafa and even then, he never shies away from playing his ultimate nemesis. Going by his great scrap against Stan, I think he was chomping at the bit to have another crack at the WTF. He does not need to enact a drama by battling with Stan so hard only to withdraw next day. He could easily have ‘tanked’ a point here or there in the semi and nobody would be bothered. I also think he is likely to withdraw more often in the future as he is no spring chicken. However, three walkovers in over 1200 matches say something about a player who has rarely taken a break from the tour since he turned pro despite having a chronic back issue for more than a decade.

November 19th, 2014 at 2:08 pm

Roger hit the practice courts today…..so I guess he’s about ready to go with DC all you Fed fans! I read this just now on my FB account…..

November 19th, 2014 at 3:02 pm

Oki, Roger was never in doubt to play DC final:)

November 19th, 2014 at 3:08 pm

I just now read all the above comments……My news about Roger training was old news…..sorry, I didn’t mean to be “little sir echo”…….I’ll read everything before I post and I honestly believe I did……but another Sr. moment!! Lol

November 19th, 2014 at 3:10 pm

@Wog boy……I just wasn’t for sure…..I still don’t think there was anything sinister going on by his withdrawal against Novak…..I really believe he was hurt and I still think he strained it on the overhead smash shot……He was in a very awkward position during that particular hit, imo. I guess being the professional I believe him to be, he just would not do that……but having said that…I’ve been wrong before, but will still give him the benefit of the doubt!!

November 19th, 2014 at 3:23 pm

Thanks Jack and Polo.

November 19th, 2014 at 3:24 pm

and thank YOU HC!

November 19th, 2014 at 3:24 pm

Good to see he got in a “light” practise but will leave judgement as to whether he will play or not until Friday.

November 19th, 2014 at 3:30 pm

Just imagine if Rafa had withdrawn from WTF final and was practising 3 days later for DC!
Lol. Anyone have any views??

November 20th, 2014 at 5:44 am

You guys! Roger has decided that he is fit to play against Monfils tomorrow!

I was so worried after he barely practised just yesterday.

You see? Just like I thought. It was probably just a muscle spasm after all.

November 20th, 2014 at 9:31 am

Its his last chance to win Davis Cup, so the guy must givi it a try. The safe scenario should have been rest till Sunday, hoping for a win of Stan against Tsonga, thus giving them a chance to pull the trigger on Sunday, but if his back is 60% okay, i think that the proper treatment and painkillers can do he job for a 3 day extra tennis, considering that the season its already over.
The french players are pumped up, but they are to inconsistent to count on them, specially on clay (Tsonga)

November 20th, 2014 at 10:59 am

I could imagine what we would have on this site if it was Novak Djokovic.

November 21st, 2014 at 8:16 am

^Or Nadal,put it this way neither would get of lightly^….

November 21st, 2014 at 8:24 am