Roger Federer and his experimental fortnight

Roger Federer decided on an experimental racquet for the Hamburg and Gstaad events.

Roger Federer made a couple of important decisions after his early exit at Wimbledon this year.

He needed more match practice to get battle hardened, something he was struggling to achieve with early exits in an already slim calendar. So, he zoomed in on two clay tournaments that neatly fit into the gap between the European grass and the US hard court seasons – Hamburg, the site of his greatest victory on clay over Rafael Nadal when the tournament was still an elite Masters event, and Gstaad, his home venue where he made his first appearance on the ATP Tour as a player.

The other significant decision Federer made was in trying out a new Wilson 98-square inch racquet in play. This was after competing for the most part of his career, and winning all his Majors, with a 90-square inch racquet. The obvious reason was to give him a higher margin of error on his shot contact, and provide him with that additional control and power when hustled into awkward positions in a rally. It was a bold decision, but the timing seemed right. If this was going to be an experimental fortnight for the former world No. 1, why not go the full distance?

With these thoughts in mind, everyone’s favourite Swiss hero sallied forth into the swirling clay of Europe. Hamburg began shakily, with Federer dropping the opening set of his opening match against Daniel Brands. He recovered to win, and followed that up with a more convincing victory over Jan Hajek.

The shakes were back in the next round, though, against Florian Mayer, where he squeezed out an extremely close win, 7-5 in the third. The semi-final eventually proved to be a step too far for Federer, as he lost in two tie-breaker sets to Federico Delbonis, a little known, heavy hitting, Argentine lefty, who caused problems uncannily similar to those of a more famed Spanish rival.

If Hamburg was not encouraging, Gstaad turned out to be a disaster. In a replay from a week ago, Federer was pitted against Daniel Brands again in his opening encounter.

This time, Brands could smell blood. He was already familiar with the experience of winning sets against Federer, the 250-tournament second round match was as low-key as an event gets with Federer involved, and his serve clicked. Breaking Federer early in both sets, and then relying on his serve to see him through proved good enough, as Brands notched up yet another triumph for the rank underdog against the Swiss champ.

So, where do the events of the last two weeks leave Roger Federer? Can he hope to reverse this alarming dip in form sometime soon? Or is this the beginning of the end of one of the greatest tennis careers ever? Lest we get too ahead of ourselves, it is important that we view the results of the fortnight in the light of the ostensible reasons for his taking up this brief post-Wimbledon clay swing.

The new racquet was put to rigorous use. It did not appear to have any significant effect though, on reducing his backhand shanks, one of the key areas of improvement a larger racquet would be expected to impact. If anything, more ugly forehand shanks came to the fore.

However, it must be said that a new racquet is a long-term investment, and it could take several months for its true impact to be apparent. Federer himself evinced satisfaction with the racquet at the end of Hamburg, without committing to its prolonged use.

“So far, I’m happy with this change,” he said. “But I need many hours on the court to see if this is a good decision. I haven’t yet taken the decision on whether to use it in the US hard court season. I still need to think it over.”

Therefore, in keeping with the experimental trend of the fortnight, the last few matches would have provided Federer some critical real-match experience with his new racquet. This can only contribute to his making an informed decision on his gear, looking at the higher-stakes tournaments coming up ahead. In that sense, this fortnight was a positive.

The match practice that Federer was hoping for was a more disappointing story. Out of a maximum of nine matches he might have been hoping to play over the fortnight, Federer ended up playing only five, losing in two of them. Perhaps more seriously, there are also concerns rumbling around his back problems.

“I’m happy that I was able to play because I’ve had problems for some time now, already in Hamburg,” Federer commented after his loss in Gstaad. “But it didn’t get worse during today’s match.”

The best possible reading of that statement is that he does have a back niggle, but not one which is getting progressively worse. So, in his effort at getting some match practice, did Federer overdo it? It is hard to fault him for his choice in playing the schedule though.

After the early exit at Wimbledon, it is understandable that he felt the need to play more. And physical fitness problems cropping up was a risk he had to take. He, along with all his fans, will be hoping that this does not have an impact on his plans for the American hard court season, beginning with Montreal early next month. If it does, this might have been a risk which didn’t pay off in the end.

The greatest positive to come out of Roger Federer’s experimental fortnight, I believe, is the fact that the champion actually decided to embark on it. More than anything else, it shows that the desire to compete and remain at the top of the game is present as much as ever in Federer’s mind.

Changing a favourite racquet after many years of productive use can be an extremely hard decision for a top tennis professional. Playing in a lowly 250-event, nine years after last entering it, requires humility and a willingness to tackle reality. The fact that Federer made these choices shows that he is willing to do whatever it takes in an attempt to get his game back to the top level.

And this, more than any immediate short-term results, is something every Federer fan can take heart from.