The Hindu : Sport : Federer begins quest for the perfect summer

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Thursday, Apr 19, 2007
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Federer begins quest for the perfect summer

Tennis's perfect summer hasn't been replicated in 26 years, writes Rohit Brijnath

Tennis' exquisite season has commenced with an artist labouring in the dust.

Shrugging off his clay court rust, Roger Federer made his annual debut on European dirt with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Andreas Seppi in the Monte Carlo Open.

His quest has begun. Ahead, shimmering in the distance, lie the prizes, French, Wimbledon, history. Ahead, lie weeks of socks bloody with clay and fencer-like lunges on grass. Ahead, lies the promise of a perfect summer.

As Federer said recently: "If I can win it (the French) this year it would also mean I could still win all four slams in a row. Then the following month I will be trying to equal Bjorn Borg's record (of five successive Wimbledon titles), so it's going to be a very interesting summer for me." All April-May-June, Federer will battle and chase two head-banded, scruffy-haired fellows with a taste for topspin. The first is Nadal for he owns clay. The second is Borg, not merely because of the five Wimbledons, but because the Swede, in 1980, was the last man to craft the seamless summer, conquering both sides of the English Channel.

Man of iron

The impenetrable Borg appeared a man of iron not so much of irony. Yet a delicious one stalks him. The Swede usually is excluded from final arguments about tennis's greatest player on grounds of variety. As Wally Masur rightly put its: "Laver and Federer are complete players. Borg was a one-dimensional but perfect player", as in he did a few things, mostly at the baseline, but did them perfectly.

Yet Borg's finest feat is a triumph of versatility. Thrice, in a record row (1978-79-80), he ruled on sluggish Paris clay and slick London grass in the same summer. It is a feat so arduous that in three brilliant years the multi-skilled Federer has come close just once. Last year, when he was French finalist and Wimbledon champion.

Winning Paris and London is exhausting and tricky, a combination of diverse surfaces and cruel calendar. The more clay tournaments you play, the better you adapt, the sharper your game, but eventually the more tired your body.

Two weeks after Paris' final, Wimbledon commences.

Times have changed since 1980, and so have the challenges. If Borg contended with a squadron of serve and volleyers on grass, Federer is confronted by an army of clay court professors.

If Borg had the disadvantage of oily, low-bouncing grass (unlike the unhurried, high-bouncing turf of today), Federer faces the serious inconvenience of tougher opposition from round one. If Borg jousted with players of fine variety (Connors, McEnroe, Panatta, Vilas), the Swiss faces clones but with the power to bruise him.

Federer admitted his confidence has been infinitesimally dented by virtue of two losses to Guillermo Canas. Yet champions loath negativity, and Federer, almost trying to convince himself, said: "I would honestly rather lose to the same guy twice than lose to two different guys. If I lost to two different players I would think I wasn't playing well but with one guy I can think `OK, this guy is on a roll'. It's just easier to digest." Watching Federer in the weeks before Paris is an education. On clay we see clearer the labourer in him, a man unafraid to toil, a part of his personality obscured on faster courts where we are dazzled by his invention.

Parisian assault

We will also see him tune himself for a final Parisian assault, preparing yet conserving his body and mostly polishing his tactics. Ramesh Krishnan says "physically he has to make sure he is ready". Masur feels he required some shorter points (i.e. net play) against Nadal last year, and it is a sound idea but not without complications.

Federer's gleaming back-court game is too strong for most men and to abruptly alter tactics and attack Nadal is difficult. The approach, and volley, on clay require careful practice, it is not a switch that can be casually flicked on. But if Federer tried experimenting with it in early rounds he might lose and bruise his confidence.

It is all trickier than we think, harder than we know. It is also why tennis's perfect summer hasn't been replicated in 26 years.

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