How Federer won Wimbledon 2006

[jhm36]

Thanks for the great analysis, John. I really enjoy those in-depth looks at the matches. Best on the net.

Speaking of Federer's excellent serving on that day, anybody else think Federer lately has been playing better with his serve, trying to win quicker points off of it? Seemed like up to the grass court season Federer was struggling more than usual on serve, lossing more points, having to save more break points, etc. Anyone think is was possible that Federer was concentrating on asspects of his game other than his serve for the first part of the hard court and clay court season, getting ready for the French Open and now that's over and he's back on faster courts that he's looking to make his serve more of a weapon? I hope he can keep his run in Canada going so we can get a better idea of what's going on.

As an aside, here's something I discovered while looking into possible match-ups in Canada. Everyone knows that Federer beat Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001, which was before I started playing or watching tennis, but I've never seen it mentioned just how close this match up came to not happening. Federer's second round match against Malisse looks like a crazy one that Malisse should have won. Not only did Federer not win more total points (49 percent to Malisse's 51 percent or 142 total points to 152) but Malisse went an astonishing 4 of 26 on break chances. Roger went 5 of 8. Final score line 6-3 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-3. Malisse must have muttered to himself for days after the match, wondering how he could have missed all those chances.

[EdWeiss]

Vince Spadea Book

Just finished reading the Vince Spadea book, "Break Point" co-written by Vince and Dan Markowitz. It is based on Vince's diary of his experience on the 2005 ATP Tour. While hardly a literary tour de force (at one point in the book Vince admits the only book he has read cover to cover is the Kamra Sutra), it does have some interesting observations about the tour and actually has some useful instructional pointers. Some of the more interesting points were:

1) Vince received coaching from Pete Fisher, Sampras' coach when growing up (although, of course, Fisher sent Sampras to various expert coaches such as Landsdorp on the groundstrokes, Little on footwork and Easley on the volleys). Fisher told Vince that "it's stupid to miss long, because even if the shot lands in, your opponent will probablly be able to return it. You hit winners by taking people off the sides of the court, rather than hitting balls deep toward the baseline." I would point out that at lower levels of the game a deep ball can certainly be extremely effective but an interesting point nonetheless.

2) Vince thinks Blake's forehand is not as reliable a shot as it could be because Blake does not hit through the ball that little extra that Federer does.

3) what its like to practice against Agassi: Agassi is intense on every ball "bringing more focus than the Canon cameras he does ads for." Vince felt like a hockey goalie deflecting a blizzard of shots.

4) the importance of being very energetic in your footwork to put you in proper position to hit the ball.

The book has some interesting thoughts on Vince's father who was his coach growing up and clearly lives and dies with Vince's tennis although to his father's credit the other two siblings (after being highly ranked national junior players) became successful outside tennis (both graduated from Northwestern law school which is one of the best law schools in the country) and the family seems stable and devoted to each other.

Because Vince is more an acquaintence rather than a true friend with the other players on the tour, the book lacks the insights on the other players that might have resulted if Vince was more "one of the guys" and spent more time with the other players. But the co-author Dan Markowitz helps the book immeasurably with his in-depth knowledge which he uses to round-out some of Vince's points. The book also gives you a good feel of the travel involved in the game, the mental battles involved in pro matches, and the high of winning and the pain of losing.


Hardly "A Handful of Summers" or "Levels of the Game", but for my fellow tennis fanatics at this wonderful site, a fun read.

[johnyandell]

Coach Weiss--thanks for the great review!

[evans58]

where do I go to check my private messages?

[johnyandell]

Top of this page. You just click if there are any.