Roger Federer admits he was ‘fooled’ by rushing to judge certain players too quickly
Roger Federer hopes to see players with more attacking intent in the important matches of Grand Slam events.
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Roger Federer (Via Imago)
Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer has been a perfectionist on the tennis court. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has displayed a pure style of play, attracting audiences from all over the world and achieving many tennis records.
However, Federer has pointed out one flaw in his tennis analysis that took him a long time to rectify: judging other players based on their technique and style of play.
The guys and also the ladies are going to start hitting bigger forehands and backhands, be more fearless because they realise the reward is there. The best movers are the best players and you can see that. The mentally fittest, physically strongest and fastest are the best players.Roger Federer said in his Laver Cup press conference
One of Federer’s biggest examples of a misjudged player was none other than his long-term rival, Novak Djokovic. In the ‘Federer: Last Twelve Days’ documentary, the Swiss Maestro revealed that he didn’t give the 24-time Grand Slam champion enough credit for ironing out the mistakes he had early on when he first broke through.
It’s not so much about technique any more. I’ve got fooled enough in the last 10, 15, 20 years where I think, ‘I’m not sure about this technique’ but with racket technology and string technology, you can iron those problems out and so long as you hit hard and nice through the ball, everything is possible in tennis to be honest.Roger Federer added
On the tour today, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are setting the standard in terms of tennis quality and versatility. The two tennis titans have dominated the ATP tour in 2024, splitting all four Grand Slam titles and winning a combined three Masters 1000 titles this year.
Roger Federer shares take on the declining one-handed backhand
Roger Federer has shared his viewpoint on the decline of the one-handed backhand on the ATP tour. The Swiss Maestro, who had one of the most iconic one-handed backhands of all time, has expressed concern over the lack of one-handers on tour.
I guess a lot of it comes from coaching. Two things: It would be great to have world No 1 and world No 2 with the one-hander, which we don’t have right now so that’s not going to inspire the generation of playing with the one-hander. Juniors tend to look towards the best players in the world and if you see the double-hander then you think that is the way moving forward even though it might not be and then I just think it’s the coaches around the world who might realise some players play better with a one-hander rather than a two-hander.Roger Federer at the Laver Cup press conference
In the era when Federer was growing up, the ATP tour had many high-quality one-handed backhand players. Pete Sampras, Gustavo Kuerten, and Tommy Haas were some of the players from Federer’s younger years who elevated the backhand game.
During Federer’s prime, he competed against equally effective one-handed backhand players like Richard Gasquet and his countryman Stanislas Wawrinka. However, the current ATP tour doesn’t have many recognized one-handed backhand players, with the exceptions of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti.
In 2007, Federer and Justine Henin were the top-ranked players on the ATP and WTA tours, both using single-handed backhands. Now, in 2024, it marks the first time since Federer’s emergence on the ATP tour that there is no one-handed backhand player in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.”
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Fahad Hamid
(646 Articles Published)