|
Friday, May 26, 2006
Clay is the stuff of Federer's dream
By Christopher Clarey, International Herald Tribune
PARIS
Roger Federer is already in excellent company. The list of men who have
ruled tennis but were never crowned at the French Open includes Pete
Sampras, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, John Newcombe, Stefan Edberg and
Boris Becker.
But Federer is pledging a more prestigious tennis fraternity as this French Open begins, for a change, on a Sunday.
If he can find a way to slide, slug and think his way through the most
grueling event in tennis, he will be the third man ever and the first
since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles.
It won't be a true Grand Slam. To manage that, Federer would need to
win all four majors in the same calendar year, as Laver did in 1962 and
1969 and Don Budge did in 1938. But a "Roger Slam" - as Federer has
dubbed it after the "Tiger Slam" in golf and "Serena Slam" in his own
game - would certainly shore up his already well-fortified spot in
tennis lore.
"There's no question that he's got the game to win the French; now he
just has to do it," said Laver, who had the luxury in his era of
playing three of the four majors on grass.
Laver's analysis reflects the majority viewpoint. None of the top
coaches and former players contacted for this article was prepared to
play down Federer's chances in Paris even though the favorite is fairly
and squarely Rafael Nadal, the defending champion from Spain, who now
holds a 3-0 advantage over the Swiss star him on clay after beating him
in a gladiatorial, five-set final in Rome this month.
"Clearly, Roger is the second-best clay-court player in the world,"
said Mats Wilander, the three-time French Open champion. "I think maybe
losing in Rome was tough to take at the time, and it might be a loss
that will come back and haunt him if they get to the finals of the
French and it gets close."
"But I do believe he learned enough from that match," Wilander added. "I don't think he's scared of Nadal on clay."
Federer actually has been looking forward to facing Nadal on Court
Central in Paris for months. In January, on the night he won the
Australian Open - a tournament Nadal missed because of injury - the
Swiss star said of the French Open, "I hope Rafa is back to challenge
me."
Federer did not sound nearly so open to the concept in Rome, when he
accused Nadal's uncle, Toni, of stretching the rules by coaching during
the final. But when Federer was interviewed this week by the French
sports daily L'Équipe, he was back to lauding the virtues of rivalry,
something he is experiencing in earnest for the first time after three
years of dominance.
"It doesn't bother me at all; he deserves it," Federer said of the
constant questions he now fields about Nadal. "It's normal. It's always
good for tennis to have stories like this one. It's a superb story. But
now, I'm concentrating on my opening rounds and my game, because the
players I'm going to face in the early days are going to be very
different than Nadal."
True enough. In the first round, Federer was drawn Friday to face the
unseeded Frenchman Arnaud Clément, who is no longer at the top of his
powers.
Nadal, on the other hand, is a bullish, deeply combative force of
nature whose forehand, by virtue of his being left- handed, kicks up to
Federer's one- handed backhand. Right-handed players do not have such a
sure-fire method of getting the ball high to Federer's less potent wing
and no other player, righty or lefty, has the kind of speed that allows
Nadal to chase down Federer's forehand bolts in the corners.
"I'm convinced he's the best mover on tour on clay and without a doubt
the best mover on hard court, too," said Brad Gilbert, who helped Andre
Agassi complete his career Grand Slam by coaching him to victory in
Paris in 1999. "When I do my tale of the tape, nobody can stand up to
the forehand and footspeed of Roger; it's impossible, except for Nadal."
But Federer remains the more versatile talent, one capable of winning
from the baseline against lesser clay-courters than Nadal and one also
capable of winning by pushing forward to the net. That latter tactic
has been a losing proposition at Roland Garros of late. The last man to
attack consistently and win was Yannick Noah in 1983; the last man to
do so and reach the final was Edberg in 1989.
"I think Roger's more all-around than most of us were," Edberg said.
"You're not going to win the French Open anymore by charging the net on
every point, as I did most of the time. I think you need to mix up the
game, and I think Roger does it very, very well. The only thing I would
do differently is if he plays Nadal, he has to keep the points shorter.
The longer it goes, the harder it gets."
Federer has been trying to force the issue. Even when he lost to Nadal
in the gloaming in a slightly anticlimactic semifinal at the French
Open last year, his rash of forehand errors came because he was going
for big shots to keep Nadal from getting into too deep a groove.
In Rome, Federer attacked frequently and effectively, winning 64 of 84 points when he rushed the net.
But he still failed on the points that mattered most, squandering two
match points in the fifth set with edgy forehand errors and allowing
Nadal to close out his 53rd clay-court victory in a row and tie the
modern-day record held by Guillermo Vilas of Argentina.
"I think what Roger needs to change a bit is the way he plays
aggressive," Wilander said. "It seems like he was more aggressive when
he was down than when he was up."
"That's not a good thing on clay," he added. "You need to take it to him with the lead."
Having too many choices can be a burden in tennis just at it is in everyday life.
"I think one of the biggest challenges for guys like Roger that are
that talented is when to do what," said Paul Annacone, Sampras's
longtime coach, who now works with Britain's Tim Henman. "I think he's
getting better at it on clay, and he's obviously pushing Nadal. I think
he's right there. It's just a matter of kind of getting over the finish
line."
"With all his tools, there's no reason he shouldn't win," he added,
"whether it's this year or next year or whatever. But then again, Pete
should have won, too, in my opinion."
For now, Sampras, the retired Californian, and Federer, the polyglot
Swiss near the peak of his powers, are on common ground in Paris. Each
has reached one semifinal.
But Federer has a better one-handed backhand than his predecessor, even
though it still is his weaker side. He also uses a racket head that is
significantly larger than the one Sampras used for his annual
clay-court pilgrimages that always ended up with him outside the
cathedral looking in.
"I think Pete got to a certain point where he ended up putting too much
pressure on himself, which I think really hurt him," Annacone said. "I
don't think Roger is there yet, but if he doesn't win in the next few
years, then perhaps that will become a little bit of a skeleton in the
closet for him."
Federer, unlike Sampras, has an innate understanding of how to move on
the clay. Sampras grew up on hard courts. Federer played almost
exclusively on clay until he was 12 and continued to play regularly on
it after that. He slides like a Spaniard and, although he could still
use some work on his volleying technique on clay, he is leagues ahead
of most of his less-versatile peers.
"His volleys aren't the greatest in the world, but he's got pretty good
touch and anticipation up there," said Roy Emerson, the Australian who
volleyed well enough to win 12 major singles titles, including two in
Paris. "I think Roger's got a great chance this year."
Said Annacone: "Against the best clay-courters, the simple strategy in
my mind is you have to either back them up or bring them in. You can't
just let them stay at the baseline. You have to get them at varying
depths in the court, because when they are running side to side, they
can do that all day."
Nadal, who works hard on his volleying, is tougher than most clay-court
lovers to punish by bringing forward, which is only one of the reasons
Gilbert likes his chances of eventually challenging Bjorn Borg's record
of six French Open titles.
"I think he's got a great shot at it; I'm on the Nadal train hard,"
Gilbert said. "I just think he and Roger are going to dominate men's
tennis. It's not that there is a shortage of great players. It's that
these are just two phenomenal players compared to any era."
But while Federer trails, 1-5, in head- to-head meetings with Nadal, he
still leads, 7-1, when it comes to the Grand Slam titles that continue
to determine players' reputations.
Grind through the draw in Paris, and he will have the complete set at
age 24 with a true Grand Slam suddenly a real possibility considering
that Wimbledon and the U.S. Open suit his flowing game best.
That is getting ahead of the game, however. It has already been
terrific theater this spring as Federer has tried and generally
succeeded to lift his level on clay. Why not savor the point-in,
point-out spectacle of him trying to do the same in Paris, where it
matters most?
"Right now, Nadal is the only one who I think is forcing Roger to raise
his game," Annacone said. "I think that's good for tennis."
|
