The flighty, corrupt, ridiculous media is responsible for most if not all of the frustration."Mediots" constantly look for "storylines" and scandals, and so they manufacture them. They create fantasies and ignore facts.
Hellbent on annointing Rafa (even though he is a long way from approaching Roger's records), hellbent on busting Roger, the unquestioned greatest of his era and modern tennis history. Why? Because he's classy and invincible for so long, they can't stand him anymore.
Something that absolutely must be emphasized here is that Roger has been a champion ACROSS THREE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS of players. In his prime, the second generation, Roger proved beyond any doubt he was the greatest, beat everyone there was to beat, including Nadal. What Roger achieved in this second phase ENDED THE DISCUSSION. Or should have.
Now older, in the third generation of competition, facing a new legion of younger, physically stronger players led by a Nadal in his prime, Del P, Soderling, Djoke, Roger is still in the mix. He is still winning majors (has everyone forgotten he won the Aussie not long ago?).
Unlike previous instances where the older champions like Laver, Connors, McEnroe, Agassi, Sampras, Becker, etc. were adored and celebrated for fighting against younger adversaries, celebrated even when they lost to them, today's media gives Roger NO CREDIT WHATSOEVER for maintaining a level of excellence while being much older in tennis age.
Let's look other sports. Tiger Woods, the Federer of golf, is the greatest of his generation, but you do not see anyone proclaiming #2 Phil Mickelson, THE RAFA of golf who is a long way from approaching Woods' record, to be greater than Woods.
There is some parallel in Roger's situation to Muhammad Ali, who was denied the right to box during his prime, came back when older, lost to younger fighters. The media in that time hated Ali, relished chances to crown the new generation "greater than Ali", when in fact Ali had already proven himself, great across two different generations.
What Roger needs to do now is change. There are clear problems with his game, which seem to arise unfortunately in the big matches. Lapses in concentration. Wrong tactics. Inconsistencies. What really happened in that 2nd and 4th set?
I believe that Roger must face the fact that everyone else is "cheating" via their racquets. He should look into changing his stringing. He definitely must ADD POWER, and commit to flat shots to end points faster.
He has to end points on returns, not just get the balls back in play. No long exchanges, no waiting for mistakes from the top guys.
A new Roger Federer must be created from this uncertainty, capable of silencing the critics, and beating the big hitters.
The rankings don't matter. The majors do.