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Post by RogiFan on Jan 3, 2005 17:49:16 GMT -5
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Post by Brinyi on Jan 4, 2005 10:22:51 GMT -5
Roche agrees to 10-week coaching contract with Federer Leo Schlink 05jan05 PAT Rafter says Roger Federer will become an even greater player with a reluctant Tony Roche agreeing to a 10-week coaching consultancy. A day after declaring he would again go without a mentor in 2005, world champion Federer has landed one of the biggest prizes in tennis. Roche, who guided both Rafter and Ivan Lendl to the No. 1 mark and grand slam titles, will be in Federer's corner for the first time at the Australian Open, starting January 17. While Rafter believes Lleyton Hewitt will add to his tally of seven wins over Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open winner Federer, he expects the Swiss genius to take his game to even loftier heights under Roche. "The scary thing is that Rochey will tighten a few little things in Roger's game and make him an even better player," dual US Open champion Rafter said. "I've never seen a player hit the ball better than Roger. "He's the most complete player I've seen, which is not to say Lleyton can't beat him because we all know what a great player Lleyton is.  "It's a huge feather in Rochey's cap and shows how much respect there is for him. "Roger's always liked Tony. "Many players have tried to hire Rochey and this shows how much Tony thinks of Roger." While refusing a full-time return to the international circuit, Roche has committed to a well-spaced 10-week roster. "It's good to know that there will be help because I need someone to analyse and improve my game," Federer said. "I have no clue what I would do without him. "It's a relief that there will be help at times when I want it." Roche, 59, could not be contacted yesterday. Roche has knocked back huge offers from Pete Sampras, Marat Safin and Anna Kournikova since Rafter retired three years ago. Federer, winner of 11 titles last year, will use the Sydneysider to prepare for the majors, particularly the French Open -- the only major he is yet to win. Roche has been in Federer's sights for more than a year after he dumped Swede Peter Lundgren at the end of his breakthrough 2003 season. Federer got to know Roche when his mentor was South Australian Peter Carter and has spent a lot of time around Australian players. He was a regular doubles partner for Hewitt during the pair's formative years and always gravitated to the Australian corner of the locker-room. Now based in Dubai, Federer asked Roche to the United Arab Emirates in October for practice sessions, but could not convince the former Australian Davis Cup coach to enlist. Federer flew to Sydney a week before Christmas to practise with Roche and was again rebuffed on a full-time basis. Roche has no desire to travel as he did when working with Rafter, Lendl and Kiwi Wimbledon finalist Chris Lewis. He has hip soreness and prefers to spend most of his time in Sydney. Rafter will not be involved with Federer despite reports the Queenslander would aid Roche as a hitting partner. The 1966 French Open champion, Roche has an enormous reputation as a coach. A disciple of Davis Cup captain Harry Hopman, Roche captured the French title in singles and lost Wimbledon and US Open finals to Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. |
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Post by Lee on Jan 6, 2005 2:03:57 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 6, 2005 11:24:26 GMT -5
 Thanks, Lee, for the pic! Don't care for the blue shoes (or the blue shorts) myself. 
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Post by Vera on Jan 6, 2005 14:55:58 GMT -5
With ease and a cheery face, that's how tennis is for Rogi.
Oh, love the second pic, love guys in white shirt and jeans.
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Post by Lee on Jan 6, 2005 19:26:57 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 6, 2005 19:44:13 GMT -5
 Thanks for the pix, Lee!! Rogi's hair looks a little poofy but it's OK.
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 6, 2005 21:02:53 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 7, 2005 20:55:00 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 11:08:57 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 11:32:43 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 17:53:13 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 17:57:41 GMT -5
And my personal fave...  atptennis.com
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 18:11:44 GMT -5
Federer confirms supremacy  What an amazing start to the season for Roger Federer. He started 2005 the same way he finished 2004, by winning another final, this time in the Qatar Open in Doha. The Swiss has won 14 straight finals and will bid to improve that record later in January at Australian Open. World number one Roger Federer continued his spectacular run at the Qatar Open by beating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3 6-1 in the final on Saturday. Federer's 21st consecutive victory brought him his 23rd win in 31 finals and his 14th final triumph in a row since 2003. The Swiss top seed dominated the sixth-seeded Ljubicic from the start, putting on a scintillating display of accurate serves, fluent backhands and punishing forehands. "I was expecting a tough match because he (Ljubicic) is a big guy with a good serve," Federer told reporters. "He has been a dangerous proposition to all big players. But as it turned out, it was an easy match for me. But in a way it was surprise win too for me because at the start of a new season you really don't know where to focus -- on your backhand, forehand or serves. It will take a few matches to know where you stand." Ljubicic, who had beaten Federer three times in six meetings, folded as the pressure mounted and made too many unforced errors. Federer broke Ljubicic in the sixth game to jump to a 4-2 lead and held his next two service games to take the first set 6-3 in 35 minutes. The second set lasted only 27 minutes as the holder of three grand slam titles blasted his opponent off the court. Federer broke Ljubicic in the first and fifth games as the Croatian continued to make unforced errors. Federer's victory ended the poor record of top seeds in the tournament, except in 1995 when Sweden's Stefan Edberg won the title. Ljubicic paid tribute to his opponent: "I didn't serve well at all," he said. "I was running around a lot in the first set, but as the match progressed it became increasingly difficult for me. He knows how to deal with each player and has a knack of winning big points. He is a great player." Eurosport - 08/01/2005 |
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 18:15:09 GMT -5
Qatar ExxonMobil Open Doha, Qatar January 8, 2005 Federer Wins 23rd Career Title and Continues Finals Streak Top seed Roger Federer wins his 23rd career ATP title, in his 31st final, defeating No. 6 seed Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-1 in one hour, three minutes. It’s the eighth title from the past 10 tournaments Federer has played. The Swiss takes the early lead in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race winning 50 points. He won the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race after having been in the lead for 42 weeks, adding up a total of 1267 points. In the final, played in front of a packed house, Federer broke Ljubicic’s serve in the sixth game and then served out the set to 6-3. The Swiss dominated the second set, taking only 27 minutes, including breaking the Croat’s serve on three occasions. Ljubicic won only four points in the last four games. Federer defeated David Ferrer, Greg Rusedski, No. 7 seed Feliciano Lopez, No. 8 seed Nikolay Davydenko, and No. 6 seed Ivan Ljubicic in today’s final, on his way to the Doha title. Federer wins his 21st consecutive match going back to last season, and is one of only three players (Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg) since 1990 to win 20 or more matches at least twice. He also extends his Open Era (since 1968) record of being unbeaten in his last 14 finals going back to Vienna in 2003. He was previously tied with Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe with 12 consecutive finals won. The 23-year-old Swiss held serve all 43 service games this week en route to the title, saving seven of seven break points. In addition to the 50 INDESIT ATP 2005 Race points Federer picks up US$142,000. Playing in his second straight Doha final, No. 6 seeded Ljubicic was looking for his second career ATP title in his third final. Last year the 25-year-old Croat lost in straight sets to Frenchman Nicolas Escude in the final. He is now holding an 8-2 record in Qatar. Ljubicic wins US$83,600 and 35 INDESIT ATP 2005 Race points. WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID: Federer: “ I think it’s a great start to the season coming here to Doha. I’m very happy to lead the [INDESIT ATP 2005] Race already after the first week.” “In a way this victory is surprising. Of course I was the big favorite so I knew that if somebody beats me here it’s a big upset. But it’s the first tournament of the year, you never know what is going to happen. Now to have won it is a relief. Also I feel the pressure coming into these tournaments being a huge favorite.” “By winning the first set, I think I broke his belief and that’s exactly what I wanted. For me the match went like planned, I never lost my serve, I won the first set, like this I put more pressure on my opponent.” “There are many questions before your first round match. Once your first match is over you get into the rhythm, where you don’t actually ask yourself those questions any longer. I think it’s good that this is gone now, so when I approach the Australian Open now I’m fine. I know that I’m playing well, I know how to play. Because in the beginning of the season there is always this little doubt in your mind.” Ljubicic: “I think I played good but after losing the first set, where I felt I played really well, his confidence was growing. My serve wasn’t helping me at all today and then it’s really tough. He is a tricky player, obviously he is the best in the world. He knows how to deal with the different situations on court.” “I think I played well today. I had some chances, especially in the first set. I could’t serve that well, I was a little stiff physically. I spent a lot of energy in the early rounds, and he wasn’t. But I have to be very satisfied with this week. I didn’t expect to reach the final but I have to say but I was playing some great tennis this week.” atptennis.com
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 18:20:38 GMT -5
Imperial Federer dominates in Qatar Sat 08 Jan, 9:18 PM DOHA (AFP) - Roger Federer added to his long list of remarkable statistics by winning the 23rd title of his career with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Ivan Ljubicic in the final of Qatar Open. It was both the 14th final in a row and the 20th match in a row that Federer had won, and his 44th victory in 46 matches. All these are comparable to some of the better achievements of greats like Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg, and given how much more physical the modern game is becoming, Federer's efforts appear all the more remarkable. But the triple Grand Slam titleholder was not especially interested in such things. For him it was more important to have gone through the tournament without having dropped his serve and to know that, with the defence of his Australian Open title only a week away, much of his game is already where he wants it to be "It's always special to win somewhere for the first time, but I just hope I can keep it up," he said. "Because I have a very important title to defend in Melbourne." Curiously, despite the one-sided score-line, Ljubicic came closer than anyone to achieving the break of serve which nobody had managed throughout ten sets. He had a heavier game than Federer and appeared to try to play big on the important points to embarrass him. It made sense but it also betrayed Ljubicic a little. He had Federer at love-40 in the sixth game and was unable to take advantage of two Federer second serves on two of them; then he had a great chance to put Federer at love-40 again when he was serving for the first set, but from love-30 missed a volley and then overhit with an ambitious backhand return. "Winning the game from love-40 down at 4-2 was important, and there was another opportunity for him at 5-3. These were moments when I thought this is not the direction I want to be going in. "But after I had won those games I think I broke his belief which is exactly what I wanted. I never lost my serve and I put pressure on my opponent." Federer was sometimes forced to scuttle quickly to contain the bombshells from Ljubicic, who had won three of the previous six encounters including the last one 15 months ago in the Wimbledon champion's home city of Basle. But Federer was also constructing points, as usual, in a wide variety of ways. After Ljubicic served a double fault disastrously to concede a break at the start of the second set, the world number one increased the frequency of his net attacks. He concluded the next game with a fierce volley and finished the match with a deft approach facilitating an exquisitely angled forehand volley winner - moments which would have pleased his new coach Tony Roche, who apparently will be trying to develop this aspect of Federer's game further. "At the moment I think Federer is playing better than Sampras did," said Ljubicic. "It's just that Pete went on for seven years. We will have to see through the years how Roger copes." Federer next travels to Kooyong to play an exhibition tournament before beginning the defence of the Australian Open in nine days time. uk.sports.yahoo.com
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 18:24:46 GMT -5
FEDERER ESTRENA EL AÑO EN DOHA Nadie amenaza la hegemonía del rey ÓSCAR FORNET MADRID.- Resulta complicado contar algo nuevo de un tenista que casi todas las semanas es noticia por haber conseguido un nuevo título, y van 23. Y van 44 victorias en los últimos 46 partidos disputados y 14 finales consecutivas sin conocer la derrota. Su última víctima, ante la que ha inaugurado su palmarés en 2005, fue Ivan Ljubicic (6-3, 6-1), en Doha. El jugador croata sólo sumó cuatro juegos en el partido. Federer perdió su última final en la tierra batida de Gstaad, ante Jiri Novak, en julio de 2003. Desde entonces ha sumado 13 títulos, entre ellos tres torneos Masters Series, dos Copas Masters y tres 'grandes': Wimbledon, US Open y Australia. Además, no ha perdido un encuentro desde los JJOO de Atenas. Con su triunfo en la capital qatarí, que se ha producido sin perder una sola vez su servicio y sin ceder un set, el 'número uno' del mundo vuelve a ser el favorito indiscutible para revalidar el título en Melbourne, la primera gran cita de la temporada, en el centenario del torneo, que a petición de Lleyton Hewitt acelerará sus pistas para favorecer las opciones del único tenista local situado entre los 100 primeros puestos del ránking mundial. Triste panorama para uno de los países con mayor tradición en este deporte. Ante Ljubicic, verdugo de Albert Costa en semifinales y contra el que Federer había perdido el último duelo personal (Basilea, 2003), apenas sufrió. Controló su servicio con comodidad durante casi todo el partido, y cuando afrontó alguna situación delicada, la resolvió siempre con la sangre fría de un 'número uno'. Federer es una máquina perfecta que sólo necesita alguna semana más de rodaje para rendir al 100%. Esa es, al menos, la opinión del protagonista: "Las vacaciones han sido muy cortas y espero tener tiempo libre para poner mi físico a punto". Ljubicic, en cambio, no encuentra en el juego del suizo apartados de su juego que deban mejorar: "Juega mejor que Sampras, ya veremos si, como él, es capaz de mantenerse siete años al mismo nivel". Entrenar a este chico, pensará Tony Roche, su nuevo ayudante, australiano, debe ser bastante fácil. elmundodeporte.elmundo.es
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 8, 2005 18:28:45 GMT -5
Nice one, Pat! Rafter tips Roger By PAUL MALONE 09jan05 PAT Rafter believes Roger Federer can become the greatest tennis player of all time. "I never played Roger at his best, thank God," Rafter said. "Federer has the opportunity now to go down as the greatest player of all time. To me, he's the smoothest player. "Tony Roche will make Roger an even better player. But he already has the most complete game I've ever seen." Federer's three grand slam titles in his $7.9 million 2004 took his total to four by the age of 23 -- 10 short of Pete Sampras's men's record of 14. Rafter, 32, won all three matches he played against Federer in 1999 and 2001. By that stage, Federer had played three full years on the tour and entered the top 20, but was yet to reach a grand slam semi-final. Most of Rafter's career-defining battles were against Sampras and Andre Agassi, winner of eight major titles. Yet even they did not make Australia's former world No. 1 marvel in the same the way Federer has in performances such as his two "love" sets against Lleyton Hewitt in last year's US Open final. "There's a lot that makes up a winning formula in players," the dual US Open winner said. "In terms of Pete and Andre, they all have different attributes that makes them champions in their own right. "Confidence was the difference with Roger as a player, then and now. He's different to Lleyton. Lleyton believed in himself from the start and would rip your head off to win a match. "Federer wasn't like that. He had to get the belief and his game has fallen into place, too." Federer's winning streak against opponents ranked in the top 10 has risen to 23 matches. The only man to win the Grand Slam twice, Rod Laver, said Federer was equipped to become the third man to achieve it, although the French Open, the one major title he was yet to claim, would be difficult. Laver said Federer was "head and shoulders" above his rivals last year, but was at his most vulnerable in the first week of a grand slam event. "He's got great talent and desire -- he's such an instinctive player," said Laver, who will come to the Australian Open for the event's centenary year celebrations. "If he really gets into a tournament, he's so hard to beat these days. But there are a lot of good players and he might need to be playing well in the second or third round." Laver declined to say how his game from the 1960s would have gone in a time-tunnel match against a 2005 model Federer. "I'd say give Roger an old racquet, then we're looking at equal things," he said. "You shouldn't compare players from different eras in my book. The amount of spin and power they get with the composite racquets now makes it even harder to compare people from this era with Don Budge (1938 Grand Slam winner)." Rafter said there was good reason to believe world No. 3 Hewitt would go further into this month's Australian Open than he had done previously in a tournament in which his best result so far has been the fourth round. "He's prepared better than any other year and I think he's really excited about the Australian Open," he said. "Lleyton's really given himself a good chance. We'll wait and see how the (speed of the) courts pan out." Laver said Australian Open officials were right to no longer tinker with the speed of courts to maximise Hewitt's winning chances, as European players criticised them of doing when Rafter and Mark Philippoussis were given faster conditions to win at Melbourne Park. "You shouldn't do it to prove a point and get your player a win, which some tournaments have done in the past," he said. "It has to be level for everyone, and I thought Rebound Ace was a fairly good court anyway." Agassi, 34, a four-time Australian Open winner with a determination for off-season training some of his contemporaries have lacked, has accepted he needs to lift his performance level to challenge Federer. Agassi lost both his clashes with Federer in last year and has an unusual complaint about the Swiss star's effect on men's tennis. "Most of the time he's making it look too easy to enjoy," said Agassi with a smile. "His biggest weapon is his forehand and his movement. He's a really explosive mover and his forehand's just a nasty shot. "He does a lot of things really well and he does a few things really great." www.heraldsun.news.com.au/
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Post by Lee on Jan 11, 2005 15:16:25 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 14, 2005 11:20:00 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 15, 2005 22:17:21 GMT -5
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Post by LinaSeta on Jan 16, 2005 2:25:39 GMT -5
woohooo roger's section is actually in the main page... much easier access than the MTF =)
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Post by Patrik Sjöberg on Jan 16, 2005 2:31:51 GMT -5
Welcome lina to the board. ;D
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Post by Partridge In A Pear Tree on Jan 16, 2005 6:18:53 GMT -5
i just LOOOVE this pic, Roger looks so gorgeously relaxed! :lust: |
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Post by Choupi on Jan 16, 2005 10:19:45 GMT -5
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Post by Partridge In A Pear Tree on Jan 16, 2005 15:07:33 GMT -5
thanks for putting it here, choupi!
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 18, 2005 12:23:22 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 20, 2005 16:01:48 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 22, 2005 10:25:31 GMT -5
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Post by RogiFan on Jan 26, 2005 16:23:59 GMT -5
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Gugaaaaaaaaa 
Thanks for the pix, Lee!! Rogi's hair looks a little poofy but it's OK.
