The Curious Case of Roger Federer

Andy Murray was not his Wimbledon-champion self.  His back surgery still not completely in the rearview mirror, perhaps, he seemed a half-step slow and not quite as pure on his groundies as we’ve become used to seeing him.  Now, Murray at 70% is still a better player than 99% of ATP professionals, which is something that he proved during week one of the tournament, but against a defiantly rejuvenated Roger Federer, it was clear that moving at less that full capacity was not going to get the job done.

So then, the question on everyone’s mind still seems to be, Is this really the Federer of old that we are suddenly seeing again?

It’s something that people plainly want to believe is true.  That the success with the larger racket and the healed back really means that what we saw as his inevitable bowing to age was really a mirage, and that he was simply not 100% healthy over at least the last year, that he was handicapping himself by using a stick that was not making full use of the current technology.

So far, in this Aussie Open, the results seem to bear this out.  He is moving much better, he appears to the naked eye to be getting a bit more punch on his shots, especially his serve and his backhand.  Even his legendary forehand hasn’t abandoned him like it did on occasion during last year’s less-than-Fed performance.  He seems to be playing quicker, more aggressively.  A lot has been made of his bringing in Edberg and that such would mean that he’d be coming to the net more, and he has, but surely in order to be able to do that, he’d have to have the confidence in his transition from baseline to net, in his ability to hit meaningful approach shots.  Easier said than done against the power baseliners of the world, but so far, so good.

Fed has been fun to watch again.  We no longer have to cringe when he frames a backhand into the stands or simply hits short ball after short ball until his opponent hits the inevitable winner past him.  The Stakhovsky match at Wimbledon was particularly excruciating as Sergei was the aggressor in pretty much all aspects, with Rog barely putting up a fight.  For the Fed fans around the world, it was something that was hard to stomach.

But now here the 2009 version of Fed seems to be back (let’s not get crazy and say this is “vintage” Fed because it’s too much to ask that he plays like his 2006 or 2007 self when he literally could not be beaten in a big spot, the gap between him and everyone else [except Nadal on clay] was that big).  And yes, it’s a tiny sample size, only a handful of matches (albeit including against top players in Tsonga and Murray), and it remains to be seen if he can keep this up against the guys who have troubled him the most over the years (tonight’s semi against Rafa being perhaps the biggest test of all), but regardless, it has been fun to watch.

Who among us wouldn’t like to be able to turn back the clock, even a few years?  To dial things back to when we envision ourselves at our strongest, physically or otherwise?  Yes, it’s great entertainment to see Federer playing better and suggestive of his old, unbelievable self, but he also stands as the possibility to regain some of the grandeur of youth that is so fleeting, so quickly lost.  He seems to have, at least for now, addressed the problem of getting older, he’s come up with a solution, as his fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka is fond of saying.  Who knows how long it will hold true, but for now, let’s all just enjoy it.