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Sunday June 19, 2005
Federer's grip on time
By Jon Henderson, The Observer
Jon Henderson hears double Wimbledon champion describe how he makes the grass-court game look easy
Roger
Federer is a sportsman of towering ability who, unusually for his rare
breed, is almost as fascinating when analysing his special gifts as he
is when executing them. Great champions tend to be epigrammatic about
their prowess - think Muhammad Ali's brilliantly superficial
observation, 'I float like a butterfly, I sting like a bee'. Or they
are simply not able or willing to dissect what they've been blessed
with - think most of the rest. Listening
to Federer, whose mission this next fortnight is to join Björn Borg and
Pete Sampras as the only players in the professional era to win three
successive Wimbledons, is wonderfully illuminating. 'For
me, it is very important to know my own game,' says the 23-year-old
Swiss in his lightly thoughtful way. 'I think a lot of the players play
well without knowing why. They can't really analyse their game. I got
to really understand mine when I didn't have a coach, why I didn't like
this shot, why I preferred the other shot. Those things all made me a
better player.' One
writer recently referred to Federer's 'visual grip' on the ball, a
splendidly concise description of the way he stares with such intensity
at it that his eyes seem to squeeze even closer together than when he
is relaxed. 'I've always done it, to a very, very extreme degree when I
was young, especially on the slice when I almost looked backwards. I
guess I was following the ball but in a different way from how others
do it.' There
are opposing theories about how long you should watch the ball. Walter
Winterbottom, the former England football coach, once told me that he
accused Dan Maskell, the tennis coach who became a TV commentator, of
teaching rubbish when he advised pupils to keep their eye on the ball
for as long as possible. You pick up the ball when it is coming over
the net, said Winterbottom, but 'you don't see it hit your racket. It's
there and you're hitting it.' Federer
watches the ball with heron-like fixity right up until it leaves his
racket, when he seems riveted by the point of impact, 'sometimes until
the other guy has almost hit it'. He says his mind is able to process
for recollection that frame, that nanosecond when percussion takes
place between ball and strings, which is remarkable. Just
as fascinating is the following: 'I do sometimes feel that time is kind
of altered when I play. Like the other guy is slowed down and I can see
what he's going to do a long time before he does it. It's a feeling
that I can rely very much on my footwork, that I'm moving smoothly.
People, when they see my beautiful technique and talk about it, a lot
of it has to do with the footwork.' In
these few words, and without sounding the slightest bit cocky, Federer
has declared himself a Dr Who-like time-tinkerer with exquisite
technique and an ability to move as if on well-oiled castors. The
reason you accept all this without wondering when his head will explode
is that it is all essentially true, plain to see whenever he steps on
court. 'Time is kind of altered' may be Einstein without the supporting
equation but you know he is trying to describe something that is
unusual, that he senses is the essence of what sets him apart. Ask Federer who he fears most and he says simply: 'No one. I'm number one. I've beaten everyone. Why should I fear anyone?' And
yet we still know this is going to be a difficult fortnight for him
despite his outstanding record in the tournament that he says will
always be his main target each year: 14 matches unbeaten for the loss
of just three sets since suffering what he describes as a heartbreaking
first-round defeat by Mario Ancic in 2002. For
a start, he will be vulnerable because of his outstanding record, which
will make him as much a target as an object of dread. He himself knows
this only too well having been the man who in 2001 thrillingly ended
Pete Sampras's 31-match unbeaten sequence on Centre Court. Expect his
opponents, starting tomorrow with France's Paul-Henri Mathieu, to
attack what is regarded as Federer's one weakness, a backhand that can
misfire when given a heavy workload. The trouble is that it has been
plied with so much work that it is rapidly catching up his forehand in
terms of effectiveness. Time to come up with a plan B, guys. Federer
will be under pressure, too, because as ludicrous as it may sound in a
year in which he has already won seven titles - only four fewer than
Tim Henman has won in his 12-year professional career - 2005 has been
unfulfilling because of his semi-final defeats in the two of the four
grand slams played so far. Russia's
Marat Safin beat him in the Australian Open, where the Swiss was the
title holder, and two weeks ago the 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Nadal
ended his hopes of landing his first French Open title, the one grand
slam he has not won. Both these players are likely to loom large in his
wing mirrors at Wimbledon. In
the past, Safin, who can be more highly strung than his rackets, has
become disturbed by the prospect of playing on grass - a surface that,
given his big serve and strong return, he should be able to master -
and let himself down badly. But last weekend he lost only narrowly on
grass to Federer in Germany having contributed handsomely to an
excellent match. The word is that he is prepared to give it a go this
time. It
will be fascinating to see how Nadal fares after his eye-catching romp
to the French title. A theatrical presence from his calf-length
'shorts' and headband to his fist-pumping and virile strokeplay, Nadal
cannot be dismissed as some flaky Continental clay-courter with nothing
to offer on grass. For a start, he gave Ancic a hiding on his Wimbledon
debut two years ago (and he was only just 17). 'Grass isn't his best
surface,' says Federer, 'but it doesn't matter - once you're in the top
five, you should be able to play on any surface.' But
more convincing cases for winning the title can be made for Lleyton
Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, Andy Roddick, the runner-up last
year, and even Henman, given his familiarity with every blade on Centre
Court. To deal with Henman first, the sad fact seems to be that his
shoulder and degenerating back have reduced his serve to the point
where he is no longer a realistic contender. There
is a one-word answer for why this particular pundit thinks neither
Roddick nor Hewitt will win: Federer. Stand by for another complete
display from the young man from Basle - both on court and in the
interview room.
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