Federer’s perfect journey
“It’s been a perfect journey” was the description of his own professional tennis career by Roger Federer in one of his last interviews. He played his last professional match, a Doubles with his arch opponent and good friend Rafael Nadal, as his partner, in the Laver Cup 2022 in London. They lost it to Sock and Tiafoe of USA. Laver Cup is on its fifth year. For the first time, the ‘Rest of the World’ team won with John McEnroe as their non-playing captain. [AliAssime of Canada beat Djokovic in this tie]. At the farewell, Federer and Nadal, two ardent warriors were in tears. Their mutual respect came out strong.
Pete Sampras
The man Federer had to displace to be the top player was Pete Sampras, a player 10 years older than him. From 1990, Sampras appeared and dominated men’s tennis. [He was somewhat bored winning always] His record is like that of Federer, impeccable. In a classic final of Wimbledon Federer took Sampras to five sets and outlasted him. [For those who do not know how Sampras played or remember Sampras watch Carlos Alcaraz, his game has Pete Sampras’ mold]. Federer’s rivalry with Sampras, Nadal, Djokovic and a few others made tennis was very appealing for two decades. The tennis history Federer has written will echo for decades to come.
Federer has been nursing his knees for the past few years, had to forfeit few Grand Slam event matches. Returning even after a good few layoffs, Federer never lost his grace but tactical speed and positioning to execute his weaponry were not effective. His overall game efficiency dropped when he lost court coverage speed. Court coverage is a critical tactical component of modern tennis.
Ever since the world walked away natural surfaces, clay and sand, to asphalt concrete surfaces, speed of the game increased along with the stress on the player’s body. Knee takes the worst beating on hard courts. Very few players have come through as effective competitor in the recent ATP’s history as Federer.
Federer’s only regret would be not winning calendar Grand Slam, like that of Rod Laver. We will miss the gracefully lethal stroke making of Federer. There is little or no chance of his return to pro tour again. His success created a strong Swiss platform. Stanislas Wawrinka, Martina Hingis and good many made it into the Top 20 of the world, winning prestige’s events and make a living. What more they made Switzerland a tennis country. During my stint in Europe, I visited and was involved in Swiss tennis development, in recreational and in junior segment. They have some of the best and idyllic facilities in Europe. Good facilities are the pre requisite for player and sport development of a country.
Global performance platforms
In recognition, WTA and ATP are at the apex of the global professional tennis pyramid. These two along with ITF for juniors, maintain recognised player classification globally. In USA, ITF is not a known or a recognised entity. None of the high-end popular tennis nations maintains their national ranking anymore. This has made national tennis ranking of countries like ours insignificant. They are not the gateway to global events. Even in the regional events and inter-nation team events player/team positioning for their events are through ATP and WTA ranking.
In this context, players without professional ranking will not entry into second and third tier moneymaking events. Wild card entry, a prerogative of the host country, too is under the control of the professional bodies in such events.
Meaningful positioning
Right now, we have another formidable set of players emerging in the professional circuit. These young players with the label New-Gen play a game stronger than that of Top 10 players of the past decade. This is a fact. The most significant phenomenon is the size of the cluster of New-Gen elites now. In both gender their number exceeds 20. This has never happened before. Their all court stroke making ability and speed of reading the ball direction and speed, efficiency in court coverage and the receptive ability at all body heights has changed the game of tennis. These are not the Victorian era tennis but contemporary professional tennis approach.
Change of bus route
Players from Sri Lanka and countries such as ours are not from regions known for high performance sports in general. Individually players will have to navigate through new path to get into the professional ranking. Regardless which path, it will be a tall order in skill, physical and in tactical requirements. Unlike cricket, tennis is played in over 200 countries. An intense platform where individualism counts.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; Coach German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup coach; coached players into 200 ATP, WTA and ITF in Europe and Asia; WhatsApp +94775448880–