Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Roger Federer
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(1) Roger's dominance has been too long, especially on majors. We see him as the establishment figure. He has broken most records of the Open era, and he is the new landmark. That makes him the establishment figure.
We try to reconcile our anti-establishment, radical left-wing political views with our sports interests and try to achieve a coherent personality, a right-wing goal.
(2) Roger almost always wins in the big events, denying others their (undeserved) share of big prizes (we twist our belief in affirmative action and social justice in a weird sort of way). Each time he wins, he breaks other players and their fans' hearts.
He does not let others have freebie Slams and does not give them enough credit for their efforts. We simply dislike the big, centralized power because we cannot get there; and we think opposition to the establishment will alleviate our helplessness.
(3) When we think Roger is gone, he comes back strongly. When we thought his 14th Masters ('07 Cincinnati) would be his last Masters and 12th Slam ('07 US Open) would be his last Slam, his longest gaps, he rose from the ashes.
Since '08 US Open title, he has won three out of the last four Slams. The guy has not slowed down in amassing Slams. Our prayers for his disappearance have been denied one more time, and it has been devastating. It is hurting badly.
(4) We compare his lows against his highs, and still find his worst year is better than most others' best career year, 1 major title and 3 Slam finals in '08. We resent him for that, too.
(5) Roger is articulate, eloquent, media savvy, too accessible, too much commercialized. He has become a cultural industry of mass media. Every thing sells about him. Media loves him, and that has been painful to watch.
(6) Roger knows he is good and expresses as such. We believe old ethico-moral value system must have its say here, which prescribes modesty: You are not supposed to self-congratulate and self-praise, which is against the Matthew Arnold's 19th century high cultural etiquette.
(7) Roger has the biggest and most loyal fan base. He won 6 times ATPTennis.com Fan's Favourite. His fans are vocal, extreme, and discursively violent. He is en vogue, attracts largest crowds, friends with the likes of Tiger, Sampras, and fashion institution Anna Wintour, awes the likes of Lebron James.
Not just the fans and celebrities, he has been most popular among fellow players; testimony to that is he has been voted for Sportsmanship Award for 5 times in a row. No active player has ever won, not even once. The same players that he ruthlessly sabotages on court have voted for him. How could they? Where can we find a little hope for support?
(8) Roger even manages to get married between tournaments without missing one, beats his nemesis on home clay, wins back-to-back French and Wimbledon, produces record 15th Career Slam, reclaims no.1, fathers twins, all in four months.
Yet, he looks unbearably calm, disturbingly unperturbed.
(9) Many living legends of tennis consider Roger the Greatest of All Time. That only aggravates our pain and intensifies our resentment.
(10) Roger does not have bad boys' antics. He does not bounce balls forever, does not curse at the officials or ball kids, does not rub his ass on the court, does not grunt, does not take fake timeouts, does not retire when he is losing, does not withdraw from the major or big event due to illness, poor health, or unpreparedness.
He is simply a ruthless ice-cold terminator. We have reason to resent him: We like "Human, All Too Human" villains.
Roger is flawless and too perfect to be human. There is nothing to criticize about his tennis, except rare, fixable glitches that, unfortunately, do not seem to prominently plague and permanently derail his game.
He stays healthy and fit. He is economical, artistic, and magical. He makes everything look effortless. Roger has embedded and synthesized racket technology into his body and mind. He varies his racket stringing between 52.9 to 61.7 pounds tension, depending on his opponent, ball type, surface, and temperature of the day.