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Listen to Roger Federer, he knows what he's talking about

25th January, 2017
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Roger Federer has banked hundreds of millions in prize money over his career. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
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25th January, 2017
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There’s plenty of rubbish fan theories floating around on sport, so when you actually hear a professional player divulge a genuine opinion you sit up and take notice.

In a nutshell, 35-year-old Swiss maestro Roger Federer says the courts at the Australian Open are as fast as they have been since the Plexicushion surface replaced Rebound Ace in 2008.

There’s no official word from Tennis Australia that anything has changed with the surface, but if Roger says Rod Laver Arena is faster, it’s definitely faster.

Federer was one player who despised the change to Plexicushion from the start.

He realised his success was based on a fast court that allowed him to dictate the points. When the tennis court was slowed down it gave the baseline guys a much better chance of staying in the rallies and slugging it out.

“Everything is already slowing down. Everybody’s already complaining that, you know, we’re playing too much from the baseline. So we’ll only see more of that here in Australia, that’s for sure,” he said in 2009.

Fast forward to 2017 and Federer amazed even himself how far he has made it in the tournament.

After witnessing the other unexpected results during the tournament, including Mischa Zverev defeating Andy Murray and Venus Williams’ resurgence, Federer is convinced the surface is a contributing factor.

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“If you look at Venus, she loves the fast courts. She always has. I think it just is natural for her to play well on this surface because maybe there’s less thinking going on, you just play with instinct,” Federer said.

“The conditions have allowed me to play forward and I thought Mischa (Zverev) did a terrific job this tournament and I hope it’s going to inspire more players to do that in the future,” Federer added.

Federer’s theory that older players are used to the fast conditions makes sense.

Those aged over 30 grew up on fast courts and had standard tennis balls to deal with rather than the three different types introduced in 2002, designed to slow the game down.

Think about how the game has changed, even in the last 20 years.

Pat Rafter and Greg Rusedski’s serve/volley games worked wonders at Wimbledon and Pete Sampras was almost unstoppable when he had his serve going.

A big serve still helps, but it’s not crucial anymore as players have up to 10 per cent longer to react.

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As Federer has mentioned before, he’s had to adapt his game for the slow-down of tennis.

However, this year the fast conditions make him feel like he’s back to 2007 when he dominated at the Australian Open and that’s bad news for Stan Wawrinka and every other player remaining in the men’s draw.

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