Society/Culture Federer - the epitome of the sore loser?

Maybe there's a tennis forum, but I thought it would be interesting here given the all-encompassing fame of this bloke.

Is it just me, or does he never give credit to an opponent when he loses? He always talks about the mistakes he made, the effort he put in...Djokovic beats him today and he can't even say "Well, Novak just played a great game."

I think he's a poor role model.

Federer played like crap against Djokovic, so its not surprising he'd focus on the negatives in his own game. 52% first serve, 66 unforced errors and two squandered match points is not good for any player, let alone him.

He's not famous for effusively praising his opponents when he loses, but then you don't become one of the most successful athletes in the world by acknowledging other people are simply better than you. He believes that if he plays his best game then he should be able to beat anybody, and not without reason. Tiger Woods is the same.

When he genuinely throws the kitchen sink at someone and still gets beaten he's happy to acknowledge them. He was quite praising of Soderling after he lost to him at the French Open, for example.

Sure, now looking back, I missed a few too many forehands at the very end, but the match won't be decided on winners only. You can also see mistakes, and he pushed me to make those. Credit to him.

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Missed that part of the interview? That's about as much credit as you can give after playing that poorly.

SurfingTheVoid said:

I think he's a poor role model.

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1. He's a multiple times champion of the game.

2. He's done it in style and is very friendly towards the media and fans.

3. He's quite approachable and willing to sign autographs and the like.

4. He seems a dedicated family man, dedicated towards his kids and wife unlike some others.

I don't understand how he's a poor role model, just because he's unwilling to pour praise on his opponent, who, by the way has been ungracious in victory as well.

[YOUTUBE]jLkZ4GMBOHM[/YOUTUBE]

Meh, it's tennis.

More surprising news would be that tossers WEREN'T involved in it.

evo said:

Meh, it's tennis.

More surprising news would be that tossers WEREN'T involved in it.

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Bingo.

Look over Federer's history when he loses. Not just this game.

Serena Williams board.

Champion player, but yes those who follow tennis would know about how he reacts to losses in big matches.

He's always been a bad loser but the low point was after that epic Wimbledon final in 2008.

It remains one of the greatest sporting spectacles that I've ever seen and towards then end I was thinking that even if Federer won that I wouldn't be unhappy, it was just a privelige to watch such an event.

At the end when they stuck the microphone under both their noses the two of were both utterly gracious and I felt that I'd misjudged Federer and that he was alright and my previous ideas about him were probably more about me than him.

And then I open the newspaper the next morning turn to the sports pages and then read Federer's comments from the full media conference and he said something about it being too dark to play and that it was a lottery who won and if Wimbledon wanted to get their champion like that it was up to them but if they wanted the best player to win then they should have come back the next day.

I couldn't believe it, with his badsportsmanship he'd managed to taint possibly the greatest sporting competition that I'd ever seen and I just thought what a c***.

He was lucky to still be in it anyway the rain saved him earlier when Nadal had destroyed him in the first 2 sets then they had a big break for rain (that's why they were playing so late) he came out and won the next 2 sets on tie breaks the way he does getting a few cheap points on serve.

Since then I've kept an eye out for his post match comments and he is a real w***er whenever he loses, compared with Nadal who's an equally great champion but who always manages to show the winner some respect.

Federer's comments when going out of Wimbledon this year were pathetic, blaming it all in injuries.

I remember one of his interviews after he beat someone and he answered a question by saying 'Well I am rather good', sums him up, thinks he's the greatest ever and can't believe that any other mortal can beat him without a reason, that's why he blubbed when Nadal beat him at the Australian Open...even in his own mind he'd run out of excuses as to why this bloke was always beating him and so he had to face the truth and it made him sad.

**** of a bloke when he loses.

Even worse when he starts the waterworks in someone else's moment.

Being a good loser is overrated.

you cant be the best without thinking there is noone better than you