Roger Federer, who yesterday announced his intention to retire at the Laver Cup this month, is not a just a glorious tennis player: he was the benchmark to which every tennis champion — past or present — is measured, and a true global ambassador who transcended the sport.
In numbers, Federer’s career was full of jaw-dropping achievement, but the swiss was something else: his efficiency and beauty of his execution, going always for historic records, but his great precision was unique and and unrepeatable.
Our CEO Nico Lapentti played four times with the Swiss, and trained as many, in addition to sharing multiple experiences, and highlighted three elements that made Federer a different player forever.
NATURAL TALENT AND BEST WORKER
In fact, Federer’s longevity was centred on the fact that not only could he play superbly on every surface, but he combined great fitness with strategy and anticipation. To do that, there was also his dedication, commitment, and desire to not only stay ahead of his fellow professionals, but to evolve every aspect of his game to combat his greatest rivals, notably Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“When you add talent together with work you can have the best results: Federer was a mega-talented player but at the same time a top worker and those two things made him the impressive player that he was”, Lapentti explained.
That’s how Federer led a golden age for men’s professional tennis. Every match against Nadal (16-24) or Djokovic (23-27) popularised and attracted new fans to the sport for must-see and several never-to-be-forgotten encounters on the sport’s grandest stages.
MOBILITY AND PERFECT TECHNIQUE
No one has Federer’s demeanour and gracious nature, and his success was even more meaningful for that ease with which he seemed to navigate the sport. He possessed a smooth, effortless technique, a toolbox of shots as vast as any in the world and his willingness to constantly explore the net.
“The way he moved on the court was always something impressive — probably his naturalness to move on the court meant that Federer could execute any shot perfectly”, Lapentti said.
“Without a doubt, his technique was the closest to perfection in all his shots and like no other player”, he concluded.
NO FEAR OF PLAYING OFFENSIVE (AND AT THE NET)
In a generation where the vast majority played from the baseline and very few still played at the net. “Federer always stood out for a complete game, being able to play very well from the baseline but many times he felt even more comfortable going to the net… how he went, how he defined, how he handled himself in the zone was something incredible”
In the meantime, Federer was always winning Slams for more than two decades singing many periods of dominance, notably his record 237 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings from 2 February 2004 to 17 August 2008 and how he also reached a record 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals from 2004 Wimbledon to the 2010 Roland Garros semi-finals (winning 20 of them).
WHAT TO LEARN FROM FEDERER’S GREATNESS?
Federer’s own game not only evolved in 25 seasons as a professional, but he also forced his rivals — many of whom had a Federer poster on their bedroom walls — to improve, too. So, Is it possible to copy something of what the Swiss did? can such greatness be trained? “It is difficult to bring Federer down to an earthly place… but the footwork can be worked on in depth and it was a normal thing to see him play or train and stop to just see how he moved, both to attack and to defend. Anticipation in tennis is a precious commodity.”, Lapentti described.
“In a training session, no matter what the level of the player es, you can work on many shots or simulations of game situations looking for acceleration in the arm, the speed of the racket, mainly on the forehand side in the case of the Swiss”.