Federer in Retrospect – Perfect Tennis

Most Roger Federer followers will declare the Swiss grasp stays an absolute nice in tennis historical past. In reality, the best of all time.

For these followers, greatness is extra in regards to the grand slam rely. His elegant type of play, tactical creativeness, and gentlemanly strategy on and off the court docket make him an all-around athlete – a form of good concoction that distinguishes him from different expert gamers who don’t have fairly the identical mix of qualities.

And I’d agree with most of that. To make sure, Federer is a complete gentleman, a tactical genius, and brimmed with uncooked expertise at each stage in his profession.

He’s undoubtedly an ideal of the game. However whereas Federer will all the time stay my favorite participant, he’s empirically not the best of all time.

Some followers of tennis hate the GOAT debate. I adore it. In a sport the place people carry out in opposition to one another in a head-to-head contest, it is sensible to say who’s the best participant of all the sphere.

And by best, I imply who’s the higher tennis participant. Who has the superior sport that can not be overwhelmed, on the entire, by different gamers. And objectively, this may be confirmed with numbers.

Earlier than Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic overtook Federer within the grand slam rely (each in 2022), Federer followers – together with myself – used the grand slam rely as proof that Federer was the best.

The most effective participant would naturally scoop up crucial titles throughout their profession, greater than his rivals.

As soon as the Spaniard and the Serb overtook Federer, the definition of greatness was expanded to different classes (like type) in order that Federer remained on prime.

Once more, for me, being the GOAT in tennis means having a superior sport, whatever the surrounding qualities.

For positive, Federer is a superb man. His charity work, heat strategy and model of tennis have introduced optimistic change and utter pleasure to tens of tens of millions of individuals worldwide.

However talking purely in sporting phrases, the GOAT title belongs to Djokovic. Not solely does he maintain essentially the most majors (23), however he additionally has a optimistic head-to-head document in opposition to Nadal (30-29) and Federer (27-23).

Consider me; it pains me to write down this as a Federer fan. However it’s important to take your hat off to Djokovic as a tennis participant.

I’ve detailed the feats (and controversies) of his profession elsewhere, however successful all 4 slams in a row and breaking the lads’s grand slam document is one thing to be celebrated in our sport.

So the place does this go away Federer’s profession? If, by a sporting metric, he can’t be described as the best, it leaves some followers with a double downside; being extra irritated with every new event Djokovic wins (he has just won again in Cincinnati) and lamenting the reminiscence of Federer’s final years on tour, because the slowing down of a as soon as formidable drive.

This isn’t a pleasant place to be. And but, whereas the tour continues, and a few of Federer’s information have since been damaged, trying again at his profession looking back reveals a supply of pleasure.

Varied facets of his skilled historical past, contrasted in opposition to present developments within the sport, additional reveal how extremely particular and completely distinctive a participant he was.

In different phrases, there are some classes through which Federer stays excellent. Federer’s “Transatlantic Slam” is a regularly missed achievement, because it got here early in his profession.

From 2004 – 2007, Federer received 4 successive Wimbledon and US Open titles in the identical yr, which no different participant has achieved. The US Open has been considerably of an outlier in tennis historical past in recent times.

Gamers have but to assemble any dominance over that event as Federer did.

In reality, the occasion has grow to be a hotbed of breakthroughs and maiden-slam moments, the place the previous order has been upset – like Daniil Medvedev defeating Djokovic within the 2021 remaining or Alcaraz successful his first main in 2022.

Males’s Singles US Open Champions

Federer would go on to win a fifth successive US Open crown in 2008, making him the final “king” of New York, in an analogous method that he turned predictably profitable at Wimbledon like Nadal did on the French Open and Djokovic on the Australian.

Despite the fact that Djokovic was Federer’s nice nemesis at Wimbledon (the Serb received all 3 of their remaining encounters in 2014, 2015 and 2019), Federer’s historical past at SW19 stays vital.

After successful a document 5 consecutive titles from 2003 – 2007, it was feared that Djokovic would equal Federer in that regard in 2023 and for essentially the most consecutive Wimbledon titles (8).

Nevertheless, Federer followers have loads to thank Carlos Alcaraz for, as he was in a position to block Djokovic’s additional rise at Wimbledon and assist Federer retain his particular person and consecutive document.

The latter of which seems extremely unlikely to be damaged any time quickly. That’s not to take something away from Federer both.

At Wimbledon, he was maybe the final participant to make use of volleying and serve and volleying as successfully sufficient to win the event. His motion and skill to time the ball with a low bounce made him the king of grass – an accolade he nonetheless holds in the present day.

Equally, within the early 2000s, the US Open was a a lot quicker court docket which complemented his enjoying type.

This truth, mixed along with his Wimbledon victories, the Transatlantic slam additionally factors to a different distinguishing function about Federer’s profession – he had one of the best offensive sport in historical past.

If the Swiss felt good and performed offensively (particularly on a fast floor), his tennis turned virtually undefeatable.

Taking the ball on the rise, half-volleys from the baseline, aggressive volleying and pin-point serving mixed right into a lethal tactical combine that gave opponents no house to counterpunch with their groundstrokes, with defence as the one possibility.

Check out the 2006 US Open remaining vs Andy Roddick. This was one of many final durations in Federer’s profession earlier than 2017 the place he would always use the backhand to assault, not simply to rally.

A pissed off Roddick resorted to wild shot-making and dangerous approaches to the online as Federer’s uncooked energy on the baseline half-volleys took the American out of his consolation zone.

Federer vs Roddick, 2006 US Open Ultimate

One other thrilling match to have a look at, and considered one of my favourites, is the 2014 Shanghai Masters semi-final in opposition to Djokovic.

Federer is aware of that as rally lengths enhance, Djokovic has the next likelihood of successful the purpose as a result of he has a slight benefit when it comes to endurance, his percentage-based sport and his defensive flexibility whereas sliding on laborious courts.

So Federer makes use of the quick court docket pace to his benefit, shortening factors, going for winners early along with his forehand, and ruthlessly, endlessly approaching the online with devastating volleys, coupled along with his exact anticipation of the place Djokovic will try to make a move.

It leads to an unusually claustrophobic match for Djokovic, who has his groundstrokes eerily predicted repeatedly by Federer.

The Swiss’s serving was additionally extremely correct as soon as extra, successful a complete sport in beneath a minute by aces or clips off Djokovic racket as he tried to return.

Federer additionally put his fast footwork to good use, hitting forehands with a primarily closed stance, enabling larger vitality transference and energy by having his weight ahead.

Federer vs Djokovic, 2014 Shanghai Masters

The tour could rage on, new champions could emerge, and information will proceed to be damaged. However some facets of recent tennis should not being repeated within the Swiss’s absence.

His Transatlantic success and his offensive sport have been really distinguishing marks of his profession.

So whereas it appears an age in the past that Federer mentioned goodbye to skilled tennis, like a high quality wine, trying again at his profession solely will get higher with age.

Is the GOAT debate a legitimate query? Are different distinguishing facets of Federer’s profession or sport now not seen on the tour? Go away your feedback under.