The Times and its weakness for slipping in a bit of tabloid journalism.

Oh, and welcome from me too, Jimbo. Have you just found the site or have you been reading it for a while? (it's always fascinating what finally prompts someone to register and post in the latter case)

-- Edited by steven at 20:13, 2008-03-04

Thanks for the warm welcome from all of you,

Steven, I've been reading postings for a year or so and it's been fun following what is said on them - all (well, almost all) are reasoned, knowledgeable and, to my eyes, pretty fair.

I 'took the step' to post because I'd agreed with the initial view on the postings here that Fed was clearly getting shirty, which is so out of character for him. I just wondered how this had been portrayed on the official website for the tournament.

When I saw the comments there, which were so out of kilter with what had been portrayed in the Times (and subsequently BBC Sport, shame on you) I wanted to post the 'other side' on the forum.

Anyway, now that Andy's dispatched Fed...again (with a 2-1 record, surely it can only improve from here ), let's hope he continues his 2008 run by beating Novak in the Final!

Hmmm, during the coverage yesterday they showed Fed making said comments and I have to say it came across exactly how the Time had reported it.

Neil Harman's been banging the drum again today:

Roger Federer's lack of coaching exposes flaws

"Youngsters play good on the day. It's if they can play good for the week, that's the question."

"All he did was keep the ball in play, moving me around."

"He's stayed pretty much the same, over the last, say, nine months or so. He really hasn't changed."

All are quotes from Roger Federer immediately after losses in the past 20 months. The first was to Andy Murray in Cincinnati in 2006, then to Guillermo Cañas, of Argentina, at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, a year ago, and finally to Novak Djokovic, the Serb, at the Australian Open in January. The comments go to the core of the world No 1. He neither cares for losing nor relishes its bitter aftertaste. British tennis messageboards were split evenly between rah-rah-rahs for Murray's victory in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Championships on Monday and intolerance of the comments by the Swiss. The sense is that Federer has lost a lot of popular approval for his less than gracious reaction to a second defeat in three matches by the British No 1.

Generally, Federer's arrival in an interview room after he has lost barely affords enough time for a towelling down. When he wins, he takes his time and is then generous with it in four languages. When he said of Murray after his 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 defeat that "he's going to have to grind very hard for the next few years if he keeps playing this way", it was a statement of the obvious, except that it was delivered in the manner of a sniffy rebuke. The odd sly dig at an opponent helps to dodge criticism of one's own performance. But there is much for the 26-year-old to ponder after back-to-back competitive defeats. Federer regards the period after the Australian Open as crucial to prepare mind and body for the next rump of events. Last year, he spent the time with Tony Roche, the veteran Australian coach, although their relationship was cooling to the extent that it had broken down three months later. Between his losses to Djokovic in Melbourne and Murray in Dubai, Federer went 39 days without playing a match. In that time no one has told him when he should practise or what he should practise. That is tough, whatever your talent and powers of self-motivation. And so we reached the first round of a championship stacked with top players with Federer more vulnerable than most. It showed.

The year began with folk counting down to a fourteenth grand-slam tournament title to equal Pete Sampras's record. Now they wonder when he will next shake hands with a loser. Federer heads to the Masters Series event in Indian Wells starting next week, where he was beaten in his opening match in 2007 by Cañas, and Djokovic said yesterday that players are sensing the Swiss's vulnerability. "When the time is passing you learn more, especially if you play him, so after those results in the last couple of months more players are believing they can win against him," the Serb, who expected Murray to win, said. The Scot, meanwhile, can get on with the tournament and focus on today's match against Fernando Verdasco, of Spain, without worrying about Federer or whatever he said about him. Murray looks as good as he ever has and is back under the No 1's skin. It is a very good place to be.

-- Edited by Stircrazy at 13:40, 2008-03-05

That's certainly a more balanced article, though Neil is still playing devil's advocate a bit (and it worked, judging by the comments he provoked at the end! - see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article3485418.ece)

Btw I can't remember him mentioning "British tennis messageboards" directly before, hopefully it might prompt further investigation by a few of those who don't know that such things exist but would like to join in if they did know.

Interesting that Nole claims to have expected Andy to win.

-- Edited by steven at 02:01, 2008-03-06

Madeline wrote:

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There is an article in the New York times which says that Federer is recovering from mononucleosis, and in this part he clarifies what he said about Andy's game:

Federer said he did not mention the mononucleosis until now because he did not want to detract from victories by Djokovic or Murray. But Federer was still criticized in the British news media for being uncharitable in defeat after he commented in Dubai that Murray had not changed his game in the past two years and was surprised at how defensively he was playing.

Federer, who said he has now learned the English term sour grapes, said he was trying only to provide constructive criticism and did not mean to imply that he did not respect Murrays game.

"He beat me after all," Federer said. "Its unfortunate, because thats not what I meant at all."

He added: "Ive always thought he was one of the most talented ones of the whole group, even more talented than Djokovic to be honest. I thought he would do the most first before Djokovic, but Djokovic played really well the last year and started this year unbelievably."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/sports/tennis/08tennis.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3&ref=sports




-- Edited by Madeline at 19:10, 2008-03-07

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Thanks for that Madeline, it certainly gives an insight into what's been going on in Rog's life these past few months. I've read that the EB virus stays with you for the rest of your life once you have it.  (I wonder who he's been kissing?)

Since we're on the subject of Times articles & King Rog, there's an interesting analysis of fallibility & greatness by Simon Barnes in today's edition inspired by his defeat on Monday by Andy...