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Supreme Confidence Strain – Federer’s Real Injury?
4 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
2010 has been both good and bad for Roger Federer. He won the Australian Open in typical spectacular style with the domination of Andy Murray in the final. But ever since then, Federer has not been Roger Federer. Unusual for him, he lost close matches to Marcos Bagdhatis, Tomas Berdych, Albert Montanes, Ernests Gulbis, Robin Soderling, Lleyton Hewitt and today again Berdych – the man he dominated for years – at Wimbledon.
Losing close matches over and over can have a very bad effect on any tennis player’s self-belief and apparently it has on the greatest player to ever swing a tennis a racquet.
As we saw again today, Roger Federer no longer has the supreme confidence in crunch time, to get the job done. Berdych seemed to sense it too and had the calm, composed yet driven look of a man who knew he would win the match. He was the relentless predator, while Federer was the wounded prey. Federer was the one who looked tight and tense, unsure and tentative as he suffered the agonizing defeat.
After the match Federer claimed back and right leg injuries prevented him from playing the quality of tennis he would have liked, while not offering much credit to the vastly improved Czech veteran who clearly has learned from experience to uplift his game to a new, higher level.
Players often float smokescreens of various injuries to deter from a painful truth. And the truth here might just be that Federer has not win a big match since late January. And the accumulation of close match losses in the duration may have strained or torn his self-confidence. The once-mighty, supreme confidence of Roger Federer could now be irreparably damaged. Or perhaps maybe it’s forever gone. Whatever happens from here on out, it’s going to be very, very hard for Federer to regain and rebuild that supreme confidence with revenge-minded predators like Nadal, Murray, Berdych, Djokovic, Del Potro and Soderling eager to devour the remains of his career.
After the loss today Roger said he needed a rest for his temporarily wounded leg and back, and then all will be fine. But how and will Federer be able to regain his supreme confidence which was mercilessly pounded and battered in Paris and London?
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Sid Bachrach · July 1, 2010 at 3:25 am
We saw the loss of supreme confidence in the DelPotro match. By the time the 5th set started, you could see that DelPotro had the look of a player who felt he could handle anything Federer could throw at him and simply outpound Roger. DelPotro was not even trying for big serves. He seemed happy just to get his serve in, confident that he could simply outhit Federer in a baseline duel. And did he ever hit some ballistic forehands. Roger, in contrast, seemed tentative and he lost his first service game in the 5th and that was it.
vinko · July 1, 2010 at 11:00 am
Roger is like Sugar Ray Robinson is his last years of boxing. He can still have moments of brilliance and show you how good he is but he is losing to guys who could not have carried his gym bag a few years ago.
Dan Markowitz · July 1, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I wouldn’t put him in the old boxer’s decline just yet. He is still playing some stellar tennis. Look how he completed annihilated Melzer, who was playing some pretty good tennis. Roger didn’t look like he had any problems ranging wide to hit that amazing backhand winner in that match.
I think Federer is going to have to change certain tactics in his game, get fully fit, and besides Nadal, he’s still the best player in the world. The Berdych’s and Roddick’s and Soderling’s will beat him from time to time, but he’s still better than them. I just don’t know if he’s capable anymore of winning a long, drawn-out Slam. It is a point that he has had trouble beating the behemoth hitters, Berdych, Del Potro and Soderling, so we’ll see if Roger adds some more serve and volley to his game (probably not) to disrupt these guys’ rhythm.
Tom Michael · July 5, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I have believed that after Rafa’s injury in French Open 2009, Roger admirably took advantage of the situation. But what many did not realize at the time was this. Roger was beatable. Just too many choking performances by players in 2009. Haas, Acasuso, and Del Potro at the French. Roddick at Wimbledon. Federer was noticably less fleet of foot in these matches, but only Del Potro took advantage and beat Fed in US Open 2009. Add Davydenko (especially) and Andreev at Australia 2010 to a list of further choked performances. of course Federer’s variety can draw these crucial errors under pressure, but the aforementioned players had the situation controlled in their hands, until they gave it away.
Federer has lost recently to Soderling in Paris and Berdych in Wimbledon because they decided to step up. Fed does not want to give credit to Berdych where it is due, and that is really sad.
Then he wants to talk about back and leg injuries. Roger said after his win against Melzer in the round of 16, that his thigh feels fine. He wore strapping in his first round match with Falla, and had problems with it in Halle, but according to him not entering the quarters with Berdych. But after his loss, it has become a problem. Now let us tackle his back issue. According to Fed’s bio on Wikipedia, he has a chronic back problem that exempted him from serving in the Swiss army for 2 years of required military service starting at age 18. However, he was able to participate and challenge the rigors of the professional circuit with this back problem. Heck! He even beat Sampras in the 2001 Wimbledon round of 16 with his chronic back problem.
And now this back problem is the reason he lost to Berdych at Wimbledon. And he says that Berdych and big hitters like him are not likely to improve much in a year. Talk about Sour Grapes!