All I heard at the tennis club at the beginning of the week of the recent Masters Event in Shanghai was "Did you see that Gonzalez beat Fed?"
I had to contain my disappointment in their tennis acumen as I responded that it was totally meaningless. When Federer needs to beat Gonzalez, such as the Australian Open final, he can destroy him.
So what happens in these non-slam events when Federer has recently started losing a little bit more than we're used to?
Let me play amateur tennis psychologist here.
If I'm Rog and I've just won the US Open, my goal for the rest of the year is to keep my rhythm and not get hurt. I know that if I play well I win almost all the time.
What I don't want is to get hurt or have to work too hard physically to win matches.
So, I play to keep my rhythm.
Let me give you an example of what I mean.
Watch Federer's tactics very carefully from now on. When he's relaxed or just playing rhythm tenis, he won't run around his backhand aggressively. He's content to hit his backhand and rally. This minimizes the running he has to do, keeps his backhand sharper, and doesn't give his opponents the vacated forehand corner to attack.
Now watch Fed in a tight match. He starts to run around as many backhands as possible and to attack with his forehand. This is his attack game. It's lethal but it's more physically demanding for him, and as I said above, it exposes his forehand corner.
In the Gonzalez match, Federer was playing his rhythm tennis. Gonzalez was swinging from his heels, hit lines on almost every shot, and still barely won.
If Federer had wanted, he could have started to run around his backhand and speed up the game but, it was early in the week, and he was just trying to get his rhythm.
So don't get too excited when Fed loses a match early in a tournament. Put yourself in his shoes and ask yourself what the objective is
Until next time,
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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