What makes Roger Federer click ? - A million dollar question like the Rolex watch that he endorses so proudly and steadfastly over the years !! Ironically like ROLEX , Federer is all about seamless smoothness and peerless vintage ..
I have been following Federer ever since he beat title favorite Marat Safin at Hamburg Masters to break into the top 10 for the first time , in 2002 . That was also his first masters win btw . We were hearing of a run away Swiss Prodigy who turned pro in 1999 and was beating top -10 players with elan but some how was not being consistent enough to break into top 10 .. In 2001 he defeated the then 4 time defending champion Pete Sampras at Wimbledon to progress to the QF - a tourney which he was to win 8 times later .. The Hamburg win changed all that ...
Coming back to the question of his peerless vintage .... I like many others , feel now especially after his monumental 8th SW 19 title , that he was born with an exceptional body that still lasts after 20 years of rigour day in and day out , and of course the fact that he was and is supremely talented ... No one can question that in Tennis or for that matter any other sport.
But the real secret of his longevity must and has to be his supreme fitness .. an extra ordinary regime of work ethics and a GOD gifted fitness and body .. For in a sport which people play at the highest level only 10 years max( say 19 -29 and then hang their boots rather unceremoniously ) , Federer is not only playing at 36 , winning at ease and also is ranked within top 10 - which he has effortlessly managed 90% time through his illustrious career !!! To win a first Grand Slam at 22 years at 2003 and then win a 19th at few weeks shy of 36 fourteen years later speaks volume of not only his skill at the highest level but also the tremendous fitness that he possesses in a tough body game like Tennis . Hence the GREATEST TAG that he has been wearing for almost a decade now is not a throw away for no one before has or after will ever dominate sports the way Federer has done in the last 15-16 years ...
I have been following Federer ever since he beat title favorite Marat Safin at Hamburg Masters to break into the top 10 for the first time , in 2002 . That was also his first masters win btw . We were hearing of a run away Swiss Prodigy who turned pro in 1999 and was beating top -10 players with elan but some how was not being consistent enough to break into top 10 .. In 2001 he defeated the then 4 time defending champion Pete Sampras at Wimbledon to progress to the QF - a tourney which he was to win 8 times later .. The Hamburg win changed all that ...
Coming back to the question of his peerless vintage .... I like many others , feel now especially after his monumental 8th SW 19 title , that he was born with an exceptional body that still lasts after 20 years of rigour day in and day out , and of course the fact that he was and is supremely talented ... No one can question that in Tennis or for that matter any other sport.
But the real secret of his longevity must and has to be his supreme fitness .. an extra ordinary regime of work ethics and a GOD gifted fitness and body .. For in a sport which people play at the highest level only 10 years max( say 19 -29 and then hang their boots rather unceremoniously ) , Federer is not only playing at 36 , winning at ease and also is ranked within top 10 - which he has effortlessly managed 90% time through his illustrious career !!! To win a first Grand Slam at 22 years at 2003 and then win a 19th at few weeks shy of 36 fourteen years later speaks volume of not only his skill at the highest level but also the tremendous fitness that he possesses in a tough body game like Tennis . Hence the GREATEST TAG that he has been wearing for almost a decade now is not a throw away for no one before has or after will ever dominate sports the way Federer has done in the last 15-16 years ...
Now lets look at some of the amazing records that he has stacked so far in his glittering career :
- He has won 19 Grand slams ( till date ie 8.8.17), the most in history for a male tennis player.
- He has held the world no.1 spot in ATP rankings for a record total of 302 weeks .
- He has been ranked no. 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks.
- He has been continuously ranked in top 10 from October 2002 to November 2016.
- He has won a record eight Wimbledon titles - the most by a male player .
- He has won a record five consecutive US Open titles .
- He has reached 29 mens' singles Grand Slam Finals - another record.
- He has reached ten consecutive mens' singles GS finals - 2005 Wimbledon to 2007 US Open.
- He has won a record six ATP year ending world tour finals .
- He has played in all nine ATP Tour Masters 1000 finals.
I think the above tells us without any doubt what we are talking .. And when one stacks them up against a time period which had players like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick , Tim Henman, Carlos Moya ,Marc Rossett,Marat Saffin, Lleyton Hewitt,Juan Martin Del Patro, Jo Wilfred Songa, Rafael Nadal , Novac Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych ---- you will have to admit we are talking of a very very special athlete..
Although the maestro won the first of his 19 grand slams ( till now ) in 2003, it was 2004 when he first showed signs of imposing dominance and awe that was to be his signature for the next 15 years or so .. 2004 was the year in which he won 3 grand slams for the first time - a feat which was till then only achieved by Mats Wilander in 1988. He won the Aus Open beating Russian Marat Saffin , Wimbledon beating Andy Roddick and then the US open beating Lleyton Hewitt.
Federer also won 3 ATP Masters 1000, a number of ATP 500 series and finally wrapped up the year by winning the year-ending championships.
His 11 singles title that year was the most by any player in two decades and his record of 74-6 was the best since Ivan Lendl in 1986. He also became # world no.1 for the first time.
Although the maestro won the first of his 19 grand slams ( till now ) in 2003, it was 2004 when he first showed signs of imposing dominance and awe that was to be his signature for the next 15 years or so .. 2004 was the year in which he won 3 grand slams for the first time - a feat which was till then only achieved by Mats Wilander in 1988. He won the Aus Open beating Russian Marat Saffin , Wimbledon beating Andy Roddick and then the US open beating Lleyton Hewitt.
Federer also won 3 ATP Masters 1000, a number of ATP 500 series and finally wrapped up the year by winning the year-ending championships.
His 11 singles title that year was the most by any player in two decades and his record of 74-6 was the best since Ivan Lendl in 1986. He also became # world no.1 for the first time.
If one were to analyze Federer in the era between 2003-07 , 2007-12, and post 12 era it would be three distinct phases . The first one where he imposed his dominance and blew the old guards like Agassi ,Sampras and Safin .. The 2007-12 era was where he consolidated but became wary of the change of guards from him to slowly Nadal and then Djokovic and Murray.
The last and the current phase was where his awesome career run into serious slump ( he never won a Major between his 2012 SW 19 and the AUS OPEN this year - 4 1/2 years without a Grandslam : a serious serious slump considering what he achieved between 2003-2010) and a time when he was plagued by injuries and the entire world had written him off. Apart from Fedex himself no one probably gave him any chance to make a comeback like this what he did but then Legends like him are born one in a million . Once again a supreme tribute to his amazing fitness and god gifted talent .
Playing Style :
Probably what endured him for such a long period is his versatility in playing different shots and changing his game completely in times of need . Federer is truly the last all court all around player. He started playing from the baseline when he started , but gradually developed a wonderful net play which made him one of the best volleyers in the game . A powerful accurate smash coupled with a backhand smash and skyhook and a half-volley jump smash has made him a lethal force over the years . The stand out shot how ever is the forehand which pundits have often referred to as the greatest shot ever played in Tennis . Playing with a single hand backhand he employs the slice which lends great variety and lures opponents to net and he can fool them with a passing shot . He also employs the flick backhand at the nets to pass opponents . Another great trick up his sleeve is his wonderful serving - he can serve anywhere in the court using the same action . A great coy he has used wonderfully against big servers through out his career. Later in his career post 2009 , he has added some good ones to his repertoire - the " hot dog " ( the between the legs shot ), the squash shot and SABR ( sneak attack by Roger ) in which he charges his opponents while receiving the serve and hits a return on the run . He has also worked very well on his backhand both down the line and cross court since his long lay off due to injury in late 2016 .. This many attributes to his wonderful success such late in his career in 2017 when no one expected him to win 2 Majors and 4 Masters . Overall if one were to look at his playing style one would hardly find any flaw in his game which is why over a period of 15 years or more he has been able to sustain the amazing consistency and success that he has . Federer's greatest strength lies in the fact that his entire serve and volley game unlike some of his vaunted predecessors have not been stressful either to his back or shoulders which has allowed him to maintain an injury free career for such a long time which has in turn allowed him to play at the top for such a long time with such high levels of success .
We will talk a little about 2005 , a year in which he consolidated his dominance as a great player - although he failed to win the first two majors losing the Aus Open and the French Open to eventual winners , he quickly made a turn around in the next two majors - winning SW 19 over Andy Roddick and US Open against a fading giant - Andre Agassi . It was to be Andre's last major final. The Swiss Maestro also won four ATP Masters 1000 . One of the win was at Miami against a young man named Rafael Nadal in what would become one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history . In addition Federer won two ATP 500 events . The season was one of the most dominant in the Open Era . He won 11 singles title , tying him to his 2004 feat , his 81 match victories the most since Pete Sampras in 1993, and his record of 81-4 (95%) the second best in Open Era behind the great John Mcenroe in 1984.
His 2004 and 2005 performances are good enough to be emulated by any player for an entirety in their lives , but Federer extended his greatness to 2006 which statistically was his best season as well as one of the greatest seasons of any player in the history of the sport. 2007-09 he held off young rivals and although he tapered a bit going by his lofty standards still it was good enough for him to be head and shoulders above others . We will however dwell on the era between 2012-2017 where he won only one major till this year's AUS OPEN and was generally being written off due to advancing years as well as resurgence of rivals like Nadal, Murray, Djokovic as well as the fact that Fedex for the first time faced serious injury threats which kept him out of action for a long period in 2013 and 2016.
The beginning of the downhill :
2007 - 2012 he won one grand slam at least , each year barring 2011 where he failed to win a major for the first time in a year till then . Although he was winning , he was actually holding off younger rivals like Rafael Nadal , Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray . If the resurgence of the three was one factor, the other factor was for the first time in his long and illustrious career, the Maestro was getting a bit bogged down by injuries .
From 2008 onwards he started suffering from mononucleosis and then a back injury which would prove to be recurring throughout his career. One point to be noted here was that although he was losing in the Majors , he was winning other tourneys still with elan e.g. the Masters 1000 as well as the 500 and 250 or advancing to the finals at least which was allowing him to garner enough points to remain consistently in the top 3. That itself was a huge achievement, for players dream to be in top 10 even for a month whereas Fedex did it every year even without winning a Slam. That perhaps is or was his hallmark as a player but the lofty standards that he set for himself , fans like me and etal all over the world were disheartened .
2014-2015 were two years in which he was the only person perhaps who believed that he could still play at the top with same proficiency that he had between 2003-2010. Although he was a runners -up in Wimbledon in '14 and a runners up both at SW 19 and US Open in 14-15 it was quite evident that he was perhaps becoming a shadow of his former self . Only because he was Federer he was still able to win tournaments outside the Major and was still able to remain in top 10 without a slam win . Also the fact his long nemesis' both Nadal and Djokovic were definitely reading his game better and were able to register wins at crucial junctures .
2016 - a knee injury early in Feb forced him to undergo a arthroscopic surgery and then another back injury in May forced him to miss most of the early season. He suffered anticipated losses in Semifinals of Aus Open to Djokovic and a Wimbledon SF defeat to Raonic - his first in his life . He then decided to skip the entire of the remaining season and the Summer Olympics to recover from his knee injury.
The question that was looming large very clearly was - whether the writing was on the wall and whether Federer was able to read it ? For in a game like Tennis where people retire at 30 , Federer was still ranked well within 10 even without winning any grandslam . But the domination was clearly missing - apart from the big 3 - Nadal, Djokovic and Murray , Federer was losing easily to other players like Raonic, Nishikori, Berdych , Dimitrov and others who in the golden period between 2003-2010 would hardly have won even a set against the Maestro.
2017 - THE FAIRY TALE COMEBACK :
After staying away 6 months away from the court at an advancing age of 35, Roger Federer decided to return to competitive tennis with Hopman Cup in 2017. He was ranked outside the top 10 for the first time in his entire career post 2002, and not even the lowest bookie gave him any chance beyond the QF at most. It is here then FEDEX decided to step up the gas and ride on his renaissance form at the age of 35 1/2 to produce some of the best tennis unheard or unseen before . He beat players in the top 10 back to back to reach the SF making him the oldest man since Jimmy Connors to reach a grandslam SF since 1991. In the last 4, he beat fellow countryman Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets , making him the oldest player to compete in a Majors Final since Ken Rosewall in 1974. Coming back from a break down in 5th set , Federer beat his long time nemesis Rafael Nadal to win his 5th Australian Open ( his 100th match at the Open ), his first win against Rafa in a Grand Slam since the 2007 Wimbledon final, his first ever Majors win over Nadal outside Wimbledon , and made him the oldest player to win a Grandslam since Ken Rosewall in 1972.
Federer won 2 more Masters titles showing his vintage form of 2004-2007 before suddenly deciding to skip the Clay season to stretch his longevity . He returned to the grass court season at Stuttgart where he lost shockingly to veteran Tommy Haas but then won his favorite pre wimbledon tourney - the Halle for the record 9th time, without dropping a set .
The record was there for the grabs at SW 19 , where he was not only aiming to win it for a record 8th time but also become the oldest man to win in the Open Era. Shock defeats of Nadal and Djokovic helped much although it must be said that post 30 both these greats are facing similar slump which Fedex faced between 2011-2016. Federer kept on beating players in top 10 one after another - Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych and then the historic epoc making final against Marin Cilic. Federer standing on the edge of history, blew away an injured Cilic to win his record 8th SW 19 , extending his Majors title to 19, thus becoming the oldest male player in Open Era to win Wimbledon. He also became the second man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon without dropping a set after Bjorn Borg in 1976. This record breaking win marked his comeback to world no.3 in the ATP rankings and also qualified for the year ending ATP finals for the record 15th time.
Phew !!! What a fairytale comeback has he scripted ..... The breathtaking monopoly that he wielded between 2003-2010 and then the slump between 2011-16 when everyone asked when is he retiring rather than why is he playing on and then the unbelievable 2017 he is having .... In a body contact and fiercely power game like Tennis where people struggle to put racket to ball after 30, Federer has continued playing and even during his worst phase between 11-16 has won tournaments and kept himself within the top 10 consistently goes on to prove only one thing - he is a supremely gifted athlete apart from an outstanding player he has been ( probably the greatest player to have played tennis in both male and female ) . Even his back and knee injury that thwarted his career and halted his winning prowess in 2011 and 2013 was not enough for his supreme overall fitness that he possesses for its humanly nigh impossible to win at such high levels day in day out at the age of 36... For some one who has remained in top 10 between Oct 2002 to Nov 2016 in a game like Tennis where people struggle to play 14 years overall, goes on to prove without doubt that Roger Federer is a player apart from being a legend is also an athlete who has taken great care of his body and was born with a gifted fitness which has helped him to make such a remarkable comeback - probably the greatest in the history of any sports and as he makes yet another attempt to reach the numero uno position at the age of 36, we take a bow to a man who is arguably the greatest ever sportsperson in the history of any sports ... such has been his unbelievable domination over Tennis and global sports for the last decade and a half !!!
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