Stop Playing Not-to-Lose. From Anand 101. Thanks.
Posted by tennisplanet on May 30, 2008
Anand 101
Stop Playing Not-to-Lose
Seeing Fed on the rampage after losing the first set told me everything.
All the time he plays percentage tennis, i.e. minimize risks, play “not to lose” as he put it in the interview himself.
He practices and hones his level of percentage tennis which involves a lot of defense and letting the other person makes the first move. He even lost to Stepanek and Fish doing this.
It is time Fed plays his own game. The A game we all know about. Just play his game which is shots, angles, attack, first move advantage. If he loses a match, so be it. He would probably have lost it anyway if he had been doing the defense thing. Unless the other person has zero offense, there is no point relying on *only* defending. There is no point thinking oh, they went for their shots and got lucky, what can I do. You go for *your* shots before them, that’s what you do!
Coming to Jose, if he can get Fed to play aggressive, we will all be eternally grateful to him. Just *what* is the best shot maker in the world doing, allowing guys like Rafa and Djoker (inherently defensive types) to appear dominant??
That’s it. Enough is enough. Just beat the crap out of everyone including Rafa (that’s what you did last year in Hamburg), and let’s start celebrating already.
Kristian said
great post!I totally agree!time for fed to shift gears,bring in his a game and annahilate these fuckers!
Rock said
I think Roger was experimenting with Montanes in the first set. Probably still trying to implement/ find the right tactics when he faces the top dogs and win the French Open. Might be using couple of Jose ideas or his own ideas when playing against tomato cans. When he lost the first set he quickly moved to the top gear and hence that lopsided score line. He knows he can up the ante when he plays clay court specialists.
Roger is quietly confident and he is slowly getting rid of that “I should win the first set to win the match” bug from his system. Trying to beat the crap out of everyone on clay is not always possible because the court absorbs lot of pace in the ball and Roger should have known it pretty well by now.
Gregory said
Anand I’m with you 100 %. In my opinion Federer lost his “Killer spirit” last year when all of us started calling him GOAT. I see less of spectacular risky shots he was able to play in past years. His variety of shots is unequaled and all he needs is to get back “The Edge” to dominate again.
Murph said
To Anand 101
You couldn’t have said it any better; you zeroed right in on some of Roger’s flaws. Now, how can your provocative strategy be conveyed ASAP not only to the Fed, but also to Jose?
GG said
Anand 101 – Sounds like great advice but I think its easier said than done. I agree w/you, though, about Fed allowing Rafa and Djokovic to appear dominant simply because they run everything down. Fed could beat them easily w/his strong shotmaking if he does it enough. He proved that in Monte Carlo and Hamburg by getting up on Rafa w/strong leads just to let them go in the end. It was awful to watch. I just know he has learned from those experiences and he will get his first RG win a week from Sunday. I’m hoping and praying the best for Fed.
GO FEDERER!!! All the way to the RG trophy!!!
existentialist said
Anand_101, it can’t be said that for four years Federer has been playing “not to lose.” Perhaps you are looking at this year’s events, with his double illness, the food poisoning before the AO, and the mon, which apparently was already in his body. It would be natural that he would have to play differently in circumstances like that. Rest assured he wouldn’t have had kept his ranking and dominance for such an unprecedented consecutive length of time had it been otherwise.
It is good to see him back. And I see his clay court game evolving, and making that Quantul Leap jump, just the way his game does on other surfaces.
He is a fighter, and someone with a steely resolve, who will not back down. So this should be an excelelnt time for him to come through. He will. It is his time.
Bento said
I totally agree!! Federer has enough tennis to beat the crap out of everyone, on clay, on grass, whatever.
I also think the only way for him against Nadal on clay is being very, very aggressive, and hopefully not having too many unforced. But, definitely, he has to lead all the way trough. I think he is more likely to beat Nadal in straights than going trough that mental torture of Nadal taking forever to put the ball into play. Mentally, Nadal is stronger. But tennis-wise he’s a joke, just like anyone close to Federer.
cms said
I guess I’ll be the only dissenter. I don’t see how you could watch the Montanes match and say he didn’t play aggressive enough. In the interview Fed seemed to be saying that in these “middle rounds,” he can play a bit looser and enjoy the time more… because, yeah, the possibility of losing in the first rounds is always nerve-wracking. In fact, to me Fed’s problem on clay is exhibiting more patience and not trying to go for winners every second.
I’ve come to the conclusion that no matter what Federer does, someone, somewhere will say he needs to be more aggressive. (Go to the net! Go to the net!) Such is his lot.
Anand_101 said
Cms, if you watched his match vs Montanes … he played exalted tennis in sets 2,3 (which I watched on the net). I was saying Fed play more like that, that’s the solution.
Patient game is not going to win him RG. Or should I say has not won him RG. Rafa is much better at that. What Rafa can’t handle is someone jumps on him and keeps on going. Remember all those matches vs Youzhny, Berdych, or any of the sets Fed won against Rafa on clay including Hamburg last year… Now how can you say do more of the same old patience thing. I guess some are good at arriving at perfection from patience or some from (constructive) anger/urgency.
ricke said
I hope he rolls the dice if he is in the final with Nadal. Play aggressive, come to net, mix up the shots and keep Rafa guessing. Those baseline rallys just end up with Nadal pummeling Roger’s backhand waiting for the error. The important points just seem to go to Nadal and Roger comes up short.
Ash said
I agree Federer HAS to play agressively – and consistently. His inability to capitalise on massive leads over Nadal is also worrying. However, despite all this I also agree that this is his year. If he is going to win, it must be in straight sets and he will have to stay in ‘the zone’ from start to finish – none of those awful throw away service games. I can see it happening! Hopefully….
qp said
I agree that playing aggressively is the winning receipt for Fed, esp against Nadal. and he needs to be able to do this for at least 3-4 sets of ALL the games. the last two finals against Nadal clearly indicate that fed can even dominate Nadal but he needs to do this consistently and also have high % of his serve in to hold his own serves.