Federer Tracker 2005

A compilation of Federer Tracker News, Articles and Links that were published on FedererMagic during 2005.

Dec 24: Check out the season's greetings from Federer on this neat little flash. Also his schedule till Wimby next year remains the same as this year except for Davis cup commitments.

Nov 21: The mythical fighter inside Roger and his place in history has been chalked up a notch as he gone down bravely against the crafty Nalbandian in 5 sets after coming back from 0-4 to serving for the match at 6-5 in the fifth set at the Masters Cup final at Shanghai. Roger sure won the hearts of the millions of the Asia and the final score read 6-7(4) 6-7(11) 6-2 6-1 7-6(3). It's a pity but all streaks had to end. Here's to a wonder vacation for Roger and a healthy start to the next year. Go read his post-match interview !!

Nov 15: Federer has arrived in Shanghai; More and a Pic. And now he has won a match against his nemesis, Nalbandian in a somewhat shaky match in three sets. Hooray !! And was crowned numero uno. And he is in Semifinals after surviving a tough match against Ljubicic a

Oct 29: According to an article in a german newspaper, Roger was quoted saying that he has recovered from the injury and is practising and that he will defend his masters cup title in shanghai this November . English translation here. Let's hope he gets to play !! w00t. Update: A message from Roger on RF.com and on BBC. Also, the new Roger Federer Official Fanclub will be launched on Nov 1st by Roger himself.

Oct 12: Sadly, Federer has injured himself during his training today with a torn ligament in his right foot. He has withdrew from Madrid Masters as well as from Basel Indoors. He could potentially miss the Paris Masters too. See his short message on his website. Get well soon, Roger.

Oct 03: So much in the last 2 weeks, Federer helped Swiss beat GB in Davis Cup play-off, and then he flew to Bangkok and won comfortably for the second time against Andy Murray in the finals. And today, in Shanghai, he opened the new $200 million beautiful stadium that will host the masters cup; [interview video]. And he has locked in the Year end #1. Also, ATP has launched a Roger Federer Mini site. And several short video clips of Federer's famous wins at Wimby are here.

Sep 21: Federer was on David Letterman show and here's the complete video clip [courtesy of Stephan]. Also see the transcript [thanks RF]. Roger tells his story of the incident that inspired him to change from a tennis racket smasher to a record breaking iceman. Also, Federer has rehired IMG agency for promotion along with his existing team; More here & here.

Sep 12: Wow. In a brilliant finals against Awesome Agassi and some 24,000 cheering fans, Roger won his 6th Grandslam and became the first ever to win back-to-back US Open and Wimby titles consecutively in the Open Era. Do see the post-match interview of Agassi and Roger as well as Hall-of-fame inductee Lendl's comments on Coach Roach. Also, the Wertheim's Parting Shots. Tune to David Letterman tonight at 11:30 CBS for Roger's interview. Also someFinal's Video clips [Thanks SP]. And hugs to Kim Clijsters for her win !!

Sep 09: After a scare against Keifer and a good match with Nalbandian, Roger tries for his second consecutive Finals at the US Open against Hewitt on Super Saturday. Do check out this awesome interview clip of Roger and Coach Roach in 60 Minutes Australia. Nice stuff. Also, the indepth interview of Roger in the new Men's Vogue magazine and the red carpet party.

Aug 27: US Open is here, and every name in town is playing this year. Roger has been practising since Tuesday. No Coach Roach around. Do check out the Official Roger Federer DVD - REPLAY. For now, available only in Region 2 format and in Switzerland only [English].

Aug 22: Whew! Roger improved from his bad record of 1-4 at Cincy with his first title against Andy in straight sets. Go, check out his post-match interview as well as Andy's [ANDY RODDICK: If you met him at McDonald's and you didn't know who he was, you would have no idea that he's one of the best athletes in the world]. Thanks Andy !!

Aug 08: Happy Birthday, Roger !! Do check out the redesigned RogerFederer.com as well as his cool federer tracker map showing all the places he visited this year. Wow! Or the take the 5 question challenge to win a prize. Update: See what Silvy and her friends gave for Roger on his b-day. [must-see]

Aug 02: The good news is Federer is currently vacationing and with his inflamation gone, he is all set to train with Roche for the Cincy Masters. Check out his schedule for the rest of 2005.

July 21: Sadly, Federer withdrew from Canada Masters due to his recurrent feet injury:(. He is currently on vacation to heal his feet and hopefully would play at Cincy Masters before his US Open defence. And, Coach Roach won't accompany him for the american tour.

July 03: Federer did it, as he bucked history to be the first to win a slam the year after winning three or more slams. And rightly so, as a tripeat Big W champion. Ahh, a what a relief and joy it beholds !! Celebrate Federer's win by reading this beautiful article or this one or his interview or Andy's; or watch the reaction from roger (video) or the highlights video.

June 28: So far at the hallowed grass lawns of Wimby, here are the highlights from Federer's matches: R1 vs Paul Mathieu; R2 vs Ivo Minar; R3 vs Nicolas Kiefer; R4 vs Juan Carlos Ferrero. Thanks Steven. An excellent article on Federer as a kid. And his golden shoes.

June 13: Say hello to grass-season, as Roger sweeps both the singles and doubles titles at Halle. Here is a 5-minute highlights video to relive the magical fourth round at Wimby 2001; the five-setter match that Roger calls his 'biggest win in my life' against Pete Sampras. Also his post-match interview [Hat tip: Stevens Point]. Arnab Zaheen points out to a must-read article for Federer fans as well as a similar article at SI. Also, check out the Federer's schedule for the rest of the 2005 season.

June 03: Nadal must be a happy birthday boy. In the semis, Federer was never really comfortable since he was clearly rattled from the start. It is very sad as he went down in four sets; but nevertheless very proud that Roger made to the French Semifinals! For the brave, here is a Highlights Video of Federer Vs Nadal, Interview and Interview Transcript. [Thanks Stevens Point]

May 31: It's what we all been waiting for!! It's Federer vs Nadal - A Titanic Struggle of epic proportions. They are 1-1 head-to-head and never on clay. It is Nadal's first FO as is Roger's first Semi-finals at the French. And as they clash on this Friday, Nadal turns 19. No one has ever won a grand slam the year after they won three or more slams. Y'all gotta watch it. May 24: And the clay court championship begins.. Federer plays against Nicolas Almagro in the second round of FO tommorow. Watch the highlights and interview of his first round. Also see the Nike promotion video from last weekend with Rafa and Roger [Thanks Stevens Point]. Check out the cool screen shots on the Top Spin featuring Federer. Now, we all can play like Federer ;)

May 16: Last Sunday, Roger won his third masters of the year at Hamburg, and says, he loves playing in Germany. Coach Roach will be staying with him till French Open and the FO main draw is this friday. On the more exciting news, Roger just won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year (aka Oscars of the Sports). Well done Roger! More.

May 9: Last weekend, Roger played an exhibition match on River Elbe. Today at Hamburg, with a tough draw, Roger is back with his first round win against Verdasco (6-4,6-3). He is also playing doubles with Yves. Also present with him is Coach Roach. In other news, Top Spin, the tennnis game will be available on PS2 (previously only on Xbox). And this time it features Roger Federer. Woohoo!!

May 2: I ran across these excellent short videos:

• Superb backhand lob against Agassi that even suprised Federer at Dubai '05
• Brilliant Match Point of Federer vs Suzuki at AO '05 [videos courtesy of this website].
• New Nike Ad with Roger Federer on his bare feet [telecasted in Europe, Thanks Lucana]
• ATP All-Star Rally for Relief Video

Apr 30: A sad day, as Roger had withdrawn from Rome with inflammation on his both feet. He hasn't withdrawn from Hamburg, which starts the week after. So hopefully, it is a precaution measure and lets pray that he will be all well soon.

Apr 25: Last weekend was Tennis Festival at Roger's club in Basel, Old Boys' Tennis Club. Rogi won an exhibition match against Marco Chiudinelli. Highlights in a video clip here and pictures here [Thanks eve]. Enjoy !

Apr 17: With two weeks off for practise following Federer's QF defeat in Montecarlo, rumor mill has it that Coach Roach will accompany him to his next two Masters (Rome and Hamburg). Between, congrats to Nadal on his first TMS win.

Apr 12: Let the dance of clay showmasters begin... Roger wins his first match against Rusedski at the Montecarlo Masters. Next off, he faces Montanes in Round 2.

Apr 3: Wow. Roger wins the NASDAQ-100 with an dugout dog fight against Nadal in 5 gruelling emotional sets. Roger looked out of sorts for about 2 and half sets and finally pulled it off.. Well done Federer and Nadal. Great Gruelling Match.. Player Interviews here.

Apr 1: No April Foolin', but, It's Roger Vs Andre tonight. Gotta glue on ya tv sets !! If not, get the live scores here.

Mar 30: Incase you missed the 45 shot rally that Federer and Hewitt played during the last week Indian Wells Finals, Check out the video clip here. It won't be there for long. So save a copy of it to show to your grand kids !! Check out what Federer has to say about that point.

Mar 28: While I was on Spring Break, Rogi won Indian Wells. Congrats Rogi. In Miami, he faces Zabaleta in Round 3 today. Did you check out the ATP All-Star Rally for Relief of top-10 players? Read here and see them here and the video here. Sshh, Facing Federer Collector's DVD is released this week; watch the exclusive preview, available at Tenniswarehouse; Reviews.

Roger Federer vs. Pete Sampras

I am not a big believer of stats. That said, there are several interesting coincidences about the careers of Pete and Roger. And unsurprising it is. Though they have vastly different approach to tennis as well as slams, here is an attempt to celebrate the coincidences rather than as a comparison between them.

Sampras and Federer were both born in August ten year apart. Federer's birthday is August 08, 1981, while Sampras's is August 12, 1971. So, at the time of writing, Sampras is 33, while Federer is 23. And the grand slams make up this way too. For example, Federer won Wimbledon 2005 at the age of 23, while Sampras won Wimbledon 1995, at the same age of 23. And so on.. get the drift?

Sampras	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Career
Australian	-	1r	4r	-	-	SF	W	F	3r	W	QF	-	SF	4r	4r	2
French	-	2r	-	2r	QF	QF	QF	1r	SF	3r	2r	2r	1r	2r	1r	0
Wimbledon	-	1r	1r	2r	SF	W	W	W	QF	W	W	W	W	4r	2r	7
US Open	1rw	4r	W	QF	F	W	4r	W	W	4r	SF	-	F	F	W	5

Federer	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Career
Australian	j-F	q1	3r	3r	4r	4r	W	SF	W	W	SF	F	W	SF		4
French	j-1r	1rw	4r	QF	1r	1r	3r	SF	F	F	F	W	QF	F		1
Wimbledon	j-W	1rw	1r	QF	1r	W	W	W	W	W	F	W	QF	QF		6
US Open	j-SF	q2	3r	4r	4r	4r	W	W	W	W	W	F	SF	SF		5
RF/PS age	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Sampras won his half of his 14 slams (7), at his mid point, at his 8th year as a pro (of his 15 year career).

Note: RF/PS age is the age of both Roger Federer and Pete Sampras when the tennis season starts (Jan 1). By the time they play US Open, they would have had their birthday and older by one year. (Like Sampras won his last US Open at age 31, though he was 30 when the tennis season started).

Original idea by Tennis28 ; Data by Wikipedia.

Also Federer at Grand slam Singles Main draw.
______________

Sampras vs Federer on Wimbledon 2001:

Some stats about the historic match in the Round of 16. It was the only time they both met and since Sampras has retired, Federer holds a 1-0 lifetime head to head against him. Going into the match,

• Pete had never lost a 5-set match at Wimbledon before he lost to Federer 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7- 5.
• He had a streak of 31 straight wins at Wimbledon, tying him with Rod Laver.
• Pete had won the seven of the last 8 Wimbledons going into the 2001 Wimby.
• Pete was looking for his 100th win at Wimbledon when he met Federer. He got his 100th win at Wimbledon with his 3-set win over Martin Lee in R128 the next year. It was also his last win at Wimbledon.

For the record, you can get the 2-disc DVD of the match from Adrian. He sells it for US $7.50 [See more]. It is nice to Roger that young and playing a heck of a great match.

Map of Roger Federer's Switzerland

Few Places of interest for Federer fans are,

Münchenstein: Federer's Birthplace
Bottmingen: Federer's parents House
Oberwil: Federer and Mirka's Apartment
Schaffhausen: Mirka's parents House

Münchenstein, Bottmingen, and Oberwil are very close to Basel, a city of northern Switzerland on the Rhine River bordering Germany. Schaffhausen is 100km from Basel on the east. Here's a map with the cities underlined:



Also see the excellent virtual tour of Basel here.

Original idea from ste.

Roger Federer Pictures and Photos

It's long overdue that FedererMagic should have a photo gallery of Roger. But due to copyright restrictions and several thousands of pictures of federer on the web, it's pretty impossible to keep it updated. So, I am going to put some of my favorite pictures and several links to dedicated collections of pics and photos.










More Sources to get Roger's Pictures:

• Tennis Galleries at Mens Tennis Forums, Tennis Server, VTP, BBC, and Advantage Tennis
  
• Image Search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Flickr
  
• Editorial Images on Getty, and Corbis
  
• Gallery at RF.com and Siggi Bucher
  
• News Photos on Yahoo, SI, Wired, and AU

New! And Videos as well:

How to Save Streaming Videos?

You come across a nice video. But, alas it is a streaming video and hence cannot be saved to your hard disk. However there are certain techniques to save the video clip in a single file.

NOTE: Saving streaming video/audio is not legal for distribution. The reasoning behind the publishers releasing streaming videos (i.e. a big file in several small parts) is for faster viewing in the video player as well as to prevent distribution. So, if you download it, save it for your own personal archival use and not for distribution else where. As usual, use it at your own risk. That said, enjoy!

Real Media Format:
It is difficult to save a streaming file from Real Media format, however it is not impossible:

Step 1: Save the http link of the video clip to your desktop. [Right Click -> Save As]
Step 2: Open the .rm file on Notepad. [Right Click -> Open With -> Notepad]
Step 3: It is a text file that will look like this:

rtsp://62.2.180.194:554/doha.rm?cloakport=80,554,7070--stop--
pnm://62.2.180.194:7070/doha.rm?cloakport=80,554,7070

Step 4: Copy the rtsp:// link
Step 5: Open your downloader and save the rtstp file. (rtsp files wont save in any browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox etc)
Step 6: If you don't have a free downloader, I recommend Net Transport. The newest version is not free but, we can download the older, completely-free version from here. Other downloaders that can download rtsp are trial-based software that expires after 30 days [like HiDownload, CoC's Stream Down].
Step 7: Once you install the Net Transport, click on NEW and paste the rtsp:// you want to download and it will download it to your C:\ .

Windows Media Format:
The above logic applies, except that the URL in the video clip (eg. http://) has to be replaced with mms:// and then download it. It quite likely would work on many scenarios. If it fails, see the long answer.

Long Answer:
See http://www.infocellar.com/software/streaming-media.htm. It has a lot of information on saving streaming files from a wide variety of sources/formats, along with nice detailed descriptions.

Caius Schmid

Caius Schmid is a longtime physiotherapist of Roger Federer (since 1989). He was also in the Swiss team for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Olympics (Athens 2004) as well as for the FCB Football Basel Club.

Reto Staubli

Reto Staubli, a former swiss top ten, travels frequently with Roger Federer on the road. He is an excellent hitting partner and a childhood interclub friend from the Swiss leagues.

Roger describes him in his own words:

"It's great fun, and obviously I'm also benefiting from training with such experienced players." Those were my words eight years ago in response to a question from a journalist from the Basler Zeitung the first time I got to play an NLA (Swiss national league) match for the top team at my tennis club, "Old Boys" in Basel.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to play with big names such as Vaclav Roubicek, Patrick Mohr, Sandro della Piana and Reto Staubli.

Reto Staubli? Would that be the Reto Staubli who has been accompanying you to various tournaments - most recently Wimbledon - as your sparring partner, I hear you ask? The very same! We've been good friends ever since those interclub days.

Even then, Reto was supremely composed and in control. As number four in the team, his were one of the safest pairs of hands in terms of delivering the points. That was to be the year that we won the championship.

Source: Federer's Newsletter

More about his first club, OldBoys

Fed Mojo (aka Federer's Serve) Analyzed

I ran across this excellent scanned image of a very detailed article on Tennis Magazine. These material are copyrighted and only used for display purposes. If you want to hold on to them, please contact the publisher and/or author. Rafael Font de Mora, the author is a respected coach, and he runs the ITUSA Tennis Academy. That said, see the entire action of Federer Serve.

1. When preparing to serve, first visualize the delivery you wish to hit. (Federer already knows which serve he'll use as he steps to the line.) His weight is off the front foot, and he has a slightly open stance for a serve. His front toe is angled to ease his hip and shoulder rotation. But this is more a matter of style, not fundamentals.

2. Federer keeps his weight on his back foot as his tossing arm goes out to the side of his body, facilitating shoulder and hip rotation. For his serve, it's imperative that he not let the toss get behind his body. Your toss can often determine the success of your serve. Federer's weight begins to move forward as his arms goes up. His racquet and palm are facing downward, which keeps his shoulder muscles relaxed and enables him to achieve a whip-like motion.

3. This is Federer's power position. His tossing arm is fully extended and his body is prepared to explode into the serve. His shoulders are tilted, and he's leaning forward. Notice, too, how the hitting elbow is in line with his shoulders. This will give Federer excellent throwing action. His flexed knee and hip and shoulder rotation make his serve extremely difficult to read. From this same service position and toss Federer can hit his flat, kick and slice serve to any area of the box.

4. To push off into the serve, Federer has his weight completely on his front leg. As his legs thrust upward, the racquet drops down behind his back with the face perpendicular to the ground and away from his shoulders. This will help him generate power. His non-hitting arm also drops down for the racquet to come through. And Federer's balance is perfect. Recreational players tend to break the sequence at this point by losing their balance.

5. Federer makes contact with the ball slightly to his left. Any inconsistency he has with his serve is due to letting the toss drop too far. Here, all his power has propelled him off the ground as he gets full vertical extension into the court. Good extension and natural forearm pronation are both crucial. Federer doesn't pull his head down prematurely, which is another common mistake. His tossing arm tucks in, slowing down his torso, which creates a whipping action at the top of the motion.

6. After Federer makes contact with the ball, the momentum of his swing carries him into the court. His eyes are looking forward, and his head is up for balance. His hitting arm has fully pronated while his other arm continues the stabilization process. This allows his shoulders to face his opponent head on so he can react quickly for the return. Federer, like all big servers today, lands on his front foot, which lets him either follow the serve to net or get set for a ground stroke.

Original Scanned Image as published on Tennis.com

More: Also see Federer's Serve Motion here [flash file].

Look to the stars

On Apr 25 2005, I wrote on Federer Tracker:

Last weekend was Tennis Festival at Roger's club in Basel, Old Boys' Tennis Club. Rogi won an exhibition match against Marco Chiudinelli. Highlights in a video clip here and pictures here [Thanks eve]. Enjoy !

Added: The song 'Look to the stars' is played in the background of the video clip above. It had became very popular with several fans liking it very much.

The song is from a very popular swiss musical, Space Dream. They are now producing Space Dream II. 'Look to the stars' is from the Space Dream I. And you can listen to the song (mp3) here or here. Also, more picture albums here, here and there.

And the lyrics of the song:

My name is Rodin, I come from far away.
But don't worry, I'm not here to stay.
Come from a planet, Hexxor it's called.
Where I come from, every life comes from...

...the stars, look to the stars, look to the stars.
When you're deep in doubt or full of fear:
Look to the stars.

We live in worlds apart miles away.
We have the same roots, we are the same.
Deep in your soul you'll feel the connection.
For your answer look up to the...

...stars, look to the stars, look to the stars.
To find the answer, the reason why:
Look to the stars.

We have good and bad, we believe in a god.
But there's one difference:
We don't fight wars.

It's the end of a a nation when men kill men.
When we've got troubles, we ask the stars
So look to the stars, look to the stars, look to the stars.

You are a woman, but you feel like a girl:
Look to the stars.

My name is Reachel, am I really awake?
Is it a dream? Is it a fake?
Many strange things happened to me.
So much pain I had to see.

Who is this man, he confuses me so.
He's a stranger but with him I want to go.
Can I trust my eyes? Are we kindred souls?
My feelings are so strong - that can't be wrong!

Look to the stars, look to the stars, look to the stars.
When you're deep in doubt or full of fear:
Look to the stars.
Look to the stars, look to the stars, look to the stars.

Find the answer, the reason why:
Look to the stars.
Look to the stars, look to the stars, look to the stars.

You are a man, but you feel like a boy:
Look to the stars.

Entire lyrics credits to golyr.de.

Tony Roche

Tony Roche, 59, (in 2005) a great Australian tennis player of yesteryears and French Open Champion in 1966, is now acting as a part-time coach for Roger since the beginning of 2005. It was after much insistence and perseverance from Federer that Roche, now home-sick after several years of travel as a coach for Ivan Lendl and Patrick Rafter, had accepted this position.

Peter Lundgren

1996 - Lundgren took over Larry Stefanki as the coach for Marcelo Rios, who's game Federer very much admired. [Link]

1997 - Federer and Lundgren first met

November 2000 - Lundgren became Federer's coach

When Peter Carter didn't want to travel with him, they both thought that Lundgren would be a good coach for Federer.

By Lundgren's own admission, his seven-year partnership with Federer had
become routine and, while he was initially shaken by the player's decision
to end it, he fully understands it. "This is what happens with the kind of
relationship we had, we were so close," he said. "We did everything
together. We ate together, we went out together, we even played PlayStation
together. Now it's good for him to carry on with something else and I'm
happy to be doing something else."

An indepth interview with Roger on Peter Lundgren

Another interview

Some Pics:

Of all the places to play tennis..

Federer's fascination for playing tennis on weird places (see Dubai Helipad), he spent the last weekend on the River Elbe. Hmm.. actually Federer and Haas played on a floating tennis court on the water front on River Elbe.

Federer: "It was a lot of fun and very enjoyable to play with Tommy. You could feel the waves, the court was definitely moving. It was windy, a nice fresh breeze and the surface was definitely a lot quicker than clay. We got used to it though and got some good rallies going in the end. They said 10 to 15,000 people watching from the harbour. That was fantastic."

Get more pictures from Getty & more info on ATP tennis.

What's out there?

There are several fansites on the web for Roger. Below are a few of my favorites. My criterion were: frequently updated, easy to read, not too many ads. Hope you like them too !

Articles

Roger Federer profile at Tennis Server - Great articles on Roger New!

New York Times articles - Good read

Fansites
Go Roger - Excellent site, one of the best out there
Roger - one and only- Nice picture website from Silvy (fightclubber), a great fan
Roger Federer Fanclub - Swiss based fanclub for Roger

Man with Golden Racquet - A fanlisting

Earlier websites with older info
Federer Express - One of the earlier sites for roger
Federerfan - Nice pictures from 2000

Blogs
Pro Tennis Fan - Updated blog on tennis players
Federer Express Blog - A popular blog on roger

The Fed-X-Press - New blog with frequent updates

Commercial sites
Tennis Rulz website - Updated frequently, many ads though ;)

Other Languages
Czech - Federer
Dutch - Federer.nl
French - Rodgeur Blog - Rogerfederer1981

Persian - ARA's Federer
Russian - Federerfan

Upcoming Players
Novak Djokovic - Novak-Djokovic.com [Official]

Interesting Tennis Columns
Nina's Tennis Diary

More quality websites on Roger at Federer Bookmarks.

More On Playing Artful Tennis Pushers

The last time we talked about the psychology of playing pushers and how important it is to respect the skills they are bringing to the table.

If you're struggling in a match and all you're thinking is how embarassing it is or how you should be wiping the pusher off the court, then the pusher has won the battle of the minds.

Instead, you should be relaxed, enjoying the challenge, and focusing your thinking on how to outsmart the pusher.

From a technical point of view, the pusher usually gives you a ball with less pace than you're used to. And, for most players, this throws off their timing and they end up being out of sync.

When faced with slow balls, most people plant their weight too early and lock into this position thus freezing the hips. And, then when they swing, they don't have any power left in their lower bodies and they end up with less powerful arm swings.

And, because the swing doesn't feel smooth, the frustration level grows and the whole thing just gets worse and worse.

So, first of all , keep your feet moving until the last second and then plant your weight on the back foot and begin your swing. This will solve many of the problems with a slow ball.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Playing The Artful Pusher

The question I probably get asked the most by aspiring tennis plaers is how to beat a pusher.

The answer --it's not easy and I'm going to explore this in the next few blog entries.

The first thing though is that you have to get over the idea that because you hit the ball harder than the pusher you are therefore a better tennis player.

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

You hit with pace - the pusher usually hits with precision. Isn't precision as important if not more so than pace?

You lose your cool - the pusher maintains his. Isn't controlling your emotions an important part of winning tennis?

You get sucked into patterns you don't like - the pusher controls the patterns. Isn't being smart tactically part of winning tennis?

So lesson 1 -- GET OVER YOURSELF. The pusher may be a better player than you are.
Don't get overconfident just because you hit the ball harder and don't lose your cool when you are forced to hit the shots you're not used to.

Next time we'll explore some of the patterns that pushers like to use.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take yout tennis to the next level.

Different tactical tennis patterns on clay

Let's face it - clay court tennis is different than hard court tennis.

And it's arguably more fun, more athletically challenging, and more stylish allowing you more time to hit beautiful angles.

And, as tempting as it is to try and play the same patterns on clay that you play on hard court, sometimes your old standby hard court patterns and tactics just don't work as well on clay.

For example, on hard court, a big inside out forehand can hurt your opponent and the point can often be won on the next shot with either another inside out or an inside in forehand up the line.

On clay your opponent can usually return your first inside out forehand without any trouble. so to hurt your opponent and gain an advantage you have to be more patient and hit a number of inside out forehands sometimes trying to pull your opponent wide further and further off the court. Then, when the opening is there you can go inside in up the line.

Watch the rallies on clay now and observe the patterns the players use . You'll notice how they're much more patient than on hard court.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. Author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the tennis Ebook that can make you a smarter player and help you to win more matches now.

Playing hard court tennis on the clay

Saw a little bit of Federer's play this week at Monte Carlo. He's always a treat to watch but it struck me that he's still trying to play hard court tennis on the red clay.

He's chipping and charging, serving and volleying and hitting big shots and following them to the net --all classic hard court tactics.

But these tactics are less successful on clay because his opponents have time to track down his shots and set up to pass. So his winning efficiency goes down .

That's why I think he'll have trouble winning in Paris.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The tennis Ebook guaranteed to make you a better player.

Federer vs Nadal -- A lesson in tactics

What a match. Federer versus Nadal in the finals of the Nasdaq 100. Nadal is a superstar in the making with power,speed, grit, and incredible shotmaking ability.

But--and there's usually a but -- Nadal's style of play and his tactics make him susceptible to fatigue just as you saw in the finals versus Federer as he had nothing left for the last 2 sets.

Nadal plays way behind the baseline which means he has to run great distances to get to balls and then has to hit them with full force to get them back deep and with heavy spin. So, while it looks spectacular and can be impossible to defeat, it is so draining physically that it's almost guaranteed that Nadal will slow down as a match progresses.

Plus Nadal merely spins his first serve in so he gets no free points there either.

Bottom line -- Nadal needs to improve his first serve and also learn to try and end some point earlier by standing closer to the baseline. Then, when he really needs to grind it out in a 5th set he'll have some energy left.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner -- author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The tennis Ebook that can improve your game immediately.

A quantum leap in my tennis confidence

Wow. I recently took a set off the number 1 player in canada in the 50-55 age group. I'm 49 so I'm getting close.

This was by far my biggest set win in my life and although I lost the match it validated a lot of the work I've been doing on my game and my tactical approach.

How I'd do it? I served big and well. More interestingly, I noticed a few patterns that were working to my advantage and I kept on using them.

For example, I noticed that my hard flat serve to the backhand wasn't giving my opponent trouble . He was able to block them back with a short slice backhand stroke. But ,when I hit hard kick on the first serve the height of the bounce surprised him and he made mistakes.

Also I noticed he was vulnerable to a really tough slice serve so I really went after my slice to give it a mean curve after the bounce.


My confidence that I can take a set off anybody is now sky high. Can't wait for the next tournament.

Until next time,

Glenn, Author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The tennis Ebook that can take you from losing to winning in a day.

Pavel Kovac

Czech physiotherapist Pavel Kovac travels with Roger on occasions.

Roger's comments about Kovac:

Q. How much did Czech fitness trainer Pavel Kovac help you?

Federer: Well, he's been traveling with me for over a year now. It's a pleasure to work with him. He's a very nice guy. Looking forward to work with him in the future, as well, because he did a good job.

Source Interview

Pierre Paganini

Pierre Paganini, a former athlete and soccer player, is the fitness trainer (condition coach) for Roger as well as for Swiss Davis Cup team. His contact info.

• One of his rare interviews. [in German, English version]
• Tennis Magazine's article on Pierre Paganini.
• Video Clip of an Interview [in French, Real Media][Transcript in English]

His comments on Roger:

Paganini has been helping Federer make tennis look easy for the last 10 years and together they put in 100 hours of fitness training throughout the season, either at tournaments or when Federer is at home in Switzerland. They do a combination of strength and endurance work, circuit training, running and a wide range of exercises designed to practice all the movements Federer is likely to make on a tennis court.

Prior to a big tournament they will work for 10 hours a week or more, depending on the surface he is going to play on, but Paganini says he never hears so much as a murmur of fuss from Federer. "Roger is a pleasure and a privilege to work with," said Paganini. "He never complains about having to work hard as long as he understands why he is doing it. He asks me what we are doing and why and then he gets to work. He knows that he is talented and that the fitness work we do is going to bring that talent through. "He's always been the same. You can have all the shots but if you aren't there in time it doesn't matter and Roger knows that. Even when I am really tough on him he never stops working and he never wants to stop. That's the kind of man he is and that's why he is a champion. He really is an amazing person."

Source

FINDING THE UNEXPECTED WEAKNESS

Played a tournament match against a good player in an ITF sanctioned masters match.

The fellow was a good player with a solid 2 handed backhand and what seemed like a decent forehand in the warmup.

As the match started I began by serving mainly to his backhand as I usually do and I could see that he had a terrific 2 handed backhanded return. He had great technique, really good racket head speed, and he could rip returns even off big serves.

So, of course, I started testing his forehand and I was shocked to see that he had no set routine on the forehand. Sometines he would open his racket face and try to hit a slice forehand return and sometimes he would try and rip a drive. Either way, he was making tons of errors. I strated going to his forehand about 90% of the time, held easily, and won 2 and 3.

Now, here's the amazing thing. His starting preparation massively favored his backhand return. He began in a 2 handed backahnd grip on his backhand side. This meant he had extra hand movement to position himself for a forehand return. And even though I was killing him on the forehand side, he never tried to start off in a forehand grip to neutralize my tactic!

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the tennis Ebook that can make you a better player immediately.

A Guide to Federer's Playing Style

Federermagic reader Arnab Zaheen writes a well-researched article on Federer's genuine shotmaking ability.

Summary
Federer possesses outstanding control over his racket speed, angle and topspin. Aided further by superior anticipation and unusually quick movement, he can subtly dictate the momentum and the direction of the game. He also shows rare mental adaptability and stroke-making versatility as he is known to switch his playing style in the middle of a match or tweak a few things in his game to outsmart and outplay his opponents. He displays unusual calm and an uncommon lack of visible frustration when he makes errors, perhaps a result of his confidence in his unmatched abilties.

Service
Federer's serves are relatively fast, hovering around 120mph. More important than the speed of his serve is his deceptive ability to produce them accurately at different angles and bounces using the same serving motion, a skill that was perfected by Pete Sampras. The Guardian points out that "[Federer's] brightest jewels [are] slow-motion aces, objects of beauty because the rare combination of insidious accuracy and slick disguise [makes] great speed redundant."¹

Service Return
Federer is also exceptional at reading fast serves and returning them. He doesn't punish services with his returns like Andre Agassi does, and seems to prefer the steadier slice or bunt that neutralizes the server's advantage, but his anticipation and ability to read the service appears equal to or superior to Agassi's. During Wimbledon 2003, Sports Illustrated magazine noted the following about Federer's return game against Andy Roddick, the fastest server in the history of tennis: "Federer has a knack for reading Roddick's serve, getting enough of his racket on them to cut down on aces. Roddick had only a pair of aces in each of the first two sets and none in the third. He had 64 aces in his five matches on the way to the semis." ²

Forehand and Backhand
Federer has technically flawless forehand and backhand shots that he can unleash with great power, often at speeds near 100mph, anywhere on the court, prompting many commentators to exclaim that he makes the court look smaller or that he reduces tennis to mere ping-pong. He is one of the few top players who play with a one-handed backhand. Rod Laver is especially fond of the Federer backhand and says that it "is the best shot he plays, as he can roll his racket over the top of the ball, or hit it straight. I don't know how he manages to hit the ball so cleanly all the time."³

Shotmaking in Exceptional Circumstances
Federer usually plays with moderate aggression and doesn't go for the dominant shots all the time. Like all great players, he has a knack for creating all kinds of spectacular shots when pushed into compromising positions, usually when an opponent approaches the net expecting easy putaways. But Federer's responses are probably far more varied then any other player in the history of the game: looping crosscourt backhand passes, wristy and instinctive backhand pickups from the midcourt placed at very acute angles, exceptionally accurate down-the-line backhand passing shots while on the run, a heavily-topspinned forehand crosscourt pull from the baseline that, upon bounce, spins and fades away from lunging opponents, crushing forehand shots from the baseline that land inside the service box and speed away, and more.

Defense
Federer has great defense at the back of the court and is exceptionally good at returning deep, close-to-the-baseline shots from his opponents with effortless, Andre Agassi-like but even better, instinctive half-volleys and John McEnroe-like behind-the-body backhand flick returns. He is among the best in the world - one might say on par with Lleyton Hewitt, but without the gritty terrier-like tenacity and with nonchalant grace at chasing down his opponents' dominant baseline shots and keeping balls in play. Federer is, however, not entirely invincible at the baseline and shows vulnerability (and incidentally, a rare room for improvement) at his backhand side. There are times, though seldom, when an opponent can force errors from Federer's backhand defensive shots either by pounding relentless, accurate, flat and deep shots at his backhand corner (exposed against Marat Safin on hardcourt at the Australian Open 2005 semi-final) or by employing high-bouncing topsin shots at the same corner (exposed against Rafael Nadal on clay at the French Open 2005 semi-final).

Deliberative Shotmaking
In addition to these, he deliberately "mixes up" his game to keep his opponents guessing all the time. One of his more creative shots while not under pressure is a beautifully executed, both feet on the air, inside-out forehand from his backhand side generated using a unique, almost-complete lateral rotation of his torso --- a shot that he uses selectively for more power and angle instead of using the stock backhand. He has also reintroduced the backhand slice in fast courts to deliberately slow down the tempo of the game, and it serves well for the seemingly "cat-and-mouse" games he plays with his opponents. He is also adept at unexpectantly producing dying, back-spinning dropshots at the foot of the net, both forehand and backhand, and often employs them successfully from the back of the court against the fastest runners and anticipators in the game. Furthermore, his flexibility and quickness allow him to hit clean winners with perfect racket preparation and positioning - even when he is facing low-bouncing balls at the midcourt.

At the Net
Federer's playing style at the net, like the rest of his game, rarely seems rushed or fidgety. He almost always makes sure-footed steps at the net. At times his flexibility allows him to make galloping strides to his left or right and help himself in positions to make seemingly effortless volleys from well below the net level. And the volleys themselves are exquisitely executed, especially the stop-volleys. Federer often employs the right amount of backspin on his stop-volleys so that after the ball barely clears the net and lands on the other side, it either stops dead with minimal bounce or, to the further frustration of his opponent, backspins. This explains why Federer doesn't usually have prolonged net enounters with his opponents. He likes to finish off his net points early. The lack of such encounters, however, may prove to be his Achilles' Heel during crucial points against an opponent who is extremely quick to reach the net and who thrives at the prospect of making agile, instinctive counterpunch in such situations. Federer's sure-footedness and effortless pickups at the net reminds one of Sampras, whereas the crisp, timely execution of volleys are reminiscent of Stefan Edberg, who is incidentally one of Federer's childhood idols. Federer's net game is most suited for grass, and it has helped him capture three back-to-back Wimbledon titles.

The Feel and other Intangibles
Federer also demonstrates uncanny disguise in his ability to hold the point of contact with the ball (and consequentially his opponent) a split second longer. In the absence of anticipatory cues, Federer's opponents cannot readily get a jump on his shots. He can play down the line or crosscourt off the identical stance and seemingly identical swing - directing the ball either left or right by a subtle change in timing. As his ATP peer Tim Henman points out: "I can watch when I'm playing him and there are certain times where I will hit a shot, I will be at the net and it almost looks he's got a split second longer than most other players...Sometimes he comes across to hit a backhand pass when you feel like you've hit a good approach and it's like he has got a bit longer to hit it." ⁴

Federer's mastery, beyond being able to hit all shots and angles, combines a number of intangible factors, including fluid strokes with little mental interference, genius in constructing points, seamless transitions from defense to offense, an intuitive understanding of his opponent's options and likely responses, and a clear, calm mind that executes instantly. As he commented after the Australian Open 2004 final win against Safin: "I feel when a guy is going to hit the ball, I know exactly with the angles and the spins, I just feel that I've got that figured out. And that is just a huge advantage."⁵ Fellow ATP player Ivan Ljubicic also points out that "[Federer] usually tries to hit winner[sic] at the beginning of game which causes panic in his opponent. After that, he patiently waits for his opportunity or hits winner[sic] when needed."⁶

Note 1: Jago, Richard (Jan 8, 2005). Cool Federer forges ahead
Note 2: Sports Illustrated (Jul 4, 2003) Switzerland's Federer exposes holes in Roddick's game
Note 3: Hodgkinson, Mark (Nov 13, 2004). "Federer can be the greatest" - Laver
Note 4: Tennis News (Jan 15, 2005). Henman in Awe of "Incredible" Federer
Note 5: Transcribed Interview (Feb 1, 2004). An interview with Roger Federer
Note 6: Ljubicic, Ivan (Jan 8, 2005) Tough without the serve

[cross-hosted at Wikipedia; updated 06-Nov-2005]

Young Federer in pictures ..oo Baby Blue..

An attempt to collect early days of rogi in pictures. [click for bigger pictures]

As a kid

Notes: Third picture taken in '94 (with Marco Chiudinelli, & Peter Carter). Thanks M.

Junior Days

Notes: Sixth and Seventh pics (Thanks M.) taken in '99. Last one thanks to Mrs.B

His Family

Notes: With his father (Robert), mother (Lynette) and elder sister (Diana).

Courtesy of several wonderful MTFers & Google.