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Goran on the Federer serve
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SliceAndDice
Jul 8, 2017, 7:13:51 PM7/8/17
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Federer’s serve is effortless – and incredibly hard to read
goran ivanisevic, former wimbledon champion
Roger Federer joined me and Ivo Karlovic in the Croatian club of 10,000 aces this week. But what I have noticed at Wimbledon is that nobody talks about Federer’s serve. For me, it is one of the top five serves in the history of tennis.
Yes, it is not a booming serve like those of Milos Raonic or Andy Roddick, but statistically it is up there with the best. Watch his matches and see how many important points he wins with his serve. He is not afraid to go for the big second serve, his percentages are always high — for example, he has won 74 per cent of second-serve points this week — and he often places it perfectly, picking the spots, which makes it tough for the opponent to get a return with depth back.
I played Federer twice towards the end of my career, at the former Axa Cup in London in 2000 and a year later in Milan. He was a teenager at the time and beat me on both occasions in straight sets. His serve was not at its best when I played him, but I remember he had this effortless motion.
It was not easy to read. When he tosses the ball, it can go either way. That is the key of a good serve. When you toss the ball, it does not matter where it is in the air, you can hit it wherever you want. Against some players, you know where they are going to hit the serve. Against Roger, you do not have a clue. He can hit it slow, fast or at medium pace and it is still very tough to read.
There is an element of guesswork when you are returning against a serve like that. Nowadays, the grass is a little bit slower, so players have more time to return than they did during my career. But the area around the service box is not ruined by people coming to the net — due to the decrease in serve and volleying — and the serve always gets a nice bounce.
Federer may now be just one month short of his 36th birthday, but he is not a player who is going to go out of the sport that easy. He loves tennis, he loves to watch tennis, he loves to compete. He is like a little kid and you can see that in how he plays.
After his six-month break, when he took his time and prepared himself for a comeback at the start of this year, Federer is moving better than before. He is just beautiful to watch.
When I was coaching Marin Cilic, I remember preparing him to face Federer in the quarter-finals here last year — he had three match points and he should have won. Beforehand, you cannot concentrate too much on Federer and what he is going to do. Sometimes he doesn’t know himself what he is going to do as he is a magician.
The key point is to tell your player what he has to do: “You do your thing and Federer is going to do the things that he does.” The player has to accept that maybe Federer is going to hit 55 winners that he will not see.
If you concentrate too much on Federer and the other big players like Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, then you will not concentrate enough on your own game. I would rather my players concentrate on what they need to do and how they need to play.
It will be interesting to see when Federer decides to call an end to his great career. To suggest that he will still be playing at 40 is going too far as he is taking it step by step, but he will definitely play for at least another two years. As long as he is enjoying playing, and winning, he is not going to stop.
For now, Federer is still going, still winning and he is going to hit a few more aces.
Coin-thrower will come good
Daniil Medvedev, the 21-year-old Russian, is going to be a good player, but he made a mistake when he threw coins towards the umpire’s chair after losing his second-round match in five sets. However, I can relate to how he felt at that moment. When it is hot and you have lost in the deciding set, after a number of overrules, you don’t know what you are doing.
Medvedev is still young. You don’t have to kill the guy because he did something. He apologised, he is sorry, he will pay his fine of $14,500 [about £11,260], it will be forgotten and he will be back next year.
Don’t blame the retiring players
After seven retirements in the first round of the men’s singles, Wimbledon and the other grand slams have to find a solution. I cannot blame those players, though, for taking to the court. If I am here because of my results and my ranking, I deserve to be here. I have earned it throughout the year.
£35,000 is a lot of money and players sometimes think they can play when they have pre-existing injuries. Sometimes during the match you can block the pain. You can run, serve, win, have one day of rest and then you feel better.
It is time to introduce a new rule. Perhaps give them half their prize money or follow the lead of the ATP, which gives players their full prize money even if they withdraw and allow a lucky loser to take their place — and boost their cheque only if they win.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/federers-serve-is-effortless-and-incredibly-hard-to-read-jdg7ctd0b
goran ivanisevic, former wimbledon champion
Roger Federer joined me and Ivo Karlovic in the Croatian club of 10,000 aces this week. But what I have noticed at Wimbledon is that nobody talks about Federer’s serve. For me, it is one of the top five serves in the history of tennis.
Yes, it is not a booming serve like those of Milos Raonic or Andy Roddick, but statistically it is up there with the best. Watch his matches and see how many important points he wins with his serve. He is not afraid to go for the big second serve, his percentages are always high — for example, he has won 74 per cent of second-serve points this week — and he often places it perfectly, picking the spots, which makes it tough for the opponent to get a return with depth back.
I played Federer twice towards the end of my career, at the former Axa Cup in London in 2000 and a year later in Milan. He was a teenager at the time and beat me on both occasions in straight sets. His serve was not at its best when I played him, but I remember he had this effortless motion.
It was not easy to read. When he tosses the ball, it can go either way. That is the key of a good serve. When you toss the ball, it does not matter where it is in the air, you can hit it wherever you want. Against some players, you know where they are going to hit the serve. Against Roger, you do not have a clue. He can hit it slow, fast or at medium pace and it is still very tough to read.
There is an element of guesswork when you are returning against a serve like that. Nowadays, the grass is a little bit slower, so players have more time to return than they did during my career. But the area around the service box is not ruined by people coming to the net — due to the decrease in serve and volleying — and the serve always gets a nice bounce.
Federer may now be just one month short of his 36th birthday, but he is not a player who is going to go out of the sport that easy. He loves tennis, he loves to watch tennis, he loves to compete. He is like a little kid and you can see that in how he plays.
After his six-month break, when he took his time and prepared himself for a comeback at the start of this year, Federer is moving better than before. He is just beautiful to watch.
When I was coaching Marin Cilic, I remember preparing him to face Federer in the quarter-finals here last year — he had three match points and he should have won. Beforehand, you cannot concentrate too much on Federer and what he is going to do. Sometimes he doesn’t know himself what he is going to do as he is a magician.
The key point is to tell your player what he has to do: “You do your thing and Federer is going to do the things that he does.” The player has to accept that maybe Federer is going to hit 55 winners that he will not see.
If you concentrate too much on Federer and the other big players like Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, then you will not concentrate enough on your own game. I would rather my players concentrate on what they need to do and how they need to play.
It will be interesting to see when Federer decides to call an end to his great career. To suggest that he will still be playing at 40 is going too far as he is taking it step by step, but he will definitely play for at least another two years. As long as he is enjoying playing, and winning, he is not going to stop.
For now, Federer is still going, still winning and he is going to hit a few more aces.
Coin-thrower will come good
Daniil Medvedev, the 21-year-old Russian, is going to be a good player, but he made a mistake when he threw coins towards the umpire’s chair after losing his second-round match in five sets. However, I can relate to how he felt at that moment. When it is hot and you have lost in the deciding set, after a number of overrules, you don’t know what you are doing.
Medvedev is still young. You don’t have to kill the guy because he did something. He apologised, he is sorry, he will pay his fine of $14,500 [about £11,260], it will be forgotten and he will be back next year.
Don’t blame the retiring players
After seven retirements in the first round of the men’s singles, Wimbledon and the other grand slams have to find a solution. I cannot blame those players, though, for taking to the court. If I am here because of my results and my ranking, I deserve to be here. I have earned it throughout the year.
£35,000 is a lot of money and players sometimes think they can play when they have pre-existing injuries. Sometimes during the match you can block the pain. You can run, serve, win, have one day of rest and then you feel better.
It is time to introduce a new rule. Perhaps give them half their prize money or follow the lead of the ATP, which gives players their full prize money even if they withdraw and allow a lucky loser to take their place — and boost their cheque only if they win.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/federers-serve-is-effortless-and-incredibly-hard-to-read-jdg7ctd0b
Shakes
Jul 8, 2017, 7:34:32 PM7/8/17
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Patrick Kehoe
Jul 8, 2017, 8:48:23 PM7/8/17
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Seriously, Rafa looking passionate; Nole looks focused; Murray looks determined despite everything and Federer, he looks like he's trying to hold it together. I think he's feeling the pressure, especially after Nadal winning the French. It's almost as if, in his mind, he now needs to respond in kind and knows millions of rabid Federerites are desperate for him to do likewise. The entire situation seems odd, in some ways.
P
SliceAndDice
Jul 8, 2017, 9:06:36 PM7/8/17
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Guypers
Jul 8, 2017, 10:12:25 PM7/8/17
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PeteWasLucky
Jul 8, 2017, 10:16:16 PM7/8/17
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> Not sure where you are getting this from
lol, I like " he is trying to hold it together" :)
SliceAndDice
Jul 8, 2017, 10:40:08 PM7/8/17
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On Saturday, July 8, 2017 at 10:16:16 PM UTC-4, PeteWasLucky wrote:
> > Not sure where you are getting this from
>
> lol, I like " he is trying to hold it together" :)
Fed been looking constipated? :)
> > Not sure where you are getting this from
>
> lol, I like " he is trying to hold it together" :)
Court_1
Jul 9, 2017, 1:15:49 AM7/9/17
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On Saturday, July 8, 2017 at 9:06:36 PM UTC-4, SliceAndDice wrote:
> > Seriously, Rafa looking passionate; Nole looks focused; Murray looks determined despite everything and Federer, he looks like he's trying to hold it together. I think he's feeling the pressure, especially after Nadal winning the French. It's almost as if, in his mind, he now needs to respond in kind and knows millions of rabid Federerites are desperate for him to do likewise. The entire situation seems odd, in some ways.
> >
> > P
>
> Not sure where you are getting this from.
Well, I think Patrick is right that millions of Federerites are desperate for him to win this title and that Federer is trying to reduce the pressure on himself by repeatedly denying that he is 'the' favorite and instead will only admit he is one of the favorites. I think he is trying to recreate the AO situation where there were no expectations on him.
> >
> > P
>
> Not sure where you are getting this from.
It's hard to tell where the Big Four players are really at because they've played clowns so far. Monday will be the real start of the tournament and the real tests for the Big Four players will come.
Patrick Kehoe
Jul 9, 2017, 2:01:58 AM7/9/17
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Andy: That hip is thee mystery of the tournament. Movement's been good but his composure has slipped more than a few times under the pressure of highly contested moments; against Foggy he came through, so, over all a positive.
Rafa: Playing well, movement very good and he's getting up into the court... his forehand down the line is dialled in, always a great sign for Rafa. My only concern would be how 'up and jacked' he's been for what should be somewhat normal moments (breaks or great recoveries). I realizes he plays well when the passions are engaged, but, it also expends a lot of energy to constantly be in a state of being wired up... Have to keep an eye out for that in his next couple of matches.
Fed: Not starting out of the gate like he normally does. His return of serve has lost some of its sharpness; Lubo will be working on that, one assumes. Hitting a TON of winner and his UE's are coming down, so, that's thee positive moving forward for Fed. That and he's saved a lot of energy for second week winning in straits and having been gifted a retirement (like Nole).
P
TT
Jul 9, 2017, 3:18:43 AM7/9/17
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Patrick Kehoe kirjoitti 9.7.2017 klo 9:01:
> Nole: Showing signs of 'working' to stay calm (and still randomly losing his cool at times, even when he's well ahead), he's serving well... a few commentators are waiting to see how he reacts to being under the gun and being challenged... will the old Nole surface? He looks like he has a chip on his shoulder though
Well he's carrying on his shoulders high hopes and aspirations of entire
> Nole: Showing signs of 'working' to stay calm (and still randomly losing his cool at times, even when he's well ahead), he's serving well... a few commentators are waiting to see how he reacts to being under the gun and being challenged... will the old Nole surface? He looks like he has a chip on his shoulder though
nation - Monaco.
Patrick Kehoe
Jul 11, 2017, 1:48:59 AM7/11/17
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Good one...
P
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