Sunday 20 Jun 2004

Roger aims for greatness

Federer can win Majors on any surface and could become the best of all time

By Clive White, The Telegraph

"It was a strange atmosphere because it was so quiet," said Federer. "No lines, no net posts, no spectators.

"It was a beautiful day, really nice. He showed us around, showed us the picture, the trophy. It was a strange feeling. It feels like home there already.

"They say I did it the easy way to become a member there, but it's the best way to do it and I feel very welcome at that club."

At home enough to win seven singles titles, like Pete Sampras? It would be unrealistic, not to mention unfair, to throw down that particular gauntlet at his feet and yet there are many experts who believe the Swiss is capable of achieving something similar.

In fact, John McEnroe himself believes he has the potential to become the greatest tennis player of all time.

Most top players, if asked if they thought they could equal the great Sampras, would probably break into nervous laughter, but not Federer. He has great belief in his own ability and self-assurance far beyond his 22 years, yet he never seems to overstep the line between confidence and arrogance.

"It's very, very difficult to do the same that he did," he said, without it sounding like an understatement.

"To win is one thing but to win three in a row and then another four is incredible. I don't know how he did it, but I know that in every Grand Slam he had the same motivation, from the first round - the right attitude. It's most important, because after that the game flows automatically.

"I haven't spoken to him about it because he was very quiet. He wasn't around the court very often and he's also a different generation. My goal is not to try to do something similar to someone else, but to have my own career. For me, it's not a goal to win, say, three French Opens like Guga [Gustavo Kuerten]. I know I'm an overall player on all surfaces and I have to use this [versatility] over my career."

As for becoming the greatest, he said: "I need some more success to be the best ever. I feel like I'm very good, I've won two Grand Slams and the Masters in almost the same year and become No 1 in the world and obviously there is a lot of talk about me.

"But I still think you've got to try to play consistently well over two or three years in a row, and then if I have achieved that then I can say I've dominated."

There is a classical beauty about Federer's game that resembles Sampras's - only it is even more refined. Above all, though, it is his serenity on court that is particularly impressive. Nothing seems to bother him, yet there was a time when things did, often at the most unlikely moments.

When Federer ended Sampras's run of 31 consecutive victories at the All England Club in 2001 we suspected that it might herald the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. While it proved to be most definitely the end of the American's extraordinary monopoly of the Wimbledon title, it was a couple of years before his young pretender won it.

In fact, far from signalling the start of the Federer Years, the fourth-round victory acted as a positive discouragement to the man who would be king.

"After beating Sampras I felt blocked because I thought, 'Jeez, I've reached everything I wanted to reach'," said Federer. "I wanted to play at Wimbledon and I wanted to beat Sampras one day. I did it, and after that it was like, "What am I playing for now?"

"But you have to set yourself short-term goals and long-term goals. And that's what I learned in all those years when I lost first round at the French Open [three times on the trot] and once back-to-back in the first round at the French and Wimbledon. It made me stronger mentally - that used to be my weakness - but no longer."

And when he occasionally has an off-day, he doesn't let it affect him too much, like at the Italian Open last month when he lost in the second round to Albert Costa and was disrespectfully whistled off the court by spectators. That seemed to hurt him more than the defeat. Some journalists put it to him, in so many words, that he was facing a crisis, but Federer was unperturbed; he always knew his first tournament of the season on clay would be tough and he just needed to go back to the practice court.

Eleven days later he won at Hamburg, beating one of the game's masters on clay, Guillermo Coria. Some crisis.

Like any great player, Federer has learned to understand his strengths and weaknesses. He has also learned that he has to peak for the Slams. "I always thought the more matches I played the better I would be prepared," he said. "I still think the same way but in the end Grand Slams are totally different events. It's over two weeks, it's over five sets and the approach mentally is much more important than the confidence you have [from playing a lot]. Next year, maybe, I will play less.

"I'm working a lot on different things that I feel I can improve. I see a lot of other players who are much better at some shots and obviously I would like to have the same ability, but I know I'm limited because of my one-hand backhand and the way I hit the ball."

He amazed himself by winning the Australian Open, but not because he won without a coach - and is still without one - but because "2003 was so tough and so long". It was his split with Peter Lundgren that surprised most people. Lundgren now coaches Federer's talented big rival, Marat Safin.

"After the US Open I started to feel that it was just not the way it used to be and the way I wanted it to be," he said. "And I spoke to him and told him that for me it felt very strange, and he said the same. "The communication between us just wasn't the same. It was very hard to tell him, 'That's it'.

"Every player needs to know for themselves what they need. For me what is important are my surroundings, my family, my friends, my girlfriend - these are important people to me - then you need people who make the group feel strong, like a physio, a condition trainer, maybe a stringer, maybe a coach - whatever you need when you're in my position to make you feel better."

Consequently, "Team Federer" is now very much in-house: his girlfriend looks after the media while his parents sort out the contracts. Not that Federer is the sort who could ever feel alone. Speaking three languages, he is able to converse with more players than most and is popular among his peers.

He is also more mature than most. Sometimes it's hard to believe he's only 22.

"When I was 18 I felt like 30 and sometimes like 15," he said. "But now I'm much more steady, I have clear goals and I feel much more secure."

A frustrated footballer who occasionally trains with his home-town club FC Basel, he said if he ever had a son he hoped he would become a footballer rather than a tennis player, "just because I didn't live through the soccer scene". He played until he was 12.

Although his talent had been obvious for a few years, probably ever since he won junior Wimbledon six years ago, he believed he was not ready, mentally more than anything, to win a Slam until he eventually did.

He flattered to deceive once or twice in the Australian Open, but it was only at Wimbledon last year that you knew his time had truly arrived.

"I'm almost happy it didn't happen earlier because I really had the chance to grow into the tour, get to know the pressure, the media side," he said.

"It didn't come in one big splash with me. That's why I played even better after Wimbledon, it didn't kind of stop me, my motivation was still there."

In winning the Australian Open in January he avenged his US Open quarter-final defeat to David Nalbandian, to whom he had lost in five meetings up to and including Flushing Meadows. He has a similarly poor record against Tim Henman. In fact, it is 6-2 in the Briton's favour.

He has a lot of respect for the British No 1. "Tim's got this dangerous game - when he's playing well, it's very tough to beat him," said Federer.

"When he's serving well, he puts pressure on you and doesn't give you any rhythm, that's when he's very dangerous - actually on any surface, because he's also learned how to play on clay.

"Either he serves and volleys or he stays back and then he comes in. You have to hit a great return to actually play aggressively yourself.

"I served really great at Indian Wells [where he beat Henman in the final] and I'm happy I beat him then properly because the one time I beat him before, he had to retire. Maybe he prefers to play me, but he doesn't like to play Lleyton Hewitt or Andre Agassi. He doesn't like guys who return really well because they put him under pressure."

And what puts Federer under pressure?

"I see many different styles on the tour now, even though most of them play from the baseline," he said. "You have aggressive baseliners and less-aggressive baseliners.

"To me, it seems more players attack me now, play more aggressively than they used to do. That's because, I think, they don't want me to attack them. It hasn't worked very well for everybody, but it might be the right game plan.

"It's tough also for them to find something different if you play a guy who's very confident, like I am right now.

"I also know that the time will come when my confidence might not be as high. That's the moment when they have to take advantage and beat me and make me go home and think about my game.

"But so far, it hasn't happened."

©2003 - 2008 Shinanat Mahamaytakit