Serious Federer enthusiast Fiona (@Federering on Twitter) is in Perth for Hopman Cup and obtained a scoop of sorts about the inevitable topic of his eventual retirement from tennis.
Fiona: “Roger, you have to never retire please.”
Roger: “It’s happening one day, I’ll tell you that.”
So there you have the latest inside scoop: Roger Federer will retire one day.
And when it happens, there may be a flood in the stadium from his fans – a flood of tears.
How the great king of tennis finally decides to end this magical carpet ride of iconic, world captivating tennis playing, the final act of the greatest show in sports, is going to be the most dramatic moment in the history of sport.
Good work Fiona!
Wayne Bradford · January 4, 2019 at 11:54 pm
This year will be a celebration of the man’s career. The greatest athlete ever to grace our presence and his impact will be felt forever. So lucky to have been alive to see this era.
Scoop Malinowski · January 5, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Wayne this is not the final year of the King Federer, he will surely play in 2020 and I think beyond. He looks as good as ever to my eyes, or pretty darn close to it.
Michael in UK · January 6, 2019 at 7:51 am
Hi everyone,
Off immediate topic but I see that’s on first day of Sydney Open, in the men’s draw, Rublev has won through qualifying round to play 6th seed Lucas Pouile. I’m hoping Rublev’s return from injury goes well in 2019.
Any thoughts from others here on Nishikori’s prospects off back of his Brisbane win?
Catherine, especially, any thoughts on Jo Konta?
Scoop Malinowski · January 6, 2019 at 8:17 am
Pretty impressive win for Nishikori, to regain his lost status as a champion. Would not be totally shocked if he were to make the semi or final or even win AO. Really curious to see if Rios gets a WC into Columbus Challenger next week, word is he never stopped training and is expecting to play and go for his goal which is to be the oldest man to win a Challenger title at 43, Ivo was 39 last year.
Jg · January 6, 2019 at 7:50 pm
Just hearing about this California UTR Open tournament over the holidays, Querrey won it, Fritz played, Kahn, Escobedo, Brandon Holt, apparently Querrey played a U of Oregon player in the final, so Fritz only made it to the quarters, pretty wild for an open tournament, and no pro points.
Jg · January 6, 2019 at 7:58 pm
Just hearing about this California UTR Open tournament over the holidays, Querrey won it, Fritz played, Kahn, Escobedo, Brandon Holt, apparently Querrey played a U of Oregon player in the final, so Fritz only made it to the quarters, pretty wild for an open tournament, and no pro points. Fish and Haas also played, surprised Scoop wasn’t out there
catherine · January 7, 2019 at 2:08 am
Michael – I never have many thoughts about Konta actually (Kevin Mitchell in the Guardian can more than make up for me)except she seems as erratic as ever. Withdraw ‘injured’ from her Sydney qualifying and then immediately got a place in Melbourne as a lucky loser. Has Osaka withdrawn from AO ? It’s all as clear as mud.
catherine · January 7, 2019 at 2:16 am
No, it’s Sydney Osaka’s w’drawn from. So Johanna retires from her qualifying there and then leapfrogs into the main draw via a lucky loser spot as she’s suddenly not injured any more 🙂
catherine · January 7, 2019 at 2:24 am
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/07/sydney-to-host-inaugural-atp-cup-finals-next-year
So that’s that for Hopman Cup.
All sounds a bit of a shambles to me.
catherine · January 7, 2019 at 3:10 am
Yastremska has turned up in Hobart, beating Siegemund in SS – Dyana is a very promising player but only 18/19. Should take over from Svitolina as top player in Ukraine – Elena seems more interested in dating these days. Laura really should retire.
Draw in Sydney reshuffled. Giorgi beats Tomjlanovic and gets Kerber off the plane from Perth. That could be interesting.
Scoop Malinowski · January 7, 2019 at 8:00 am
jg, they didn’t offer an acceptable appearance fee. Busy with orange bowl and eddie herr. Maybe next year 🙂
catherine · January 7, 2019 at 10:46 am
Konta’s withdrawn again. Finally this time, one supposes.
Deep gossip – guy on Youtube claims he met Kerber playing blackjack in Perth Casino on Saturday night (she snubbed him) and although this tale is without a doubt libellously incorrect it does call up a fascinating image – top player throwing away their earnings at the gaming table. You could make a movie.
I’m always amazed at the things people say online.
catherine · January 8, 2019 at 2:10 am
Ostapenko, Kasatkina out first round in Sydney and Kvitova shows Sabalenka how it’s done, in SS.
For Penko and Daria that’s 2 tournaments in a row which isn’t a good way to start the year. Both may have to seriously rethink their games.
Is Daria too nice a person ?
catherine · January 8, 2019 at 2:28 am
Petra looked sharp here and Aryna a little sluggish after Shenzhen. Very generous net exchange – maybe Sabalenka admires Kvitova – she could learn from watching Good Petra in action, like today. How to harness power.
catherine · January 8, 2019 at 2:58 am
My apologies for monopolising this stream – but Aust tournaments are a good time for UK and comment is free 🙂
Kerber story is rubbish of course, can you imagine ? But Angelique does play Backgammon. She played Steffi while on a trip to Las Vegas. Don’t know about now but years ago Backgammon was everywhere on the women’ circuit – before everyone shut themselves away behind headphones.
Dan Markowitz · January 8, 2019 at 4:52 am
Qball kept up his winning ways from California Open tournament, winning in Sydney first match, but Tiafoe lost close one to MIllman and SteveJo did not look particularly good losing in SS to Leonardo Mayer in Auckland.
It’s amazing that SteveJo at #33 is the 2nd highest ranked American player. I guess winning Houston and Newport last year bumped up his ranking, but he hasn’t seemed to play well now for a while. Fritz did win his first match too after losing to Kudla last week in Brisbane.
Interesting that Murray won his first match against Duckworth and then lost to Medvedev, the eventual finalist in Brisbane. I’m interested to see how Murray does now that his comeback seems to be in full flight. He said he gets mad seeing how he walks with a limp. Doesn’t seem the way an athlete should move, but he says that when he’s moving on the court, he moves better and doesn’t seem too impaired. Interesting too that Murray and Novak both have lower-rank former players as coaches while Fed and Nadal have higher-ranked ones.
Does it seem like the excitement over the new wave of young American players has dissipated some from last year? The bloom has come off of Tiafoe a good deal. Fritz seems still promising, but no big scalps to his resume recently. Donaldson seems nowhere to be found and Opelka is surfacing again after having had mono last year.
But guys like McDonald, Rubin, Kozlov, Escobedo, especially the last three have all dropped in their bids to be top 100 players. Mmoh might still be the silver lining.
catherine · January 8, 2019 at 5:48 am
Raining in Sydney but Angie finishes v Giorgi in SS and gets Kvitova or Hsieh next. And that’s it for today.
Hartt · January 8, 2019 at 8:04 am
I did not see Kvitova’s match, but from the scores figured that “Good” Petra showed up. If only she could appear more consistently!
Michael in UK · January 8, 2019 at 8:21 am
Intersting comments Catherine.
Rublev beat Pouille in easy straight sets. Only their second meeting, Rublev won in ealry 2018, presumably not long before his long layoff due to injury.
Scoop Malinowski · January 8, 2019 at 9:07 am
Everybody is going to be up to play Sabalenka, everyone will feel threatened and at their best. Kvitova has trouble getting up for matches she’s expected to win.
Doug Day · January 9, 2019 at 9:54 am
Just to return this to a Fed update check this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2wfFRsQ-qk
Scoop, How about a piece on tragedy as fuel for players? In Jimmy Conner’s book, its the memory of his mom/coach losing teeth to public court muggers that would fire him up when he needed it. Craig LaMond eventually revealed training rescued him from dwelling on his child sexual abuse. I know there must be countless examples. In keeping with the fuel metaphor its tender, even explosive territory. But at long last, doesn’t this back story give crucial depth to Fed the man who made the game look so easy? Its possibly even more beautiful for the agony that went into it.