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Roger Federer: born or molded champion?

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By Romi Cvitkovic

Roger Federer has claimed a multitude of records in tennis and now he can add one more to his list of accolades: World No. 1 for a record 287 weeks, bypassing great legends such as Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.
Federer has been the face of tennis since 2004 when he first catapulted to the top, holding the No. 1 ranking for a record 237 consecutive weeks from February 2, 2004 to August 18, 2008. In what many consider to be the greatest and most competitive era of all time, holding the top spot that long without break was enough to solidify him in the top echelons among all sports. He has claimed not only countless record titles, including 17 Grand Slam titles, 20 ATP Masters 1000 titles, 6 ATP World Tour finals and reached 32 Grand Slam semifinals, but he has also been a repeat recipient for some of sports’ greatest awards, including the Laureus World Sports and ESPY awards.
But it did not always come so easy for Federer. As a kid, he threw fits on court and could be found crying after losses — the latter not being hard to believe given his breakdown after the finals of the 2009 Australian Open. His emotional outbursts as a child may have simply been growing pains, or conversely, tell-tale signs of a future elite player. But no one could have guessed just to what degree his talent would climb. So, are legends born or molded?
In tennis, good athletes come along in constant cycles, reaching the top 100 or so in rankings, great athletes tinker with the top 20 rankings, and excellent athletes hold solidly in the top 5. But legends, they are unlike any species in sports — they dare to dream and achieve the impossible, breaking records and standing as ambassadors. And Roger Federer could already proudly stand at the pinnacle with sporting legends such as Babe Ruth, Muhammed Ali, and Michael Jordan.
After winning his seventh Wimbledon earlier this month at a ripe age of 30, Federer made a confession about his development as a player.
“I never thought I’d be that good. I really never thought that … When I won [Wimbledon] in 2003, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I was going to win Wimbledon and have my kids seeing me lift the trophy… I was considered a big talent. I was considered good in Switzerland first and then at 16, 17 internationally I was making a few dents so I thought ‘ooh, maybe something is possible here, maybe I can make the top 100’. But I was never like ‘I’m going to be world No.1’. That was more like a fantasy, a dream, an idea.”
For Federer it seems to have been equal parts talent and training, combined with some interspersed luck, that got him to this point in life. When he was a junior player, he had the shots and technique, but couldn’t quite put together consistent winning games. With time, some emotional restraint, and his ability to turn weaknesses into strengths, he has achieved what athletes only dream of. And what is scary is that he’s not even near finished — aiming to not only play the London Olympics this summer but hopeful of playing in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
Congratulations Roger, and thank you for your inspiration, thirst for the best, and for bringing tennis the most graceful one-handed backhand in history!
Check out the ATP World Tour video tribute below that includes interviews on Federer’s legacy from the likes of Marat Safin, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg and Ken Rosewall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B9NliaXr2U&hd=1&w=585
(video and photo credit: ATP World Tour)

Win an Adidas Shirt Autographed by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

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In celebration of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s ascension to the top five in the ATP World Tour rankings for the first time in his career, Tennis Grandstand has teamed up with adidas to give away TWO signed Tsonga adidas shirts to lucky fans!
Are you the ultimate Tsonga fan and want a piece of tennis royalty? Well, this is your chance! Tsonga will take part in an adidas photoshoot at the start of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California next week where he’ll have the opportunity to answer two questions from Tennis Grandstand fans! Questions will be chosen from the comments section below and he’ll answer your questions on video! We’ll then post the video after the photoshoot for all of you to enjoy.
All you have to do to win a signed shirt is comment below with the question you would most like to ask Jo! Only questions (and not comments) for Jo will qualify you to win a signed shirt, and please submit no more than two questions per person. Be creative, be funny, be intriguing!
The contest is open now and will run until Monday, March 5th at 7PM EST. Kindly remember to provide a contact email address with your comment as we will notify the two winners by email.
Get the word out and get thinking on what you would want to ask Jo!
 

Around The Corner: Life After The Davis Cup

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With the opening round of the Davis Cup wrapping up on Sunday, the ATP World Tour will now shift back into form with three tournaments in Rotterdam, San Jose and Sao Paulo. Here’s a closer look at the draws from all three events and some analysis on who stands the best chance of making it to the final weekend.
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The largest of the three being played this week, the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is a level 500 event. An indoor hard-court event, Roger Federer will be looking for the surface to bring him some much needed success. A disastrous Davis Cup showing at home on clay has left Federer clearly confused about the status of his game. Rather than admit he played poorly, Federer instead shifted the blame onto country-man Stan Wawrinka. It was a rare moment of bad judgement from Federer. He opens with Nicolas Mahut from France and then could potentially face a dangerous opponent in Mikhail Youzhny who won the title recently in Zagreb.
The always tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov is also in the same quarter as Federer. The two have only played once, with Federer winning in Basel two years ago. Dolgopolov has come a long way since then and with the way Roger played this past week, you’d have to think this could be a great QF match.
Richard Gasquet, Feliciano Lopez and former top-ten presence Nikolay Davydenko are in the following quarter of the draw. I’d give a well-rested Gasquet (he did not travel to Canada for Davis Cup) the best shot of emerging here.

Juan Martin del Potro will be in action this week in Rotterdam

Juan Martin Del Potro is the third seed and should be able to navigate his way through the third quarter of the draw. He opens against Michael Llodra of France who has to get all the way from Vancouver, Canada to Rotterdam in the next twenty-four hours.
At the bottom of the draw is second seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic who has had some success lately with a big win in Montpellier over Gael Monfils. Berdych had a very solid 2011 where he won one event and reached eight tournament semi-finals and seven tournament quarter-finals. He is really starting to find that consistency that will make him a mainstay in the top-ten. A meeting in the second round with Marcos Baghdatis looms, but otherwise Berdych should be able to set-up a semi-final encounter with Del Potro that would be highly entertaining.
Regardless of the results, the tournament is guaranteed a new winner this year as Robin Soderling is not yet healthy enough to defend the title which he has held for the past two years. I’m gonna give the nod to Berdych in this one and I have a feeling that Federer’s recent troubles might continue with an early exit this week.
Brasil Open 2012
Played on clay, the Brasil Open attracts some of the usual dirt-ballers one might expect to see. Nicolas Almagro is the defending champion and also won this event in 2008. He has played some pretty decent ball on hard-courts so far this year so we’ll see if that continues on his favourite surface. Almagro is seeded first and gets a bye into the second round. His quarter is pretty sparse which should help him get his clay-court wheels going.
Fernando Verdasco is the third seed and has a nice section in his quarter as well. Take a look at veteran Fernando Gonzalez from Chile if possible as he has already announced his retirement to take place in Miami this coming March. Injuries have really taken away Gonzo’s physical and mental endurance but hopefully he has a little magic left in him before he says goodbye.
In the bottom-half of the draw, aging Juan Carlos Ferrero the eighth seed and Thomaz Bellucci the fourth seed will likely fight it out for a spot in the quarter, while the bottom quarter is the most interesting with David Nalbandian who is unseeded, Albert Montanes and second seeded Gilles Simon.
Almagro gets my vote of confidence to take this one based on his clay-court prowess and success at this venue in previous years.
SAP Open
A year ago the ATP World Tour took notice of fast-rising Canadian sensation Milos Raonic when he won his first-ever event here in San Jose. Unfortunately for Canadian tennis fans, a repeat will be very difficult to achieve for several reasons.
Firstly, Raonic was forced to pull-out of the Davis Cup tie against France on Sunday with pain in his knee that had been already taped throughout the event. Will he even be healthy enough to play in San Jose?
Beyond the injury debate, Milos has a tough draw that sets him up with first-seeded Gael Monfils in a possible semi-final match-up. He will also have to contend with having the entire draw gunning for him as the defending champ. Coming into an event as the title-holder is quite different from what he experienced a year ago.
In the bottom-half things will be pretty wide-open with Andy Roddick returning from an injury he suffered at the Australian Open and occupying the second seed. Who knows what kind of game the former American No. 1 will bring with him but his lack of match play will hinder his changes.
Underachieving Sam Querrey, aging Radek Stepanek and vet Julien Benneteau round-out the bottom half in terms of potential contenders. I’d look for one of them rather than Roddick to make their way to the finals against Monfils who appears to be over the knee problems that he was dealing with upon his arrival to Canada for the Davis Cup.