FED STILL MIXING IT UP LIKE A COURT MAGICIAN
IN terms of scaling new heights, it doesn’t get much higher in tennis than Roger Federer playing André Agassi, on top of the Burg Al Arab, on a helipad suspended 1000 feet above Jumeirah beach in Dubai, to promote the then newly launched 1995 Dubai Championships.
Twenty-five years later ex-champion Federer’s beach tennis game against ex-champion, Andy Murray, on that same beach in celebration of the 25th Championship seems a monumental let down, given ‘co-star’ Murray pulled out at the brink, with a question mark over the disillusion, or illusion of retirement.
Nevertheless the Arabs created an indelible visual, which made it into Time Magazine and still has guests checking in at the Burg, asking if they can book the ‘roof’ court for a night session.
You can’t buy that sort of advertising and yet, typically, Salah Tahlak, tournament director, did.
And undisputed star of the Arabian Night show, Federer, looking to clinch his eighth Dubai championship – eight being his lucky number, as Wimbledon 2016 confirmed – is still in a position of stratospheric ascendency, having beaten the dangerous Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the quarters by a few grains of sand.
The second set was only the second set Verdasco has ever taken off the indomitable Swiss, in their seven odd encounters, but again Verdasco, like Tsitsipas at The Australian, showed using Federer’s own weapon – the volley and anything else to mix a game up, including the lob – against him, can pay huge dividends. Needless to say, Tsitsipas dispatched Kei Nishikori with similar tactics in the very next match and defending champion Bautistaagut, was another premature casualty at the hands of a qualifier.
Across the Atlantic, on another beach in Acapulco, proverbial Bad Boy, Nick Kyrgios, caused a veritable sand storm in coming from a set down to convincingly flatten one Rafa Nadal at the Mexico Open, where the Spanish Bull was supposed to be the star attraction. Kyrgios took a leaf out of his own and
Dustin Brown’s book at Wimbledon 2014 and 2015 respectively and demonstrated where the soft underbelly of the not invincible Bull is – with an onslaught at net.
How many times does one have to point this out to all aspiring giant killers? Mixing it up as much as a magician, is absolutely key in today’s game. In fact Federer not only believes in “Mixing it up on court” – admittedly easier for him than anyone else, such is his repertoire of shot making – but he also believes in mixing up his schedule on tour “to make things more interesting”.
The Swiss No1 is missing clay after a two-year abstinence and has just announced his intention to play at both the Madrid and the French Open this year.
When queried about whether his decision was taking the form of a Final World Tour Farewell, he was quick to reassure the world at large, that he was definitely not anywhere near considering retirement, or should I say wobbling on the brink of the abyss, like Murray. Federer, as brilliant as he is at shortening his rallies and schedule to keep his longevity intact, realises the benefits of keeping a court rhythm going and playing more consistently throughout the year, rather than reserving himself for favoured surfaces.
Such is his fearlessness in facing off ever encroaching young guns, that that 100th singles title is looking tantalisingly close.