Roger Federer - Umetnik sa reketom

[Gama]

[Dejan]

Here's Federer in 1998 with then-coach Peter Carter. Pic was taken at European Junior Championships.

[Milutinov Tata]

Kada smo vec kod juniorskih dana, vrlo zanimljiv tekst o poslednjoj juniorskoj sezoni Federera

http://www.profesionalnitenis.com/20-decembar-1998-rodzer-federer-na-krovu-juniorskog-tenisa/

[alcesta]

Odličan intervju iz Južne Afrike:

Q&A-Tennis-Federer's Heart Is in South Africa

GOVHU, South Africa (Reuters) - Roger Federer was back in South Africa for the first time in eight years and it was not long before he was surrounded by a swarm of three-year-old toddlers tugging at his shirt and hankering to play a game of tennis.
Unlike many of the fans the 17-times grand slam champion usually encounters, these children hold a special place in the Swiss champion's heart as his charitable foundation is helping to educate them.
Federer showed the children how to play tennis, joined them in a game of hopscotch and read out stories to a captive audience before sitting down with Reuters to chat about the pressures faced by top athletes, being in his South African mother's homeland, and what he hopes to achieve during the 10th anniversary of the Roger Federer Foundation.

REUTERS: Your trip here has coincided with the bail hearing of paralympian Oscar Pistorius. Pistorius's story has put a particular spotlight on sporting heroes. Do you think there's a lot of pressure put on professional athletes?
FEDERER: Everybody handles it (pressure and stress) differently. My success came gradually, which was helpful, even though I was always considered a great talent, someone who could become world number one. So it wasn't a huge surprise that I made it to world number one and won Wimbledon, but for me it was.
To handle that stardom, the red carpets, the photo shoots, people all of a sudden recognizing you and following you in everyday life, it's a bit weird. It's strange and it can have funny effects on you in terms of do you like it or don't you like it. Some people run away from it, some people embrace it, I found a good middle ground.
It's tricky, especially (because) people love fairytale stories; take you down, put you back up, put you down. And obviously the more famous you become, the more great everything seems when things goes well, and the worse they seem when things don't go so well.
I realized that when I was world number one, I would play an average match and people would say ‘you played so well, it's unbelievable'. And when I would play incredibly they would say ‘oh my god, we've never seen this tennis before in my life'. So it's always an exaggeration, the whole thing, and that's what we live in, unfortunately.
REUTERS: So are we paying undue attention to Pistorius because of who he is?
FEDERER: This is now a particular story, it's very difficult. You can't compare this one to any other....
REUTERS: How important is it to take time out?
FEDERER: For me vacation and family time is as important as training. So I try to take to take at least 10 days if not two weeks of holiday. After the Australian (Open in January) I took two weeks of vacation, all I did was spend time with my family.
I couldn't handle this daily stress of people recognizing me, signing autographs, doing press, playing matches, the pressure, people always in my face.
I need to get away from it all. So that when I do come back to the game, I'm hungry, and I'm in the mood to sign autographs, I'm in the mood to do interviews. Not that it becomes a drain and it becomes a burden, because when it's that, the fun goes away then you stop, it's just as simple as that.
REUTERS: It's been a decade since you set up the Roger Federer Foundation which funds pre-school and primary education in Africa and Switzerland. What are you doing to mark the anniversary?
FEDERER: We were thinking of doing different things. Most important was that I definitely do the trip this year, that has been my number one priority. I went to Ethiopia a few years ago but I really wanted to come back to South Africa.
My heart is in South Africa, through my mum. My mum being from here, me spending a lot of time here as well, I feel most connected to this part of the world.
Obviously I would like to see other ones (projects in the five other African countries) as well, but coming here, being able to do something in South Africa and also visiting my family was important.
The 10 years are important to us. I still feel we're in the beginning of everything. Ten years sounds like a long time but it's changed a lot in terms of the kids we're able to reach and the money we're able to put out there to help.
In this regard I was thinking of doing another 'Match for Africa' again which I did two or three years ago with (Rafa)Nadal when I was able to raise up to $3 million. I don't know if this year will be the year to do it but I hope to.
REUTERS: Is it important for people in your kind of position to 'give back'?
FEDERER: Sometimes it's not always about the money. If people were willing to give time, to talk, to inspire, to help; because at the end of the day it comes down to the people who help the kids get smarter and get better at the end of the day.
Of course you need money to be able to do that sometimes, not everywhere in the world, but here particularly you do, its clear, its visible.
REUTERS: Is it important to do it?
FEDERER: I think you have to do what you feel is right to do. I don't think there's a certain obligation, but it would be a missed opportunity if you didn't because, let's not forget how incredibly lucky... I can only speak for myself; how incredibly lucky I feel that I made my hobby my job and my dream at the end of the day.
Sometimes with little effort I can raise so much awareness or raise so much money in one event, that other people would take a long long time to raise - I feel I would be selfish if I were to not share that with other people.
REUTERS: Your twin daughters are almost four years old now. Does having a family make you better or slow you down?
FEDERER: I thought it would maybe slow me down a bit just because everybody says so. I'm happy that again I was able to prove that its possible to have a family and play well. Not only do I have a family but I have twin girls, so it was super intense in the first years, it's still very intense now. But I made it work. I have an incredible wife who is so supportive and is willing to travel.
At (the) Rotterdam (tournament last week) I was by myself, and I didn't feel the same. Maybe that's one of the reasons I didn't play well, who knows? I miss them much.
I'm happy that I'm able to combine both at the same time. Nine, 10 years ago I never thought of me being a dad, playing tennis, winning the big titles.
In the dream or vision, you always see yourself with the trophy, but you never see yourself with the trophy looking at your kids like what happened at Wimbledon last year. I'm happy I had the opportunity to live through that, those memories will be with me for a lifetime.

NB: The Roger Federer Foundation supports 40 pre-schools in Limpopo province and spends over $3 million a year on educational projects in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia and Federer's home country Switzerland.
Over 50,000 children benefited from the foundation's efforts in 2012 to improve quality education in pre-schools and primary schools.

[alcesta]

I još jedan:

Roger Federer: proudly Swiss African


Johannesburg – Around 6km away from where Roger Federer is sitting in an alcove at the Intercontinental Hotel at OR Tambo is the Ciba chemical company in Spartan, Kempton Park.
It was at that company back in 1970 that a Swiss man by the name of Robert Federer met an English-speaking Afrikaans girl called Lynette Durand. They fell in love, moved to Switzerland and 11 years after they met produced one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen.
In an interview on Talk Radio 702 some years back, Lynette Federer said we should consider her son as a South African as well as a Swiss player. “She said that?” he laughed. I took it a step further. “As your mother once lived in the East Rand, I call you the ‘East Rand’s Roger Federer’? Is that okay?” He sat forward and laughed hard: “You do? okay, okay …”
Federer arrived in the land of his mother’s birth for a short visit this week, a whistle-stop tour to visit one of the pre-schools that benefit from the Roger Federer Foundation. He’s apologetic for being late, the flight from Limpopo having been a little delayed. He was due to fly out later that same night to Dubai for a tournament there, but does not look rushed, dressed in white Nike T-shirt, jeans and running shoes. We start at the beginning, and I point in the vague direction of where his parents would have met in Kempton Park.
“Exactly right here. I used to spend a lot of time here. I’ve been all around South Africa, everywhere from the coast to Kruger National Park. Always enjoyed coming back, no doubt about it. It’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world,” he said. Some 14 000 South African children benefit from his foundation, which has projects in Malawi (6 500 children), Zimbabwe (16 000), Zambia (10 000), Botswana (5 500), Ethiopia (3 200) and Switzerland.
“It’s the 10th year anniversary. We started it on December 24, 2003. It all started at that first project in PE (Port Elizabeth). I was there in 2005. It’s very emotional. I have a strong bond to South Africa because of my Mom. I spent a lot of time here as a kid. Can’t believe I haven’t been here for eight years. I had planned to come back a lot more, but the next thing you know I become this good tennis player and I have to travel all around the world, and so when you don’t have to travel you just don’t. I’m very happy to have made this trip again, to see some friends and family. It was so worthwhile. I know it won’t be another eight years until I come back to South Africa.
“I had a field visit in the Limpopo province. Since 2010 we’ve supported 14 pre-schools, or crèches, I think you call them here. We are going to support 40 in the future, so I went to see two of them. I was speaking to teachers, our partner, Read. We have to have partners because we obviously can’t do this alone. You need the community, the partners to give the best possibly opportunity for the kids. I loved playing with the kids, they were between two and six years old, right in the sort of demographic of my own kids, so it felt really like home a little bit.”
Read, according to the website, “enables the further training of teachers, and provides the schools with material. The teachers are trained how to use resources for teaching children to read and write, and are taught the options of effectively integrating these into lessons.” The Foundation will invest over R8.7-million from 2012-2013 in Read educational development.
“Hopefully in the process, the kids are going to have a better opportunity at school after that, getting good quality pre-schooling. When I come and see these I leave with so many memories, so many pictures. I talk about it with my wife, with my kids, with my friends. Then we start planning the next visit, can we do more?”
As well as the 10th anniversary of his Foundation, the 2013 Wimbledon also marks 10 years since he won his first Grand Slam in London. “I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. I sometimes still feel like a junior, I really do. I talk about the years ‘98 or ‘99 when I made the breakthrough like it was not long ago. Here I am and people are talking about me retiring, and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? Me retiring?’ I feel like I’m in the middle of my career even though I know that the average retirement age is, what, maybe 31, maybe 33, maybe 36? I don’t know what it is. But as long as I love playing I’ll keep playing. Ten years since my first Wimbledon victory in 2003, jeez, it’s gone by so quickly. I can’t believe it.
“I’ve gotten much stronger physically, obviously, over the years. I’ve adjusted to a more dynamic, physical tennis style that is being played today. The generation that was my heroes or the ones who I was looking up to have all retired, and they were maybe the ones who came into the net a lot more (than players today).
“The game has evolved in terms of the strings, in terms of how dynamic it has become. I never thought it would change the way it has. It’s interesting for me to have to adapt my game to handle the generation of today, as I went to a different school to today’s generation. It’s exciting. I love rivalries, I love these challenges and I hope to play through as many generations as I can.
“In tennis we probably have new generations every five to seven years, a new wave that comes in. I’ve been very fortunate to have been in the game for a long time. I definitely feel like I’m a better player now than 10 years ago. I would have to be otherwise all the practice I do is not worth it.”
He will be taking it a little easier this year than in previous years, taking a few tournaments out of his schedule. Last year was “brutal”, he said, with Davis Cup and Olympics. He’ll be spending more time at home with his family and catching up on practice. At the age of 31 he is still honing his game, still learning. “I’m going to catch up on the practice I missed out on in the last few years with pushing for number one and playing all those tournaments. It’s a long-term plan.”

[Nowitzki.ct]

Još par slika sa humanitarne posjete Africi:

[Nowitzki.ct]

Sada prelazim na Dubai. Žrijeb je dosta dobar, ali neću unaprijed o rivalima, u Roterdamu se pokazalo kako su iznenađenja itekako moguća. Podsjetnik na prošlogodišnji turnir:



1.kolo: izazivač iz Tunisa

Malek Jaziri. 185 cm, 82 kg. Momak rođen u Bizerti januara 1984. godine sa trenutni prebivalištem u glavnom gradu Tunisu, prvi je protivnik Rodžera u Dubaiju. Trenutni renking mu je 130. Najbolji u karijeri 69. zabilježio je u julu prošle godine. U 2013-oj nije odigrao nijedan meč na ATP turnirima, bez takmičarskog meča je dakle od 1.novembra i poraza od Švajcarca Laksonena u Ženevi. Omiljeni udarac mu je forhend, a omiljena podloga je tvrda. Sa Federerom će mu ovo biti prvi međusobni susret.

[alcesta]

No. 1 Still a Goal

[Nowitzki.ct]

Druženje sa novinarima u Dubaiju

[Unexpected]

Roger Federer is to take a two-month break from competitive tennis

Roger Federer will take a near two-month break from competitive tennis following the Indian Wells tournament in March as the 31-year-old opts to spend more time with his young family and prepare for the clay-court season...

[jabukamen]

Mislim da je ovo poruka da se Roger oprasta od borbe za prvo mesto, a verujem da nema neke ambicije ni na RG. Ostaje mu lagodna pozicija favorita iz senke na preostala 3 GS na podlogama koje mu odgovaraju do kraja karijere, a kad ce biti kraj zavisi od toga kakve ce mu poruke slati protivnici, kako prva trojica, tako i Berdisi, Conge. London 2014. sa 33,5 godine i bez sanse za jos koji GS mi deluje kao prirodno vreme za kraj.

[alcesta]

Znači ništa mu ne veruješ od ovoga što je rekao

[Starsica]

Nema u njemu volje za odustajanjem. Ako je neko kompetitivan, on je.

[Milutinov Tata]

Ja mu verujem kada kaze da cilja prvo mesto, ali je i objasnio koji su uslovi potrebni za to. Realno on nema neke sanse da dodje do te pozicije pre kasne jeseni (a ako na sljaci bude "ocekivani" razvoj situacije sa dominacijom Nadala i Novaka skoro da nema sanse ove godine), ali bi mozda odlicnim drugim delom sezone (od Vimbldona) mogao da dodje u poziciju da napadne prvo mesto pocetkom sledece godine. Naravno realnije je da osvoji neki slem.

Naravno na sljaci je moguc i potpuno (ne)ocekivani razvoj situacije ukoliko Federer izbegne Nadala i Novaka u svojoj polovini.

[alcesta]

Ma prvo mesto mu je u rangu, ako ugrabi super, ako ne ništa strašno. Ali ne vidim zašto bi išao u penziju u skoroj budućnosti, tim pre ako bude birao turnire i igrao samo kad je dovoljno spreman i odmoran.