The Rafa/Roger rift ...

Well ... well ... well.

Fast on the heels of The Times article yesterday, there's nothing to say that Rafa has left the Players' Council, but he has been more than vocal with his opinions following the ATP Council meeting on Saturday ... and leaves us in no doubt what he thinks about Feds.

The New York Times carried the article here which reflects a translation of the animated responses Rafa gave when giving a Spanish interview. A further NYT article carries on with it here.

So here's the beef. Rafa has long been vocal about the length of the Tour, the number of tournaments that have to be played, how the vast majority of the time they are playing on hardcourts and how that impacts the players' bodies and is a risk for injuries. And of course when Rafa says stuff like that, well ... the outcry is that he is self serving, he only wants to protect his knees, its his own punishing game that's the cause of it ... yada, yada, yada.

But consider this ... Andy Murray had ankle niggles last year and pulled out of Basel and the WTF. Novak Djokovic complained of shoulder issues during Cincinnati, all but tanked in Basel, ultimately withdrew in Paris and went out early in the WTF. Juan Martin del Potro lost a year of his career when he may well have been on the precipice of breaking into the top 4. David Ferrer, for all his high intensity game, doesn't seem to have too many injuries, but he has them. Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga is a big case in point, Berdych has shoulder issues, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon have been out ... I mean, do I really need to go on?

But it seems that what's really beefing Rafa is that he considers that he is airing the views of the majority, but he now has no more intention of being the frontman for the players' grievances because essentially, it always reflects badly on him. Whilst for Federer though - Mr Perfect On Earth - well ...

"For him it's good to say nothing. Everything positive. 'It's all well and good for me, I look like a gentleman,' and the rest can burn themselves."

In other words, Federer is happy to stand in the background maintaining his image whilst people like Rafa who are actually voicing the majority opinion, just get slaughtered for it.

Federer doesn't feel the need for any changes to the Tour. That's his opinion. Fine, but he's Chair of the Council to represent the views of the players - not his alone - and in that regard, he fails them.

"And the vast majority of players have this same opinion. He's got a different opinion ... if the vast majority have one opinion, and a small minority think differently, maybe it's them who are wrong."

Precisely Rafa.

So how does Federer do it? You know, this master of schedule management. Well one thing's for sure, he does NOT play all the mandatory events + the 500s. If he did and competed them all then he has a leg to stand on with the - I do it, so you can too - stance. But he has the advantage because of the length of time on Tour and the number of victories won, to drop things. Or because he's Roger Federer, he simply drops them. And as for Davis Cup ... well, that's not something he bothers himself with playing, unless of course when it serves him because he wants to turn out for the Olympics.

And as for schedule management, well, he played the exho and Doha and the Australian Open last year, just like Rafa. He played Dubai, which Rafa didn't and wouldn't have, injured or not. He played IW/Miami. He turned up in Monte Carlo and bar Barcelona, he played the clay court season. In spite of signing for million$$$$$ with Gerry Weber, he casually pulled out of the grass court warm up event. Rafa played Queens, so now he is one up on Feds for tournies played. Feds played Wimbledon, Toronto and Cincy and then the US Open. As did Rafa. But this is where his "management" skills come into play.

He has a break after the US Open (remember, no Davis Cup for Feds), and then regularly drops the Asian Swing. Either by not showing up and defying the ATP zero point him - they didn't - or to cite "nagging injuries" and/or to play his exemption trump card, thus meaning that from the second week of September until the end of October, he's tournament free until he can waltz and skip his way onto the European indoor courts. Only Rafa - after the long stretch performing in Spring and Summer, culminating in two Masters and a Slam played on the gruelling hardcourts - well, he honours his commitments to the Asian swing and as his results bear out, suffers the exhaustion from it.

And then of course we have the styles of play ...

"I love the game and there's a lot of things I'm grateful for. The game has allowed me to lead a fantastic lifestyle," he said. "But to finish your career with pain all over your body, is that a positive? No."

"Maybe (Federer) has got a super body and he'll finish his career like a rose. Neither myself, nor Murray, nor Djokovic are going to finish our careers like a rose.

"Tennis is an important part of my life, but it's a tough sport. We're not like him where it's effortless to play. All of us, it's a battle."

Indeed Rafa. Why judge Rafa solely because of the nature of his game. I mean, how much is it really different from all those peers around him? How? Federer is a throw-back to an era that doesn't exist any more, or just a unique specimen in how to play the game of tennis. Tennis now and for the future should take account of how the game is played in the 21st century, and the players that play it now. Not how one player plays it.

And yet the criticism of Rafa still reigns in. Even by my favourite writer, Steve Tignor. And therein lies the problem for me. For so long now in the tennis world at large, tennis begins and ends ... with Roger Federer. He is the yardstick that everything else is measured by. He is the one that plays the game in the "right" way. He's the one that exudes "talent" over "physicality" ... and its like no other form of tennis should have the gall to exist. Well thank God it does, say I. Thank God for Rafa who found a way to spoil the Federer tactics. Thank God for someone else who didn't quake with fear at the mere flick of his magnificent hair. Thank God that he won.

I'm not going to talk about Rafa's view of a two-year ranking. Simply because I haven't read up on it and I don't know what its about. And equally, on that score Rafa doesn't seem to have the backing of any majority, therefore it should stay as it is.

But one thing I do hold with Rafa and that is ... how on earth do players keep doing it? Turning up for tournaments when to maintain their ranking points they have to win. I mean ... how do you cope with that pressure, week in, week out? That you gain nothing for a win, just maintain the status quo.

And in summation, I cannot help but feel that this situation has come a year too early. The thing is ... we've just come out of a 7 year era where Fedal were King. Where we've had the balletic, graceful Feds, pitched against the brute force and physicality of Rafa, and where the vast majority still believe that Rafa is the cause of his own issues because of the way he "chooses" to play tennis - and oh, represent his country and honour the commitments to play the Asian swing.

But we're passed that Fedal era now, and we have Djokovic very much in the equation. And whilst he had a phenomenal year in 2011, what of him this time next year? What mental stresses and strains will he endure as he has to defend almost everything he plays for? How will that affect him? Equally, he was showing the bodily effects of his success towards the end of last year. He'll still continue to play the game the way he does ... so how will he fare bodily and with injury during this next 12 months? Because for so long we've had Rafa pitched against Feds and any issues with Rafa blamed on they way he plays the game and his scheduling ... will it take the break down of another player to finally make the ATP see sense?

That's why I wonder what will happen in 12 months' time, and why it may take another sustained winner with a similar game to Rafa's to finally blow this "aura" and non-sensical view ... that tennis begins and ends with Roger Federer.

Rafa ... you may not end your career like a rose. But you re-awakened my love of the game again and made me feel as fresh as a daisy. And for that, I thank you ...