Unsurprisingly, the tennis world will not see Roger Federer on the match court again until grass season begins.
Following his 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) loss to Thanasi Kokkinakis in the Miami Open second round this past weekend, Federer confirmed that we skip the clay-court swing for a second consecutive season. It worked out for him in 2017, when the well-rested Swiss dominated Wimbledon from start to finish–capturing the title without dropping a single set.
“It already did,” Federer said when asked if a discussion with his team regarding clay had started. “Yeah, I decided not to play.”
When asked if that includes the French Open, he quipped, “Yes. That’s what I said. The clay is the French, as well, yeah.”
The 36-year-old returned to No. 1 in the world by triumphing in Rotterdam last month, but his failure to defend titles in either Indian Wells or Miami means Rafael Nadal will be back in the top spot next week. Nadal has not played since the Australian Open due to a hip injury, but he gained enough ground on his arch rival simply because Federer earned just 610 combined points in Indian Wells and Miami after snagging the maximum 2000 last spring.
Roles could be reversed on clay, however, as Federer has a good chance of getting the No. 1 spot back without playing a match. He has no points to defend until June, whereas Nadal won Monte-Carlo (1000), Barcelona (500), Madrid (1000), and the French Open (2000). He also reached the Rome quarterfinals (180).
The 31-year-old Spaniard will be leading Federer by 100 points when the new rankings are released.
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smart
I’d call it wily of him.
Scared.
Federer has all but admitted that he’s a dud on clay and it’s nothing to do with Nadal’s domination of the surface because Federer had made 3 x 1st rounds, 1 x 3rd Rnd, 1 x 4th Rnd and 1 x QF in the six years he played RG up to 2005 when he first played Nadal there. He’s never won Rome or Monte Carlo.
Things haven’t panned out the way they did for him last year. Yes, he won the AO, but he dropped 1,400 in total from IW and Monte Carlo so if he needs to win Wimbledon.
Federer has “admitted” that he’s nearly 37 and has to play sparingly if he’s to be near his best. That includes no clay tournaments, unfortunately.
Fed is one of the best clay court players ever, based on his performance; 6th all time on this comprehensive GOAT list on clay:
http://www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com/goatList
I don’t see how his early career clay statistics are that relevant. It’s like looking at Nadal’s early AO and USO results (best he could manage in first 10 HC slams was two QFs) and saying that Rafa is a dud on HC.
Yeah, Rafa was at the ripe old age of 21 before he made his first HC semi. (Wasn’t Fed 21 when he won his first slam?) But certainly Fed’s performance at RG has not been “terrible” since 2005 when he made his first semi there. Overall he made that semi (ran into Rafa, bye bye), then made the next 3 finals, then won it in 2009. He made the final in 2011, but not since, I think? With no Rafa around I’m sure Fed would have won more on clay, just as Rafa would have won more on grass w/o Fed around. I doubt I’d place Fed as high as 6th on the all time clay list though.
Exactly Ramara, Fed didn’t reach any SF at the HC slams in the first five years of his atp main tour; ie 10 HC slams that he attempted but failed. He won his first HC slam in his 11th try (AO2004) not unlike Rafa who also won his first on 11th try (AO2009).
Of course Fed went on to win many more after that while Rafa had to battle injuries (skipping some), and a Djoko, who’s the best HC player from 2011-2016. Rafa had missed AO2006/2013, USO2012/2014 and was injured at AO2010/2011/2014/2018, and lost two AO finals narrowly! The only times where Rafa was really poor were during 2015 and 2016. Those two years were really bad, but Rafa wasn’t losing to Tom, Dick or Harry at the HC slams from 2008 onwards.
I won’t say that Fed was no.6 ATG on clay, given that there’re Rosewall, Laver the old timers; and Lendl, Wilander, Kuerten who had won more FOs than Fed. Fed was being stopped by Rafa no doubt, at the FO but we just can’t assume that he would beat Puerta (2005) or Djoko (2008) at the FO. Also, Lendl and Wilander had each other too as rivals on clay, so they might also win more if not for each other.
Nadal has exactly two losses to Federer on grass (against one win). In comparison, Federer has lost to Nadal *13 times* on clay (against two wins).
The reason Federer is so highly ranked on the all-time clay list despite having relatively few clay titles is that he was so often runner-up to the greatest clay court player ever.
Joe, how many grass events are there? They met thrice at Wimbledon; Rafa was too young when Fed won Wimbledon from 2003-2005; Rafa was at the finals in 2010/2011 but Fed didnt make it; after 2011 Rafa was poor at Wimbledon, just like Fed was poor at FO after 2012.
Joe, some correction: Rafa reached his first SF at HC slam in his ninth attempt, at AO2008 ( he didn’t play at AO2006); in that aspect he’s even better than Fed ( who failed to reach any SF at HC slam in his first 10 attempts).
Djoko was better than both, when he reached his first HC SF/final at his 6th HC slam, at USO2007.
nadline nailed it.
Fed fanatics always ignore Rafa’s young age when Federer beat him on grass but now it’s a factor in feds sad clay performance.
Hypocrite much?
Fed isn’t scared. He’s doing what he has to do at his age and stage of his career. He wants to be ready for Wimbledon.
Clay is not a priority for Fed. I also think he doesn’t relish the prospect of possibly playing Rafa on clay. I still would not call that being scared. I think he’s just playing it smart.
Fed knows it’s Rafa time!
😍
Yeah Nny!…Very possibly too Fed don’t want to interfere with Rafa’s fiesta on clay!hehe….Thank u Fed!!
MA,
Yes! Fed knows when to stay out of the way!
😀
Fed has a hard-learned but healthy respect for Rafa on clay – and all other surfaces.
Hahahaha….Yeah Nny!…I have to send Fed a bouquet of flowers later!…
But Fed is not our problem now Nny!…It’s Thiem or the new found confidence Novak in 4th could be a test for our Rafa too…
neither are any threat in MC
perhaps by RG they will be playing well enough to take a set off Nadal
Only problem for Rafa is any of his own health issues. If he stays healthy, I think he loses at most one match during this clay court season.
Djoko not playing well, it’s Lajovic who’s awful that made Djoko looked good. I think Coric will beat this Djoko; Djoko is far off his best, which I believe was in 2011, 2015 and maybe 2016.
If Rafa plays at his DC level at least, he’ll beat whoever he faces; anything better, he’ll be scarily good, not unlike 2010!
Agree with your assessment luckystar. Lajovic was not playing well for whatever reason.
But we’ll know more after he has a go at Coric 😀
I’m surprised at how strong Kei Nishikori was at the end of his match vs Berdych. Of course Berdych contributed to his own defeat after winning the first set. It didn’t even occur to me to pick Kei for one round because he was so rusty and terrible in Miami and I think he pulled out of IW; lost first round in Acapulco…
Feeling optimistic that Kei could make it to the QF or maybe even SF with the draw he has now.
I so badly want Rafa to win MC this year (for all the obvious reasons) but particularly because it is one of his favourite tournaments and will be an important boost to his confidence going into RG. Above all I want to see him avenge the defeat by Djokovic in 2013: I’ve never quite forgiven ND for the gloating display of triumphalism on that occasion. Mind you Rafa had his revenge for the rest of that year by going on an absolute tear after his long injury lay-off.
Vamos Rafa