Rafael Nadal, took the crown, the scepter and finally the robe and the King was naked!
With all my goodwill I would like to write an article about Roger Federer winning Roland Garros in 2008, but after seeing Hamburg, what I was suspecting for a long time turned reality.
The pattern* is set and there is no way out for Roger Federer, unless something
radical is done or a strike of enormous luck goes Federer's way, but in a final in
Roland Garros Federer just cannot beat Rafael Nadal.
Recently in the article, Can Federer win at Roland Garros Against Rafael Nadal?, I
wrote:
* Still, there is a big question mark that was raised more than once by Rafa in
these duels vs Roger. And that is; has Rafa inflicted mental wounds on Federer's
psyche that are too deep? Roger's 8 or 9 unforced forehand errors in Monte Carlo, in
just three games, looked very identical to how Davidenko reacts mentally to pressure
against Federer...
( The Mental Turning Point in Tennis!) and what concerns me the most is that I have seen it happen in the
final of Rome 2006, where Federer led 4-1 in the fifth set and had two match points
at 6-5, to miss two forehands, one of them pretty routine for a player like Federer.
In Hamburg once again Roger Federer buckled under winning pressure with a 5-1 lead in
the first set losing it 7-5 and then again a 5-2 lead in the second to win it in the
tie-breaker with all saints pulling for him.
The mental weaknesses that Roger Federer shows against Nadal obviously have become a
pattern and Roger seems unable to shake them off!
"Either way, at 26 years old, he knows that the clock is ticking. This year the
world number one is leaving nothing to chance and to this end has recruited a new
coach, Jose Higueras, a man who knows a thing or two about the red stuff."
"Can he ever conquer Paris ? Tuesday, April 29, 2008
By Guillaume Baraise"
According to his own words, Roger is now taking two days off and by Wednesday May 21st then perhaps, head towards Roland Garros to meet his new Coach José Higueras. Boy is this a poor way
to treat one of the most respected Coaches on the tennis tour. Roger is giving José
basically 5 days for him to produce a "miracle":
- First improve Roger's conditioning at least 30% because he needs it. To do that
you need at least 60 days of intense work.
- Second do a mental job on Federer that most of today's mental "gurus" would need
30 days to achieve anything meaningful .
- The mental job besides other things includes, erasing Rogers nightmares (the
recent ones) in Monte Carlo and Hamburg.
- Devise a tactical concept that Roger will want to follow, I wonder how José is
going to get Roger's confidence to trust him, when they barely have spoken to each
other.
And...and..and...the bottom line is, Roger is not giving José Higueras a fair chance
and apparently he does not care, because he thinks he can do it alone anyway.
Well just for fun, I have considered other possibilities for Roger Federer to win Roland Garros
this time:
- Rafael Nadal pulls out due to injury.
- Rafael pulls out of Roland Garros in protest, due to the "heavy ATP schedule".
- Rafael in a surprise move, quits tennis for no logical reason, just like Justine Henin did.
Another way would be, if Federer, at every change over, "mistakenly" kicks one of the bottles that Nadal keeps so neatly lined-up one in front of the other facing his chair. That mentally would destroy Nadal!...and...
Game set and match, Roger Federer!
Do tell a friend about this website it will take you just a second of your time. :-)
Support the TenniCruz site…Do visit our link sponsors, that is how this website will stay free for you.
Tennis Cruz Main Page
Copyright © Tenniscruz.com®. All rights reserved
|
Comment by GUEST on 2008-05-21 04:48:38
Hey Sergio;
It's me Franklyn. I corresponded with you a few years back from Melbourne, Australia. I don't know if you remember me, but we had some good email chats about the most beautiful tennis players you had ever seen, and you told me that Lew Hoad was your choice followed by Nastase, and Panatta..
Federer is my favorite player these days for his grace, class, and variety of play. He reminds me of the players of the '70s that inspired me to get into tennis (Laver, Rosewall, Nastase, Ashe). In fact, he's the only player whose matches I'll watch these days. My observations about Monte Carlo and Hamburg regarding the Nadal/Federer finals are (1) On clay with that slower bounce, that extra split second makes it almost impossible to hit a ball that Nadal cannot get to. His sheer physicality (reminiscent of Vilas and Muster) and endurance coupled with his implacable tenacity make him the ultimate defender on clay, and it wears the opponent out. All of the top players are in magnificent shape, but they pale in comparison to Nadal who can seemingly run down their best shots (which on grass or hardcourt would be winners) and hit them back with interest forever. You could see this in Nadal's match with Djokovic who was loaded for bear, and played magnificently with intensity and purpose before finally getting worn down. (2) I watched many of the Federer's Hamburg matches, he was in extraordinary form, and his court position was very close to the baseline particularly in his match with Spanish lefty Fernando Verdasco who he dominated and dismissed. I remember thinking this is the best I've seen him play coming into a match with Nadal, and if he doesn't beat Nadal this time, he never will. (3) The redlining effect. By that I mean that whenever players play Federer on grass, and hardcourt, you get the feeling that they are playing at their absolute maximum just to stay close, while Federer is playing at that level rather comfortably. When their level drops just a little they're then run over by Federer. Well on clay when Federer is playing Nadal, I feel that it is Federer who is redlining. He has to attack relentlessly in an almost perfectly executed manner which is how he builds big leads, but the minute his level and excution drops just a bit Nadal takes control. This is also what occurred when Nadal defeated Djokovic. (3) Federer is extremely mentally tough. I say this because at Hamburg after losing the first set after having such a big lead, instead of folding like many players would have done against such a great oppenent, he came back and took a very hard fought set in a tie-breaker. But on clay, faced with Nadal's strength and relentlessness even Federer despairs at finding a way to defeat him. As the match wore on Federer's court positioning got further and further back behind the baseline, and by the end you could see that he had run out of ideas. I still think he doesn't use his backhand slice enough though.
Here's a question for you. Borg vs Nadal on clay at their fit best. Who wins?
Cheers,
|
Comment by GUEST on 2008-05-21 06:30:56
Hi Franklyn!
Of course I remember you. Thanks for your comment. Boy I am going to need you to write some articles for me under a pen name of course! :-)
You make a lot of sense in many things you say and like you I love Roger's game, but the way he buckles does not allow me to put him at the mental level of Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Lew Hoad, Pancho Gonzales, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and others.
As a very experienced player myself and Coach I have to strongly disagree with you that Nadal wore out Federer.
1. Federer, at 5-1 in the first set in Hamburg had hardly broken a sweat, so fast the points were. How he lost that set was is own mental undoing and the fact that he stopped playing the winning game he was playing until that point, instead he reverted to the baseline duels and trading down the line backhands with Nadal, to lose.
2. At that point Federer was not tired by any stretch of the imagination.
3. The second set was a mirror image of the first, with Federer, collapsing mentally from a 5-2 lead to struggle and barely win the set on the tiebreaker.
To put it simple, I know that Rod Laver or Borg never had such mental collapses and the first set in Hamburg should have gone 6-2 for Federer and the second 6-3. Federer just did not execute, and he was not tired. (Federer never fights 100%, his pride/ego do not let him do it, so he is never tired after a match.)
Nadal is a strong player, but Federer has the armory to execute and beat him, but mentally he folds. That is worst than stage fright, you better than anyone knows that.
So I can not have mercy on Federer, he is a mature 26 year old, he has to swallow his pride, get dirty on the clay (which he has not proven yet he is willing to) and beat Nadal.
Oh, Borg would win, he was as fast if not faster then Nadal, he had a much more fluid foot work, a much better forehand (he hit a lot more winners than Nadal) served better (far better) and could volley much better (Wimbledon to attest it).
Just about that, Borg, Nadal, Vilas, Kuerten, Muster (just because Muster was lefty and trashed Jim a couple of times) Courier ( I place Jim last because he had the worst feel and defensive game of all).
Best regards
Sergio |
Comment by GUEST on 2008-05-21 04:52:38
Dear Sergio Cruz:
I will start by introducing myself. I am Renato Vasconcelos, a portuguese PhD student living in London, and a follower of your website for some time now. I am writing in english because - and I do not want to be rude - I am not aware of your portuguese status by now. I, myself, have started to struggle with portuguese, and I have only left Portugal 2 years ago.:-)
The reason I am e-mailing is Roger Federer. I am not an expert at all (in fact, I have only played tennis a couple of times, but I try to watch as much as I can for a few years now) but sometimes I feel that you are a bit too tough with Roger. He is by far the most talented player nowadays (and, possibly, from all time), he dominates the tour for several years now, but still, it seems that is not enough. I would have to accept that he has some kind of mental problem with Nadal, now, but I believe it arises from one of his most admirable qualities, that also turns him into one of the most admired sportsman in the world: he is humble. He knows - and that is a fact - that Nadal is a better clay court player. And he feels powerless. I believe that even if he does not ever win Roland Garros, he is still the best player I have ever seen (and I am a great Sampras fan) not only because of what he does, but also of how he does. His lightness and souplesse on court is unbeatable. I also believe that most media and pundits have some kind of memory issue. Roger has slowed down in the past 1, 1 and 1/2, but I have seen Sampras - just an example - having bad years or streaks as well. Neverthless, Roger's superiority is immediately questioned.
I would just like to finish with a question. When you mention that Roger's fitness is not good enough, are you suggesting he should get stronger? Will it not affect his game/shots in a bad way? Neverthless, I would not like to see him play in Nadal's style - he looks like he is fighting, not playing tennis, most of the time.:-)
I hope to soon start playing tennis regularly - as I am moving close to, hopefully affordable, tennis courts - and I will surely use some of your articles as guides/lessons!
Kind regards,
Renato
|
Comment by GUEST on 2008-05-21 06:42:56
Renato anyone can call me Sergio, :-)
Thanks for your comment. My Portuguese is a disaster, keep writing in English please.
You make many good points. And do not take me wrong I am not harsh on Roger Federer, the challenge is, that the higher the bar is set the higher the expectations and responsibilities.
In this case Roger just has not been able to mentally master a situation that is within his grasp and when I say mentally he has failures that other special ones at the top did not have, it is meant when faced to their hardest competitors, in Pete Sampras case Andre Agassi (to be very honest Pete only lost to Agassi in matches where he had been totally sapped of his energy in the previous round ex.. Australian Open 1995 Jim Courier 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Otherwise Andre seldom had a prayer against Pete ever since Philadelphia 1990.
When I talk about Roger not being fit enough, this is related to his level and what he wants to accomplish at his level and to surpass a competitor such as Rafael Nadal on clay.
In order to beat Nadal in the way Federer has to, he must:
- Keep constant pressure on Nadal throughout the match.
- On rallies staying close to the baseline line (not give up an inch).
- Hit the ball early.
- Cut the angles and attack short balls consistently down the line and volley.
- Serve and volley about 30% more.
- Get inside the court and launch attacks on Nadal's second service (from the first point on!)
- Use the slice about 50% more then he uses now against Nadal
- In sequence to well placed slices hit winners with the forehand or attack any issuing short balls from Nadal.
- Avoid as much as possible the long topsin backhand to backhand, instead slice his backhand cross court to Nadal's forehand to force the short ball.
- Use the drop shot more often especially from the backhand side. (Play cat and mouse with Nadal once in a while, I am sure it would not be to Rafas liking)
- Run, Run, Run and fight, fight, fight, get dirty, get dirty on the clay, sweat, sweat!
For all the above Federer has to increase the level of his fitness work outside of the court by 30% or forget that he is "Roger Federer" and go for broke in the next 5 setter final he faces Nadal in Roland Garros and win it in 3 sets!
Now, you ask me what is the fitness he needs and you mention the gym.
Yes, the gym and tennis specific exercising is important and it is already part of his routine. What Roger lacks is resistence work to be able to respond to the high demands of a winning strategy described above and the core of such "fitness" is:
- Interval training in the 800, 400, 200 meters at the right time (obviously not now!).
- Interval and speed training 100 meters and below.
- Start and speed training in the 30, 20 and 10 meters
- Pure starts 5 to 10 meters
(Here many will ask why these distances and especially the 100 meter dash, when we only run 10 may be 15 meter at most on a tennis court? That is a secret that speed research scientists and speed coaches know for over 40 years and that tennis Coaches and a large majority of Physical trainers do not know. Just like the once a myth, that training with weights was bad for tennis players!)
There are many other elements like the 5000 and 3000 thousand meter training but that is only for specific periods.
Most of the core elements should have been trained through the years mostly (end of October would be preferable) before the Australian open and maintenance elements are kept through the year.
There is plenty more to it, but this should pretty much give you an idea.
Keep writing.
Best
Sergio Cruz |
|
Tennis Blog 
