Roger Federer deserves better fans.

The last couple of months have taught me one thing: Federer deserves better fans.

Or better, many so called “Federer fans” are just pathetic hypocrites that jump on the bandwagon and get off as soon as he doesn’t win everything THEY think he should win.

Exactly. If you have recently spent just  five minutes on a social network of your choice , you must know what I am talking about.

Of course, everyone has their personal opinion and everyone wants to give advices to their favourite player, as we’d all do towards someone we love, a close friend, a relative. Especially if we are afraid for them, if we think they’re not doing the right choices.

But everything has a limit. In so many occasions lately I’ve been struck by the incredible amount of “Roger must do this/mustn’t do that”, “it’s impossible for Federer to.. “, “he has to…”, “he can’t even think about doing…” and the harshness in which these comments were written.

I’m also puzzled by the variety of topics in which Roger apparently needs our assistance: which tournaments he has to play and what results he has to achieve at least, which racquet he has to play with, what kind of injury he has/has not, how he has to live his family life… and the evergreen: the retirement issue.

Needless to say, some losses are painful. More than I could ever express in any language, let alone in my poor English. It hurts seeing him struggle and not being able to express his genius in the way we are used to.

BUT.

It’s just a matter of respect towards the player and the person. Even if he wasn’t to win another single title, even if he went down to number 358404843 in the world rankings, I just feel we have to respect his choice to do what he loves doing. It’s too easy to celebrate every win and stand beside him when he breaks record or climbs the ranking and then criticize him every time he “disappoints” our expectations.

Are you guys kidding?

We are talking about a man that has nothing else to prove to anyone -save maybe himself alone- and whose legacy will be forever written in golden capital letters in every tennis book, no matter what happens next! And, what probably means the most to me, a man that gives us so many emotions every single time he steps on a tennis court. A man that loves what he’s doing so much, that he refuses to give up. A man that puts himself to the test day in day out. Who else at his age, having won all he’s won, would have decided to try out a new racquet in two minor events? (By the way, this should tell a lot about those who say that Federer is just a talented spoiled Swiss guy that doesn’t work as hard as others and doesn’t care as much as others.)

If we truly love and support Roger, we should at least respect his decisions and stand by him, no matter what. We owe him that. We owe him.