Federer pulls out of Madrid in anticipation of his third child

Nothing to this, just to wish Mirka a safe birth and a healthy child. Many happy returns to both

Hopefully it's a boy, would be good to see roger federer jnr winning wimbledon in 2036.

TopoftheChops wrote:Hopefully it's a boy, would be good to see roger federer jnr winning wimbledon in 2036.

I heard a rumor somewhere online that it could well likely be twins again, but no official sources thou, how funny it would be to see 2 Roger Federer Jrs [Boy this time].

So lets put this way wimbledon 2036 both men [Both finalist]/women[Both Finalist]/doubles and Mixed Doubles won by Federer.   

Twins again!! Both boys. I get the feeling we'll see sibling dominance on both tours...

Roger Federer
Mirka and I are so incredibly happy to share that
Leo and Lenny were born this evening! Twins
again.. miracle!

As I would have said in high school - twinning!!

Yeah been rumored for twins, so finally true.

This could all be nepotism on Tour, in distant future  

Hm I wonder...the odds of having twins twice is like...THOUSANDS to one. Yes, if you had twins the first time, you are more likely than the average person to have it again, you cannot treat them as entirely random events. But, even so, it's still in the range of thousands to one.

I wonder if she was on IVF or something like that. That would explain it as multiple births seem to happen a lot with those kinds of treatments.

If not, I wonder if one of them was taking some kind of drugs. I've seen stories before that tried to accuse Federer of being on PEDs because he had twins, because supposedly PEDs increase the chances of having twins. However, I have never seen any substance to these claims, or sources. I have had a look now and I can't find much. Mostly anonymous posts on forums. Some claim steroids increase chance of having twins. Not clear if that is the steroids themselves or other drugs that can be paired with them though. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-hcg-side-effects.htm

Can anyone think of any other athletes that had twins? I found that Michael Jordan did, but when he was like 50, so presumably well past actually playing. I can't think of other examples at all. I don't think this would prove much though. Even if 10% of athletes were on drugs and all of those had a greatly increased chance of twins, you would still barely detect it even with some kind of thorough analysis.

It would be almost impossible to actually do a study into this due to problems around sample sizes/low probabilities, privacy, honesty and, above all, the low probabilities involved. Also, any such study would have to be retrospective (i see you have twins, did you take steroids or anything) rather than proactive (here have some steriods and report back how many babies you get, hm, maybe not.)

Perhaps a red flag that if combined with other red flags might mean something but not on its own.

Also, I hope the 4 of them grow up and make their own way in life. No reason for them to play tennis at all unless they really want to.

My brother-in-law has had two sets of twins and the only drug he's been on is too much beer.

I'd say almost certainly they've got them, like him, on a BOGOF IVF deal. Due to the uncertainties of IVF it's standard practise to implant more than one embryo. When there's no problem the result is twins.

Don't forget that any man releases the potential for about a million kids each time and it's the woman who determines the potential for fraternal twins by releasing two or more eggs at once. I can't see how having twins means anything for the man. Identical twins is different, that's the result of the single fertilised egg dividing into two separate embryos and probably has a genetic component to the tendency. The first twins weren't identical.

I'm pleased that all this is done well before RG and Wimbledon. In a few weeks Federer gets to start replacing some disastrous 2013 results, and cementing a top 4 place with outside chances of better if the top 2 aren't right.

Federer's baby boys are called Leo and Lenny.

Leo, of course, is short for Leonard, and Lenny is short for...er, Leonard.

Roger F (too many Federers otherwise) has quite a bit of practice with Twins. Congratulations!

Djokovics are also expecting. Will they have twins too?

@HB... It would be a worthwhile study to see twins vs elite athletes correlation. For such athletes, there is already a different-than-average chemistry. As BB says, IVF is a possibility, but Federers already have twins. Unless they wanted boys this time around, and also did some selections up front, this a rare event.

I wonder if Diana will also end with twins.

Good point by BB about the women being the one that decides twins. Of course, I don't know if the reality is as simple as all that but it sounds plausible.

The other thing about this is - it could hasten retirement. I mean, 4 kids, - wow. I have 2 and 4 - yikes. Obviously they're rich so they can get nannies in the house round the clock if they want that, but they may not. Emotionally, they may want to be together more.

I wonder if he doesn't retire this year or next to at least think about a shorter schedule, as I've mentioned in the past, something like

AO
Indian Wells
Rome
FO
Halle
Wimbledon
Cincinatti
US Open
Basle
WTF if qualifies

JuliusHMarx wrote:Federer's baby boys are called Leo and Lenny.

Leo, of course, is short for Leonard, and Lenny is short for...er, Leonard.

Shhhhhh, nobody tell him until after the baptism.

Phew Roger wanna do some records in real life as well so excited to know the birth of new SET OF TWINS , I wish just once atleast once that they four sweep all 3 slams of Wimbledon and complete the quartet of finals.

Fed's agent says he's set to play the French and could even make Rome next week. Quite clear now why he wanted to play MC where he made up the points he could still lose at Rome.
Rome is Fed's last big points haul for 2013 so even so-so form should see him gain a lot more wins and finish higher than last year. Very much doubt we'll see Fed and Rafa winning just one match between them at Wimbledon like they did in 2013.

I'm a bit surprised that Fed doesn't skip the Rome and the French. To be with his family at this time. Then concentrate on Halle and Wimbledon where he has greater chances of success. I mean it worked for Murray last year.

erictheblueuk wrote:I'm a bit surprised that Fed doesn't skip the Rome and the French. To be with his family at this time. Then concentrate on Halle and Wimbledon where he has greater chances of success. I mean it worked for Murray last year.

I guess he will still skip the Rome but he doesn't wanna break his GS appearance streak.

Why would he miss big events? Babies are very nice to look at and so on but at this stage they don't offer much in the way of interaction. I don't see why a tournament would interrupt much.

Exactly, he aint breastfeeding them, and anyway with all his travels and contacts, he should not hang too long around new born babies anyway, till some immunity kicks in them.

I said he should have stayed at home with the kids.

Anyone think he played to try and keep his number 4 ranking for seeding purposes at RG??

I had a quick glance but couldn't work it out. If Ferrer beats Novak today does he go to number 4 replacing Federer?

The difference between being seeded 4 and 5 could be huge.

TBH for Federer it's all about avoiding Nadal at Roland Garros, so in an ideal world he'd be in Djokovic's half.

It will be Nadal-Stan one side, Djoko-Fed the other side.