I'm really impressed with the Fed's work ethic...no wonder he's never out of breadth after a long rally...I see he's been working on his BH a lot...I hope he's not neglecting the FH...it's been err on unapproved vacations off late...

Nice back story Pete...always nice to hear inside stories that Fed is the still a nice guy...

Seriously though, is Nike really not going to release that RF hat...that's a crime...

First?

*that's the equivalent of a dreary hostel, loaded with stringy-haired German druggies looking to steal your backpack*

bad experiences, Pete? ;)

No wonder Fed is able to be in shape for 5 set matches with his work ethic in the Dubai heat and practicing long hours. Levine will be able to carry that experience and the match against Kolya to better his game.

nice story , Pete
and next time I will cheer loudly for Levine
had I realized this was the guy - I would have been more interested in the Davydenko match that was played so early this morning.

""I wore them once and got made fun of, so I'm never wearing them again.""

Oh dear does this mean the bizarrely accessorised Wimby pimp get up is not coming back?

Jawohl Bismarck, I saw the movie Hostel, pretty scary stuff. Ok, it must have been this guys dream to hit with Roger, I wonder if he was able to stay with him.

from tmf's presser:

Q. The kid from Florida, Jesse Levine, was talking about your time in Dubai.
ROGER FEDERER: Was he happy?

Q. He said he had a good time.
ROGER FEDERER: Okay, good (smiling).

Q. Said he went to lunch twice with you, but you didn't set him up at the seven star hotel.
ROGER FEDERER: I didn't stay there either. It was good fun, he came over. It was a long way for him, too, to come all the way from Florida. And, you know, not having a coach after Rome anymore, you know, I had to be well organized, organized that he could come, and a guy from Lithuania, Ricardas Berankis, I played with them. Also my doubles partner came for the week. It was good fun. My Davis Cup captain helped me out. Obviously beautiful weather, really hot. He plays well.

Mrs Santa: one can only hope...the problem being that some people actually floved the outfit i.e. Ana Wintour...oyvey...Nike might try to top it next year...yikes *shudders at the horror*

Pete: Great story.

Oh, that is such a great article, loved it Pete.

I'm a Jesse fan from now on, pity he got Koyla today, he would have fared better against someone else.

So, Roger is working hard. So much for claims he's unfit.

Oh, and "Hail, maybe Roger got Levine over to Dubai because he misses Rafa, and that, crazy bolo-throwing Mallorcan cowboy forehand follow-through. Stranger things have happened"

Slashing, Pete?

*ducks*

Crap, the 6:44 was me.

Beckham: Hey, if it means Fed winning Wimbledon again, NIke can come up with whatever outfit they want.

err according to the Fed's presser...he didn't know Levine was a lefty till he picked up his racket...I guess that debunks the theory that he brought Levine specifically because of Rafa...

Sam: once again if the Fed shows up in an "outfit" for Wimby 08...I will hold my tongue till he wins the title...;)

Cross posting this from the prior thread, because it seems to fit the theme of Pete's post well:

I'm surprised no-one has really cottoned on to what Federer is up to. I mean, to anyone with any knowledge of history and the occult, it's as clear as day.

At age 25, Federer realized that his physical powers were moving into inexorable decline. He's not the first person to have this terrible knowledge - see for example, Countess Bathory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bathory

Federer's solution to the problem lacks the obvious Gothic aspects of the Hungarian Countess', but is no less diabolical for that. Simply put, he is inviting young men to "train" with him, whereupon he strips them of their tennis life-force, preserving his own vitality at fiendish cost to the husks that remain behind.

You will note that even Nadal, his erstwhile rival, has stumbled into Federer's dastardly web. Invited as a passenger on Federer's personal jet, the formerly doughty Mallorcan fell in the very first round of the next tournament at Cincinnati, complaining of dizziness, exhaustion and lassitude.

And Jesse Levine, previously a star in Florida, can take only 5 games from Davydenko. What more proof do you need?

When the tennis writers ask "can he be stopped," my only response is hollow laughter. Where, oh where, are the Van Helsings of this day?

lovely story pete

i fall more and more in flove with roger by the day
it sucks now because i can't get any live tennis except the tail end of the jankovic match only because it leads to justine's match... and then after a couple of hours of boring studio talk about football (ok i'm not that interested in the jupiler league!), they put on darcis and haas, but in the middle of the third set.

tried to search for live streaming on the web but have not come up with anything. :(

thank you for this story, pete. makes me wish i were in levine's shoes.

glad for murray today. but gutted for double faulting marcos!

andrew

you are priceless! gotta love you man :)
loved your van helsing theory. can those van helsings hail from belgrade or adelaide, perhaps? the argentinian and italian versions seem to have wilted and faded away.

we don't reveal the sources and methods of the dubai practice session Mr. Levine, I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Regards.
TFB

Svelte: bah humbug...the Van Helsings have not been found yet...neither will one be found till the year 2012...;)...and I dare say they'll be from France...paging Baby Fed...;)

Mr. Bodo: you clearly did not get the memo, Rajah is a grinder, a practice animal...hahahah, really now. Regards, the KADs

Pete:
Enjoyed the update on Jesse. As usual, you captured his personality perfectly. When he reached the finals in Kalamazoo last year and then couldn't play Donald Young due to a virus, it was a huge letdown for everybody, and it had to be heartbreaking for him. He became a Gator in January, (he's just 19) didn't lose a match during the dual season, but was upset in the quarterfinals of the NCAAs.

Ricardas Berankis is a 17-year-old who will be playing in the US Open juniors next week. It is, by my count, the fifth teenager Federer has trained with this year, and I'm probably missing some.

LOL, Or

so wait - guys in the locker room made fun of Roger in the manpris - and they didn't make fun of the faux Chanel bag ?
I find that hard to believe.

Matt Allare is another:

http://www.tennis.com/backcourt/general/backcourt.aspx?id=100262

A nice report, consistent with Jonathan Eysseric's experience earlier in the year, and Levine's.

Pete, this report makes me so very happy.

> each evening Levine dragged himself back from three and four hour hitting sessions with Roger and promptly fell into bed, unable - and unwilling - to move.

I always want to believe my heroes have more substance than talent, and Federer kicking this fit kid's butt through sheer work ethic is like food to my soul. I love every line of every piece you write that tells us this hidden backstory. How hard do they REALLY work?

I assumed your title refered to the kid, but no, you lured me in yet again. :-) Keep kickin' it, Pete!

Andrew, that's just too ugly. Love it. :-)

Andrew, LOL!

Interesting grist for the KAD mill here. Superhuman Roger chews up three practice partners in desert heat. It does show that his dedication is unwavering, whatever people may be saying about no coach/shaky first serve/unforced errors.

WOW... great reporting, Pete. My heart's warmed knowing TMF gets out there and works! It had to come from someplace of committment.

My kind of story :)

U don't win 11 GSs without an unbelievable work ethic.

Pete this would have brn great on Mad dog's show today from the grounds.

Samantha:
saw that movie too. quite entertaining. but can´t remember any german druggies trying to steal backpacks so not sure if Pete was referring to this... ;)
thought he was maybe speaking of his own experiences.

LOL 'practice animal' - i too would have bet that was referring to Jesse...

interesting to get a glimpse of Fed's work ethic; particularly since his style makes things look so easy, and he never really talks about his training, fitness regime etc.

So you're outing Fed Pete - first as a true grinder, now as a total workaholic...!

That's eleven majors working in the Dubai heat there. Gaze in awe.

MrsSanta, your 6:31 post is so hilarious! Thanks for the belly laugh. Fedman, pimped out - too much!
Ahhh, so, the Fed is not a T-1000 cyber-organism. He actually does do some grinding - nice read, Pete.

Pete, is that "Ottawa", misspelled? (in 2nd paragraph)

(having read the whole thing)

Wow, all of this is so nice to find out! Really appreciate you doing the scouting work, heh.

Fantastic stuff. This is great information!

Aw, Sher, what on earth would I do without you?

Ah, if I didn't already flove Roger, I would flove him now. The guy is just too cool for words! I just LOL when I read why he won't ever wear those man-pris again. Thank God for that!

I also find it funny that Roger did not even know Levin was a lefty (from his presser). So much for Roger being obsessed with Nadal.

Anyway, no doubt it was the experience of a lifetime for Levin and he got some great advice from one of the best ever! GO ROGER!

Yo, Pete and TWers

Back home after a 6h30 min grind on the Eurosport booth...

Portuguese 16 year-old Gastão Elias was another junior 'employed' by Federer this year -- Gastão was with him for 10 days in the spring, practiced again with Rog at Wimbledon and the swiss always asks how he is doing, where he is staying at tournaments and saying where himself he would stay in his own junior years...

Gastão, who had the luxury of practicing with both Federer and Nadal in the same day at Wimbledon, says: "First, there's Federer, then God, then Nadal -- but don't tell that to Nadal, otherwise he won't practice with me again".

Contrary to your description here, Pete, Gastão says practice sessions for Federer are easy going, more like warm-ups -- that would be during a tournament, because Gastão was with him at Monte-Carlo and Wimbledon. The Dubay 'clinic' Jesse Levine talked about must be the regular grinding training sessions Federer does in between events or in a specific period after holidays.

Gastão considers practice sessions with Nadal much more intense with Nadal taking everything really serious and never joking around, while Federer is always in a good mood -- chatting and giving advice in between drills or while having water.

Federer told me he liked Gastão's game and that he's a nice kid... and also that "at first we was having problems handling my forehand". I can imagine that... facing the weight and the spin of the ball on that forehand must be quite an experience!

"First, there's Federer, then God, then Nadal -- but don't tell that to Nadal, otherwise he won't practice with me again".

LOL

Fantastic insight into what it takes to win so 'effortlessly' - thanks Pete

I always wondered how Federer practices. Having 4 or 5 guys to play against makes a lot of sense for Federer. This way he can just switch between opponents when they get tired and also gives him different shots and styles of play to practice against with his many practice partners.

on a side note: geez, i was only gone for a couple of weeks and now we have "flove"?

oh and does anyone know where i can get US open coverage on the radio. What station broadcasts it and at what times? (I don't have satellite or HD radio, just the normal antenna)

sorry i forgot to mention, I live in Southern California. Throughout the day I'll be around the Los Angeles, Westwood and Santa Monica area.

Mrs.Santa: Your comments about Fed's Wimby outfit are too funny. I also mentioned on this board that Fed's outfit and that puffy big bag reminded me of the puffy shirt on Seinfeld and I got yelled at on this board. lol! Oh well, I still feel that way.

Um, when did Roger wear Rafa's capris? I wnat to see a photo.

Fascinating insight into Federer's work ethic. Andrew, your theory is rather funny.

I wonder on what basis Federer and his team choose practice partners. Year to date, I have heard about a few young emerging players getting the call.

So much for the view that Federer's success is mostly based on weak opposition or luck. Luck is where talent AND hard work collide. Federer doesn't rely on his talent alone and he doesn't spend time on the sunlounger during his off time. The organisation of his practice clinic reminds me of Ivan Lendl.

Well - Fed is Swiss after all for the organization but Italian Swiss for the Captain Wasabi!

This is good reading Pete, thanks I am so lazy myself, just want to gobble up on your posts. I love Roger and Rafa. I do believe Roger will become GOAT surpassing Borg, Sampras, and probably get into a little bit of the Agassi aura of longevity.

How can anyone NOT admire Roger Federer?

That was me at 9:12. Pete, loved this post. Fascinating how that all came down in Dubai and now we find out that Roger didn't know Levine was a lefty? Interesting.

***"First, there's Federer, then God, then Nadal -- but don't tell that to Nadal, otherwise he won't practice with me again".***

Omigawd! That is truly hysterical. I'll have to remember that one!

Saw the Levine/Davydenko match. Not impressed with Levine. From what I read he is small, 140 lbs, and he plays small. Seemed overwhelmed by the situation so maybe I'll cut his lackluster game some slack, but I saw nothing that portends a successful career. Serve was piddling, averaging in the low hundreds to the mid teens with a second in the low eighties with not much bite. (On the plus side his placement was good.) NOthing special about the groundies except the unforced errors and the inability to hit big when the opportunity presented itself. But seeing how he had a successful college career, maybe this match was an aberration and Davydenko just too tough.

Nice read on Fed. He sure is the real deal. Just when you think you couldn't possibly like him even more---BINGO! Can't wait to see him in person at the Open.

Go, Roger!

Roger is one well adjusted dude. Go Roger!