Hiring a Coach means giving enough time for the Coach to work with you and prepare a tactical plan that will work against the player you want to beat!
Roger himself did not, but the pundits in the press made a grand fanfare, that this time Federer was taking Roland Garros seriously by presenting his new Coach Jose Higueras at the Estoril Open in April. Any expert and person knowledgeable of the tennis game would recognize, that a win in Estoril, a minor tournament with such low-level opposition, was totally meaningless to Roger Federer. He could have done the same stunt with a challenger!
The key though was to give José Higueras time to prepare Roger and that was literally not done, as the sequence of events shows, following an easy win in Estoril:
- Jose totes along with Roger to Monte Carlo for another week and Federer goes into a bruising defeat in the final against Rafael Nadal
- After that, instead of continuing to work with Jose Higueras (continues to call him “His Coach”) Jose went home.
- Roger goes on to Rome with his “buddy” and Davis Cup Capitan, Severin Luti.
- So the saga went on to another humiliating defeat in Rome, where the draw was completely open for Federer to win and he buckled in a straight set defeat 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) to a constant attacker, 27th-ranked Radek Stepanek in the ATP Rome Masters quarterfinals. For Federer standards another debacle. So nothing had changed in his preparation for Roland Garros.
- Then, in Hamburg, Federer squandered two 5-2 leads in the first and second sets (even though he won the second by the skin of his teeth in the tie-breaker) and suffered another mental blow against Nadal, this one even more severe then in Monte Carlo!
- Once again, no visible change in Roger’s plan to win Roland Garros and to culminate this poor preparation of the world Nr.1, he only met Higueras either the 21st or the 22nd of May, that is a mere 4 to 5 days for Jose Higueras to prepare Roger Federer for a major professional event with a start on Sunday, 25th May. What I would call hardly a preparation for an amateur, let alone for the Nr. 1 in the world with such high responsibilities and expectations!
What should the Nr.1 have done, if he was really serious about winning Roland Garros?
- He should have worked with Jose Higueras beginning in April in Estoril right through to Roland Garros!
Why should he have done that?
- Even though every player is important and a serious challenge in any tournament, Nadal is the man to beat in Roland Garros and that requires a specific, mental, physical and tactical preparation, which cannot be accomplished in 5 days no matter how talented you are.
Did you see glimpses of what Higueras wanted Roger to do in the final? Only in the first set:
- Roger was trying to hit both the backhand and the forehand higher and deeper with no pace in an attempt to force Nadal to generate his own pace and draw the mistake or the short ball, but that just did not work because Nadal is Spanish and he faced plenty of that in his junior days. Roger is not the patient type and it was too much of a radical change from his core game.
What did Roger do in the second set?
- Federer reverted back to his own tactics, which have brought him closer to beating Nadal in the past, but at this point he was confused between the “Higueras plan” and his own. Which at this level is fatal and that is why we all saw an ever more hesitant and mistake-ridden Federer.
Had Federer worked consistently with Higueras from April onwards, it would perhaps not have made any difference in who the winner was, but Roger certainly would have been a lot more confident and sure of what he was doing on the court, in addition we would have seen a much better final.
In conclusion, there were two culprits in this story, both Jose Higueras and Roger Federer:
- Higueras, who knew before he accepted the job as coach that he could carry Roger to the final since Federer had done it in previous years anyway. But he should not have accepted, because as an experienced tennis player and coach himself, he knew from the beginning, that without at least 2 months of preparation with Roger previous to Roland Garros he was just playing a joker card. But tennis is not a game of luck!
- Roger, on the other hand, showed no respect for José Higueras and the tennis coaching profession by offering José a position that made Higueras another “marionette”.
Deservingly, even though Roger Federer had a God Sent Draw, Rafael Nadal gave him the lesson of his life on how to respect your Coach and how to prepare for a Major Tournament of the stature and the demands of Roland Garros.
Vaya Rafa, qué lección!
You may think that I am being too harsh on Roger Federer but, when you are the Nr. 1 in the world, you have to talk the talk and walk the walk and that means, to live up to your own expectations and those of others by doing your utmost best in all areas as a professional and not let your ego rule instead.
Rafa has demonstrated that over and over again on all surfaces. Even though in all honesty, I prefer Rogers game a thousand times more than Rafas. I love Rafaels great hard work attitude and humbleness in fighting 100% at all times by not caring about sweating, getting dirty in the process or if his hair is out of place. That to me defines a true champion! Congratulations, Rafa! Your spirit and attitude, is a great example for all to follow!
Sérgio Cruz
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Comment by Roni on 2008-06-08 17:07:27
Hi Sergio,
Another great take on today's match.
Bravo! I really have to admire Rafa more each time he plays, but you made sense out of Roger's loss today (for me)....who wasn't aware of new coach until I saw him in the stands.
Anyhow, had hoped against hope that Roger would take the French, but knew he couldn't. Maybe Rafa will win the grand slam, now since Roger is being slammed these days. He needs to stand back and revaluate today!
Roni
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Comment by Sergio Cruz on 2008-06-08 17:11:50
Thanks for your comment Roni. You are 100% right. There is a very strong possibility that Rafael might win the Grand Slam before Federer. |
Comment by Alberto E. on 2008-06-09 05:17:08
This will be probably the last time i take this commentary to the internet about Roger Federer. He has represented for all these years the classic champion, the player with an all court game, and a repertoire of strokes in his arsenal wich have taken him to become no. 1 player on the rankings. But, there`s always some ingredient missing. Sadly, his mental approach to playing one oponent, on one event in the circuit, has become so impaired and negative, it has turned into almost a self fulfilling prophecy of self inflicted defeat. He has actualy chosen to defeat himself against Rafael Nadal for the third consecutive time at the finals in Roland Garros. Obviously the problem is mental, and his coaching has failed to render him competitive before Nadal. I believe he made a mistake in leaving Tony Roche as his coach. In all aspects, he needs to review a video of these last three finals at the Garros where he lost to Nadal, and try to decide what he wants to do with his tennis game about today`s loss, which will haunt him for a long time. He needs to learn a new way to adjust his confidence to dare to change play from simply dwelling on Nadals short ball, or error, attempting from the baseline to trade strokes with Nadal to win a ppoint, to taking his attacking game to Nadal to force play and points in his favour. I hope he can find someone out there who can help him overcome this unfortunate crisis. Pancho Segura would have made him a winner against Nadal had he been his coach probably on this event, but, then again, no one can size the emotional hunger for victory that Federer may still have left to win over Nadal. Hope someone helps him next year. Too bad Pancho is much older now than when he coached Jimmy Connors.
Best Regds Sergio.
Alberto. |
Comment by Sergio Cruz on 2008-06-13 17:39:37
Thanks for your comment Alberto.
Agree with you, Pancho Segura was "the" percursor to agressive baseline inside court attacking tennis and a man that overcame a huge handicap to use it to his advantage by the intelligent way he played the game inside the court! Federer with all his gifts and using Pancho's tactics could play 60 percent better! Andre Agassi did! |
Comment by Franklyn N. on 2008-06-09 06:10:48
Hey Sergio;
The gap between Federer and Nadal on clay is getting bigger. I expected Nadal to win, but not to dismantle Federer like he did. 6-0 in the third. That was mind-boggling. Nadal is a monster on the clay I call him "The Clay Dragon". The way Nadal is playing, it wouldn't surprise me if he won Wimbledon this year, now that it is slower.
I have three questions for you. (1) Could Rosewall at 5'7' with today's equipment, and his great underspin backhand be able to compete well on today's men's tour? ((2) Could Laver at 5'8' with today's equipment be able to compete well on today's men's tour? (3) Could Borg with his great fitness and patience, and today's equipment beat Nadal at Roland Garros?
Cheers,
Franklyn
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Comment by Sergio Cruz on 2008-06-09 06:13:19
Hi Franklyn!
Like your questions. :-)
Sure they all would without a moment of doubt. Cheers
Sergio
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Comment by Ed on 2008-06-09 14:11:29
Hi Sergio,
Interesting. I am not sure anyone or any tactic could have beaten Nadal the way he was playing.
Hope things are going well for you.
Best regards,
Ed Fagen (Tim Tennis - Tennis Warehouse Forum)
President
www.tennisgeometrics.com
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Comment by Sergio Cruz on 2008-06-09 14:10:24
Hi Ed,
Nice to hear from you again.
As you know we play what our opponents allow us to. No one is unbeatable. In the second set Federer from 0-2 to 3 all showed us a glimpse of how he should have played and broken down Nadal’s game but, he was just not determined to do that in a consistent basis because it was not the plan.
To me as a coach I do not leave any stones unturned, many years ago Ivan Lendl had a winning streak on McEnroe of almost three years. They met at Madison Square Indoors and what did a hopeless John McEnroe do? With an unyielding stuburness he attacked everything Lendl threw at him “First services Included”. What happened Lendl broke down and McEnroe beat him to break a 3 year streak.
Players cannot be shackled by psychological, technical or tactical barriers, the ability to change in the middle of a match from a losing proposition is in the players mind. In my honest opinion Federer did not make an effort that a Nr. 1 should have made and that disappointed me and I bet millions of others.
Best regards
Sergio
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