Roger Federer: Swiss Davis Cup Dreams Unfulfilled

I would think that Roger would make more of an effort with the Davis Cup, after all there are only two things missing from his resume - a Davis Cup title for Switzerland and the gold medal in singles at the Olympics.

Roger and Stanislas Wawrinka make a formidable doubles team (winning gold in Beijing) surely the pair could make a serious run. Why then is Roger so non-committal?

 

Thomas Stephens addresses the issue in his article for SwissInfo.ch:

The irritating thing for Swiss fans is that in theory Switzerland could win the Davis Cup. A country only needs two world-class players who want to play for their country, and in Federer and Wawrinka, Switzerland has two Olympic gold medallists.

Bearing in mind that an athlete like Federer comes along once a century, there's a feeling that the past few years have been wasted – Switzerland hasn't fulfilled its potential.

Further: Since 2006 Federer has played in three out of nine Davis Cup matches. Is Stammbach (president of Swiss Tennis) disappointed by that?

"If the question is isolated, the answer is yes. If you look at it in a broader context, then I am still disappointed but it is understandable. Don't forget what he has done for tennis in general and tennis in Switzerland in particular – how can you be angry with a guy like that? No one else has done so much for tennis."

Further: "At the end of the day it’s always going to be his decision – we don’t have a contract with him. We're just depending on his good will. If he wants to defend the colours of the country, that's up to him. It's not that we absolutely want to force him to say 'yes'. We can't expect that from him. But we would like to know what the goal is in his head – is it still to reach the semifinals or finals of the World Group or even win it?"

Photos: The Fed's strolling NYC last week from SplashNewsOnline

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