Roger Federer showed off a revised game plan against Rafael Nadal in Sunday’s Madrid Open final. He played with more agression and fewer nerves, served great and took his chances when they came. After the match, Federer revealed that he’s tweaked his mental strategy as well:
Interviewer: Two things stood out today. Nadal ordinarily keeps you waiting at the net before the match. This time you kept him waiting. And instead of serving you decided to recieve. Psychology?
Roger Federer: I simply thought to do something differently today. The players allow him to do too much, let him determine his rhythm. From the time one leaves the locker room to the first rally, twenty minutes have passed against him. Normally, five to ten minutes should be it. So today I simply took my time to see how patient he is. And today I had little to lose, so I did it with humor. Perhaps it helped that I played more relaxed.
Yes! I love this new, crafty Roger Federer. I think he’s always felt that it was “below” him to use mind games and on-court gamesmanship to his advantage, but now he’s realized he needs to use every advantage to beat the superhuman Rafael Nadal.
But has Roger revealed his hand too early? I’m envisioning a great standoff between Roger and Rafa before the warm up in the Roland Garros final: Roger tying and re-tying his headband while Rafa takes out a ruler to measure the distance between his beloved water bottles. The chair umpire will have to do a coin toss to determine who gets off the bench first! My goodness, has it really come to this?
Roger’s comments via Blick, my translation from German.
“I know Rafa can’t resist my smile.” photo PEDRO ARMESTRE/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
Tags: ATP, Federer, Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid, Nadal, tennis
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The guy doesn’t need a coach.
I guess he just read Brad Gilbert’s book: “Winning Ugly”
That’s exactly what I was thinking! And also that he might show Rafa what it’s like to be on the receiving of it. Way to go Roger. Not sure I would’ve tipped my hand, but Roger is an honest guy…
how much more if he has one….
That’s all?
I was thinking he would reveal something technical or some tweaking to his game. He was lucky to beat Rafa on an off-day and on the surface least close to RG. And if gamesmanship is his way to battle Rafa’s proven mental toughness and focus, he’s in for a rude surprise at RG.
Hi Aurora! Sometimes it’s the little things that matter. After all, both the Australian Open and Wimbledon went down to the wire.
I don’t think Roger has much of a chance at RG, but the win could build confidence for Wimbledon, where he definitely has a better chance.
oh put a sock on it will you….maybe your nadal will be in for a rude surprise this time……LOL!
i cannot wait for the french. i was in such a great mood yesterday simply because he won again. i feel like he is my brother – that is how much i care about his winning and losing.
Lulu, I know exactly what you mean! With all the other players, I can be philosophical about their wins and losses. But Roger is like family. I was a little down about clay court season, with the dreaded French Open at the end of it. But last night I was fantasizing about Roger getting the French, Wimbledon, and the US Open again!
I love this crafty new Roger too! He’s just made some changes. I’m proud of him!!
!!!!
Go Roger! Just glad that he finally admitted that he needs to change something. And that he did. And it worked.
while Rafa takes out a ruler to measure the distance between his beloved water bottles.
Hysterical!
but I can see that happening too. XD
That’s a very happy Rafa… especially after losing! Ah, I guess he is a Fedophile, after all…
What Roger needs to do is “mis-hit” some of his serves and knock over Rafa’s water bottles. Rafa will look over at them and be so distracted that he won’t be able to play until after that game when he can make them right. Also, when they change ends, Roger could, accidentally of course, bump into the neatly arranged items in Rafa’s area. I’m sure Rafa would accept his apology.
And every time that Rafa violates the time limit for serving, Roger should point it out to the umpire or do something else to make Rafa pay for this. Once someone playing against Rafa, who almost beat him, used tactics like this, and it was obvious that it bothered Rafa; the guy stood way back out of return position to make Nadal pay for having taken so long to serve on previous points. Nadal had to wait on the guy to get into position.
Personally, I love the way that Roger goes through his serves so quickly. It doesn’t matter whether he is facing a break point or is serving for the game at 40-0, he wastes no time bouncing the ball or anything else. He just serves, even after long rallies when he may need a brief rest. It gives the opponent little time to have a mini-rest, and I think that it is also admirable.
One other thing Roger could do is to talk to some of his sponsors and have them supply the water bottles. For the first few games or set, supply Rafa with bottles with no labels. For the next round, have labels with random patterns so that it is impossible to align two bottles the same. And have the bottles designed so that they either are not straight up and down when on their bottom or such that they won’t stay upright when placed this way and have to be stored horizontally. I’m sure that would irritate him quite a bit.
LOL! The things one must do to beat Nadal.
Anyway, I think this is all silly. Seriously? Is that the answer to beating Rafa? Choosing to receive and arriving second to the coin toss? *sigh* Mind games they may be, but I think they are definitely more for Roger than Rafa. I bet Rafa didn’t even notice, and doesn’t even care. His Uncle Toni purposely had him train on bad courts with faulty equipment so that he wouldn’t use extraneous elements as excuses. This is the biggest difference between Roger and Rafa. When Rafa does something it’s solely for him. He doesn’t have the INTENTION of “hurting” or “disrupting” the opponent. But if this is what the great Roger’s come up with, then, good luck at the French.
That’s just it, Mim. Rafa does things for himself, without regard for, or maybe without noticing, how it affects the other players or how it may violate a rule (such as there being a limited amount of time to serve). I’m sure that he is quite happy doing these things for himself; the problem is that other players, like Roger, who try to be respectful of the rules and of others (I’m not saying that Rafa is never respectful of other players) are rightly bothered by some of these things that Rafa does. The fact is that many of the things that he does, whether or not they be just for himself, can affect the psyche of other players, and he seems to have no regard for that. In a sense, he plays dirty, but it may be just that he does not have the grace of someone like Roger.
So, all of these things that he does — the bouncing around like a boxer, the rituals with the bottles, the delaying on the serve, etc. — are all done for him and are done with no regard for anyone else. If this is negatively affecting his opponent, then his opponent may need to do something to overcome this, and maybe the things that Roger did this last match released some of the tension from all of these things that Rafa does. Or maybe rules just really don’t matter?