FEDERER’S BLAST
Hungover champ tells young guns to improve
ROGER FEDERER only just managed bed before breakfast after his latest Wimbledon triumph, but even that exertion could not throw him off his game.
Fresh from a 5am night out, he was still able to deliver a few serious home truths to those further down the chain who so struggle to usurp him.
Federer believes they need to shape up, and in particular develop some new skills if they are to challenge the handful of thirty-somethings who have dominated tennis for years.
‘Every generation definitely is different. Since my generation and rafa’s generation, yes, the next one hasn’t been strong enough to push all of us out really. So that has been helpful for us to stick around,’ said Federer, his voice slightly husky.
He was particularly scathing about the reluctance of so many to leave their comfort zone of the baseline and change tactics against the truly elite players.
‘A slugfest with Andy (Murray) from the baseline or rafa (nadal) for that matter — good luck if you are no 50 in the world, it is not so simple to take them out,’ said the Swiss master, who feels the challengers, and their coaches, are not entirely helping themselves.
‘They can choose not to play that way, if the coach has taught them to play differently.
‘ I know you can easily get sucked into that mode when you don’t want to attack, but if you can’t volley you are not going to go to the net. Almost every player I played here wouldn’t serve and volley. It’s frightening to me, to see this at this level.
‘I look at the stats and go into whatever round it is and see that the guy I’m going to face is playing two per cent of serve and volley throughout the championship. I’m going, “OK, I know he’s not going to serve and volley”, which is great.
‘We are talking about grass, and it was playing fast this week. I feel like I wish that we would see more coaches, more players taking chances up at the net because good things do happen there.
‘But you have to spend some time up there to feel confident and good there.’ The one area where Federer does have some sympathy for them is that he feels ranking points are loaded too heavily in favour of those who make the finals at big events, which makes it harder for other players to break through.
The ranking situation is clearly on his mind, for he is in the remarkable position of being set to regain the no 1 position sometime shortly after his 36th birthday on August 8. He would be there for the first time since October 2012.
‘I hope it’s me and not rafa because it would mean a lot to me to get back to world no 1,’ he told the BBC. ‘I have to speak to my team and decide how much am I going to just chase it in the near future so maybe I get to world no 1 at least one more time in my career or whether it is actually maybe a goal to finish the year as world no 1, which is an even bigger deal.
‘But for me maybe that makes no difference being world no 1 for a week or year-end no 1 at this stage of my career, so I have to just have a bit of a meeting and discussion with my team about that in the coming weeks.’
That may determine whether he plays his next scheduled event, the Canadian Open, or waits to play the Cincinnati Masters ahead of the US Open.
‘The target now is to enjoy being Wimbledon champion for a year. And Australian Open champion and you name it.
‘I haven’t set sights on a number of grand Slams that I have to or want to achieve.
‘I never really had that; I was very content at 17, I must tell you. Of course, I was going to be hap- pier at 18 and I’m even happier at 19. But 17 was a wonderful number so I think for me it’s just about enjoying myself, staying healthy and then we’ll see what happens. I’m playing for titles at this stage in my career.’
He was honoured alongside garbine Muguruza at London’s guildhall on Sunday night, and followed it up with an un-Federeresque drinking session, although he has always been partial to a few glasses of wine.
‘yeah, my head’s ringing,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what I did last night. I drank too many types of drinks, I guess. After the ball we went to a bar — and there were almost 30 to 40 friends that were there. So we had a great time.
‘got to bed at five, then woke up, and just didn’t feel good. The last hour or so I’m somewhat OK again. So I’m happy with that. We had a good time.’
Proof, at the end of his extraordinary Wimbledon, that he may be human after all.