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Roger Federer: Old dog, new tricks

Roar Guru
25th August, 2015
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Roger Federer has banked hundreds of millions in prize money over his career. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Roar Guru
25th August, 2015
12
2784 Reads

Ten years ago Roger Federer was halfway through completing the most dominant four years of tennis anyone had ever seen. Records tumbled and he set in motion new benchmarks for the way the game was to be played.

In 2013 it looked like time was finally taking that inevitable, painful toll on the graceful Swiss who slumped to an unfamiliar world ranking of eighth after several poor losses.

People in the tennisphere were whispering that retirement was around the corner; he was 32 after all and had been at the top of the sport for more than 10 years. These people had seen this familiar cycle play out time and time again with all their favourite champions, and now it was Federer’s turn to watch himself helplessly fade into retirement.

Obviously Federer hadn’t read the script.

His play throughout the past 18 months has been nothing short of a renaissance. Since the beginning of 2014 he has looked like a new player, with a new racquet and new coach.

His net exchange after defeating Feliciano Lopez told us exactly what Federer has in mind:

Lopez: “You were flying all over the court.”
Federer: “We’ve got a few more years.”
Lopez: “F**k!”

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Some delightful news for all the Federer fans out there. Not so much his opposition.

As if Federer couldn’t do anymore to keep the purists and old-timers happy with his graceful all-court game, Federer has adopted an ultra-aggressive style of play with Stefan Edberg at the helm. Newfound confidence in the forecourt has made him an exciting champion in this numbing baseline era.

Some of his audacious plays had seasoned commentators furrowing their brows with a look that said, ‘Hey! You can’t do that! Not in today’s game, that’s old school’.

And it is. Half-volley returns and sneaky slice approaches have been the hallmark of Federer 2.0 – the new-old, or old-new player that is causing a lot of headaches for younger foes Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Last week in Ohio the great man romped his way to the title without dropping a set, or even a service game. Yes, that’s right, he went through modern returning greats Murray and Djokovic without a single break of serve. Djokovic didn’t even sniff a break point chance on his serve. Not bad for an over-the-hill 34-year-old.

With the US Open a few days away Federer is poised to once again make a run for that elusive 18th Grand Slam. I can’t believe I’m writing this in 2015, but if last week was anything to go by, you’d be a betting man to think he wouldn’t at least make the final this year.

I for one will be hoping he can go all the way.

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