Federer, decide on the Olympics once and for all. Stop freaking flip flopping. Geeezzz!!! From Sarah. Thanks.
Posted by tennisplanet on March 10, 2008
Sarah |
Federer’s Flag Day?
By Richard Pagliaro
Roger Federer’s 27th birthday may be a flag day for the World No. 1.
Federer turns 27 on August 8th, which is also the day opening ceremonies are scheduled for the Beijing Summer Olympics, and the prospect of carrying the Swiss flag at opening ceremonies for the second straight summer Games as well as striving to win his first Olympic medal will likely lure the 12-time Grand Slam champion to Beijing.
Federer — who played in both the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where be began dating long-time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec, and the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he was upset by Tomas Berdych — said today in a Manhattan press conference that his interest in playing Beijing is “very high.”
“I met my girfrliend back in 2000 at the Olympics, carried the flag for Switzerland in 2004 and in 2008 the opening ceremonies are on my birthday and maybe I’ll carrry the flag again,” Federer said. “So it’s a great honor for me to represent my country. And it is an Olympic year the whole calendar gets juggled around so I would like to take a medal back home, no doubt.”
He clearly has the mettle to medal and Federer’s comments today are much more definitive than his remarks in Dubai last week when he said schedule and travel concerns left him undecided on whether he would play Beijing.
“It was quite difficult in Athens,” Federer said last week in Dubai. “Taking the bus and not being in control of my own schedule, and many people recognising me in the village. It was not as enjoyable as Sydney, which I loved. I still have not made up my mind (whether to play in Beijing).”
At today’s press conference, Federer spoke like a man already committed to competing in Beijing.
The Olympic Tennis Event will be played from Sunday, August 10 through Sunday, August 17 at the new Olympic Tennis Center in Beijing, China. The competition will include 64-player men’s and women’s singles draws and a 32-team draw in men’s and women’s doubles.
Pete Sampras, who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, recalled the culture shock arriving at the Olympic Village to find himself staying “in a room with a cot and no air conditioning” and said “you really have to decide if you’re there to compete or just to take in the whole experience because it’s tough to do both.”
The 36-year-old Sampras endured a two-year title drought before defeating archrival Andre Agassi in the 2002 U.S. Open final to script a storybook ending to his career at the age of 31. Sampras said he started to hit a physical and emotional wall at about age 29 when years of global travel on the tennis treadmill began to take a toll and diminished his desire to endure the grind.
“The hardest thing for me was the week in week out grind of the sport,” Sampras said. “For me, when I hit about 29 I think that’s when, you know, physically I wasn’t recovering as well the grind of the tour and the week-in, week-out sort of life style took its toll. Going to Cincinnati again, going to some of these tournaments it was hard to get up for. What I was playing for was one more major win and I was doing whatever I could to win one more major. I just felt I didn’t have it in me anymore. I didn’t have the heart like I did when I was 25. It takes its toll: the traveling, playing 15, 16 years and you’re going to the same events. It just showed; I didn’t win an event for two years. I just felt I was just continuing to play for one more major and once I won that one more major I just didn’t have anything left in the tank. As you get older, you don’t recover as well, you’re heart isn’t quite was into it as when you were younger. It happens. Roger will experience some of that when he hits 30.”
For now, Federer says he’s planning to play the 2012 Olympics, which will be staged on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
“I really try to pace myself. I get inspiration from Pete pushing himself for one more major, Andre [Agassi] playing until he was 36,” Federer said. “I don’t know. We’ll see how long it goes, but definitely the Olympic Games in 2012 is something I’m looking forward to and we’ll go from there and see how I feel with my fitness and motivation. But I really hope and believe it’s not going to be a problem until I am old.”
Jenny said
The great Haile Gebrselassie isn’t competing in the full marathon because of the air quality. I wonder how many other athletes will have second thoughts.
aj said
Isn’t Henin’s participation questionable for the air pollution reason as well?
Jenny said
I’m not sure about Henin Aj. What I did find hilarious was the organisers said something like, [did anyone else hear it?] the air quality would be sorted come August…!!
Jenny said
An interesting piece on how the Olympic organisers in Beijing are trying to clean up their air act.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/6934955.stm
aj said
If this is true at least one player has made a definite decision:-
9-Sports Now has learned exclusively that American tennis superstar Andy Roddick will skip the upcoming summer Olympic games in Beijing, and will instead defend his title at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington. This year the Legg Mason and the Summer Olympics have conflicting August dates, and Roddick has chosen to stay in the United States in an effort to better prepare himself for the U.S. Open, which begins just a week after the Legg Mason concludes.