THE MOVEMENT
Roger Federer’s legs are massive, but you do not really notice them, because he wears baggy shorts.
When he opens today’s Centre Court schedule, though, check out those bulging calves.
This is not just a case of looking good on the beach. People always talk about how light Federer is in his movement, but to be light you have to be very strong. In the words of Jez Green, the leading fitness trainer who now works with world No3 Alexander Zverev: “His calves are springy, and they allow him to move with poise and an apparent effortlessness. In training, he works extremely hard to transmit that illusion.”
One oft-quoted statistic suggests that Federer has 15 different movement patterns, twice as many as some of his rivals on the tour. When I suggest this to Green, who also worked with Andy Murray for seven years, he rolls his eyes like a man used to dealing with the pet theories of amateurs.
“To me, that’s putting the cart before the horse,” he says. “Great movement is less about variety than quality. It all starts with the split step. I could spend an hour talking about Federer’s split step.”
This is the hop that a player makes, just fractionally before their opponent strikes the ball. As Green explains: “Federer has perfect timing so that his feet touch the ground as the ball crosses the net. The jump is quite large and he widens his feet out. Then he lands, his trunk lowers, and he accelerates, exploding out of that position.
“Federer’s split step is so wide. He has an incredible base, which is unrepeatable by other players. If you’re not as strong or as flexible, you can’t do it.”
If the best movers have one thing in common, it is that they have usually played a lot of field sports around the ages of eight to 12. The ‘Big Four’ are all excellent footballers. Zverev reached a high level in field hockey. For Magnus Norman and Jonas Bjorkman, it was ice hockey. “These are leg sports,” says Green, “and if you haven’t played them to a high level – I don’t mean recreationally, but close to national junior standard – it’s hard to match the best when it comes to leg co-ordination. Also they have anticipation, see the ball so early, and judge pace and spin.
“You can’t knock them off balance, can’t move them away from their centre of gravity. It’s normally a couple of inches under the belly button, and these guys keep it under control with their wide base, staying low and controlled.”
But what about those little baby positioning steps, I ask. Is that not what you always hear the commentators talking about on TV? Green gives me another withering look.
“Well, yes, you have to use little steps for decelerating before making the shot,” he says. “You can hear those steps when you watch a hard-court match, making squeaking sounds on the surface. But being able to make a big step, without losing balance, that is what I’m looking for. Sascha [Zverev], with his long legs, is very good at that. Base! I say it a thousand times a day.”
We talk about the different techniques that the players use to recover after being pushed wide.
Murray does what Green calls his “mogul turn”, in a reference to skiing. He swivels his hips abruptly and drives back aggressively off his outside leg. With Federer, there are more steps involved and everything is much more smooth and more feline.
For what feels like the first time, Green agrees with something I have said. “I like the word feline,” he says. “That’s the holy grail. The smoothness of a cat is what we’re looking for and Fed has it.
“It’s one reason why he has had so few injury issues throughout his career.
“Trainers will work on patterns of movement, specific to each player. Murray is a defensive mover, so he tends to drop back after a shot. Federer is an attacking mover, always looking to get to the net. I like my players to rehearse in slow motion, using elastics and weight jackets for resistance, sometimes throwing a medicine ball for the arms.”
Movement in tennis is like putting in golf – the X-factor that distinguishes the great from the merely good. Take away his extraordinary ability to cover the court, and you would not see all the creative flourishes that lead the highlight shows each night.