PARIS - Roger Federer was at the top of his game in London last week, sweeping past opponents as if his age were not an issue. A back injury over the weekend changed everything, casting serious doubts over his chances of winning the Davis Cup, or even playing against France in the final.The 17-time Grand Slam champion picked up the injury in a hard-fought win over Swiss teammate Stan Wawrinka at the ATP Finals, forcing him to retire ahead of the title match against Novak Djokovic.One statistic speaks volumes about the seriousness of the 33-year-old Federers injury: His walkover at the season finale marked only the third time in his career that he withdrew before a match, each time due to back problems.As if Federers injury concerns were not enough, the Swiss are also worried about Wawrinkas morale as the country bids for its first Davis Cup victory. After wasting four match points against Federer in London, the Australian Open champion said he can either be destroyed or bounce back from such a tough loss.Following the match, two men are also said to have been involved in a heated spat after Wawrinka complained about noise coming from Federers box in between serves toward the end of the third set. Federer defused the tensions by posting a picture on Twitter of a united Switzerland team, with Wawrinka making bunny ears behind his teammate, and both players insisted on their friendship on Tuesday.We had a conversation after the match. Everythings totally relaxed about the situation. Were old enough, Federer said. I just wanted to see if there were any hard feelings because it was probably one of the loudest moments of the match. Clearly a lot of noise. Like I said, there is no hard feeling whatsoever. Were having a good time here. We are friends, not enemies.Federer travelled to the northern French city of Lille by private jet on Monday, hoping to recover in time before the best-of-five series beginning Friday with two singles matches, followed by doubles on Saturday and reverse singles on Sunday.It was definitely not good enough to practice yesterday, Federer told reporters Tuesday. I wish progress would be faster, but were trying hard. Were heading in that direction. I feel its definitely a little bit better than it was on Saturday night and Sunday and also Monday. Baby steps, I guess. Im hopeful.Federer had been in tremendous form this season, playing a more offensive game and bagging five titles while staying injury-free after back problems damaged his 2013 campaign.Chasing the only major title still eluding him, Federer also showed his commitment to the Davis Cup this year, joining the Swiss team immediately after his loss in the U.S. Open semifinals to take part to their semifinal against Italy in September.For years, Federer did not regard the Davis Cup as a main priority. The emergence of Wawrinka as a top player changed the equation and convinced him they had a good chance of winning the event. But without Federer, the Swiss have won just one of the 10 ties they have played in the World Group since his debut in the competition in 1999.If Federer cant play, Swiss captain Severin Luthi will have to do either with the 212th-ranked Marco Chiudinelli or No. 508 Michael Lammer.For the time being, we are not thinking that Roger Federer will not play on Friday, France captain Arnaud Clement said. We have been preparing for 10 days, and we are prepared to play the Swiss team with Federer and Wawrinka. But what we are going to play is not Federers team, it is the Swiss team. They have good players.Unlike its opponents, France is at full strength with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet having travelled to Lille after a training camp in Bordeaux. Clement also summoned Gilles Simon as a reserve player.Both Tsonga and Gasquet, who won their singles matches and teamed up in doubles in the victory over the Czech Republic in the semifinals, said they are not getting distracted by the Swiss teams struggles.France is looking to win the trophy for the 10th time.I think for this weekend, the important thing for us is to stay focused on ourselves, on our team, Tsonga said. What we need is to have a perfect performance. What we can do is just play tennis. Anything else is not really our business. Texas Rangers Gear . LOUIS -- Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks won the matchup of unbeaten teams. Cheap Rangers Jerseys .Tzavelas opened the scoring in the 11th and Pereyra added another in the 51st. Emmanuel Kone pulled one back in the 80th and Levadiakos missed several chances to level in the last 10 minutes. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/. THE MICHAEL JORDAN FLU GAME First this famous basketball moment. The story goes like this. “Game 5, known as "The Flu Game", was one of Michael Jordans most memorable. Fake Rangers Jerseys .The Williams siblings, with 25 Grand Slam titles between them, will have a couple of Madisons joining them, too.Madison Keys had a 6-4, 7-5 upset win over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova on Saturday night, and Madison Brengle beat Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2 in an all-U. Texas Rangers Store .com) - The Calgary Flames were again involved in a game in which a team was held scoreless, only this time they came out on the winning side.I have almost no idea what to say anymore about conclusions and sports and because I never played any other sport at a high level, I would never speculate or conclude about what to do out of respect to that sport. I was casually listening to the radio and my interest piqued as the narrative of high school football was beginning. In the report and discussion, it was stated that a study was done on high school football players that over the course of just one year, there had been damage to the brain of a high percentage of players throughout the course of a single season. This was quite eye-opening because I always figured that it took collective years to see significant damage and violent pro football-type hits to create the damage necessary to have cognitive results. I guess, or maybe simply should say I was wrong to have a timeframe in my mind. Then on Monday, I was reading USA Today and on page 3 of the sports is a story of Kosta Karageorge, who was an Ohio State football player who took his life at age 22. He was a walk-on and knowing what I know about walk-ons in Division 1 football, he was a demonstration player which means he did a lot of hitting. Both educations to me, one auditory and one visual reading, got me thinking about concussions and football; that something is really wrong here but what to do I am embarrassed to say I really dont know. Sometimes I think that some people through genetics unfortunately just have a type of brain that absorbs the punishment more than rejects it. Having only the basics in brain physiology at university, I have no real idea, more of a theory but when you think of someone at 22 who had a concussion history doing what he did and a report about the effects of high school football, it does make your mind search for answers. I had three bad concussions dduring my college and pro career and remember the details of all three.ddddddddddddAnd like many who have played football, Ive had many subtle moments of disorientation after unavoidable shots to the head. Fortunately, I feel fine and I think that is an issue because when you feel fine, you lose that ability to deeply relate. I have said if I had a son, I would hesitate to let him play football and this is from a person who has an occupation to promote the game. But I cant say with conviction that I would if I had. I know two players that are different after their careers and, out of respect, would never highlight them. And I wonder if there are others out there that I dont know about that live in quiet desperation. Are my perceptions changing about football? Yes, they are; not is a dramatic way but more in a way of conclusive awareness of a price you may pay. And I say may because there are also many football players who have been retired for many years like me that have no problems. Concussions in sports are still in a grey area but a grey area just through repetition does not paint a positive future. Maybe it is the study of genetics and mans mastery of that knowledge base that could perceive the future and keep people safe that are suspect before they play. I will be the first one to put football in its proper place. It is a sport and only a sport. Good things happen out of it but the sport has little significance to what is important. Yet people pay a price later in life for action taken in the youth of life. I wonder if were all in denial and 30 seconds later. I wonder if it is a slight overeaction because health care is better than ever. But what really bothers me is I wonder why I have no idea what to say or conclude anymore. It is not that I am numb, more confused. ' ' '