Federer's New Coach - Will It Make A Difference?

After 4 years of failing to come up with a way to beat Rafael Nadal consistently on clay (we all know about Hamburg last year), Roger Federer recently hired Jose Higueras as his new coach.

The real question is what can Higueras, or any coach really, bring to the Federer game?

I don't think that there's much technically that Higueras can change in the Federer game. Federer has a fairly conservative grip for his backhand topspin which tends to be his main liability against Nadal. Fed doesn't have the more extreme backhand grip of a Gustavo Kuerton or a Richard Gasquet -- grips that would probably make it a little easier to handle Nadal's high topspin shots.

So, we're left with tactical changes.

Tennis students were watching Federer's matches in Barcelona very carefully to see what changes if any they could pick up.

I myself watched the final in which Federer blew a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Here's what I saw.

I think Higueras is trying to get Federer to open up the court more against Nadal so as to create better opportunities to attack.

Higueras correctly recognizes that Federer cannot rally with Nadal and expect to win a long match.

The first thing I noticed was a greater tendency on Federer's part to run around the Nadal second serve and rip a forehand. We saw some of this at Wimbledon and I think it's a very effective technique.

The next thing I saw was that it looked like that Federer was trying to hit his crosscourt forehand shorter and wider. Instead of playing power tennis and ripping crosscourt forehands deep into the corner, it looked like Federer was taking some pace off and trying to hit a sharper angle so that the ball would land a few feet up the sideline and pull Nadal further wide.

And, one more thing I noticed, was a tactic of hitting a drop shot off of a backhand.

Let's look at this last pattern in more detail.

Over the past few years, Federer has tried various patterns to counter the Nadal forehand to the Federer backhand. He has tried ripping crosscourt topspin back -- to no avail --, he has tried slicing crosscourt --to no avail, he has tried hitting up the line --with limited success.

So, in an effort to try a new pattern, Fed looks like he's trying to hit the drop shot up the line. Since Nadal is cheating to his (Nadal's) forehand corner, Nadal has a long way to go to get the Federer drop shot. And, Federer has a chance to attack the net behind the drop shot.

So, as always, tennis remains a beautiful chess match.

Can't wait for the French Open.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis 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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