Little Did I Know...

...that Pat Cash had speculated on Federer's serving problems a few months ago--obviously, a while before I created my post below.

But I'm glad that I at least caught on.

It's worth noting of course that I in no way consider myself capable to judge any professional tennis or squash player's game. However, I do sometimes notice little things. And I like to talk shop, because execution is higly interesting to me, certainly more than personalities. I suppose it's possible that Fed is "over-bending" his arm, to follow Cash's analysis, because he wants to gain a few more mph on his serve and win some more cheap points. I have no stats to back it up, but during the early rounds at Roland Garros, it did looks as if Fed was trying to serve more aggressively.

If this is the case, it just demonstrates what a perfect biomechanical miracle Sampras' serving action was.

Here's the Cash article from the London Sunday Times:

May 27, 2007

Federer's faulty delivery requires full service

As he prepares for Paris, the world No 1’s key stroke is malfunctioning badly
Pat Cash

Once they have congratulated or commiserated with their player at the end of a match, the first thing most top-flight coaches do is head for the ATP computer that logs match facts. Statistics don’t lie, and any analytical breakdown of a match is beneficial to plan for the future.

So Roger Federer’s service stats make alarming reading.

Of course we are talking about a player whose normal game may be as close to perfection as we have seen in the history of the sport - and far be it from me to criticise somebody who has won six of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments.

But a year ago, on the eve of the French Open, he ranked third in the table of break points saved. Now he sits way down the list in 47th place. And these statistics include his supreme performance at January’s Australian Open, where he did not drop a set on his way to the title.

The number of first serves he gets into play is also vastly inferior to this time last year.

Even in his superb victory over Rafael Nadal in last week’s final in Hamburg he managed to put only fractionally more than half of his first serves into play — very different from the 69% he logged against the Spaniard in the 2006 Wimbledon final.

Federer’s game has always been based on the consistency of his serve. He can vary his delivery, add kick or spin and throw in more than his fair share of aces. But he has always known that it was a facet of his game on which he could rely. In the past few months that appears to have changed.

Many people still find it hard to believe that in that horrendous third-round match against Filippo Volandri in Rome a couple of weeks ago, his first-serve percentage dropped to a lamentable 44% and he was broken four times in two sets.

Add the 44 unforced errors, and the only way to describe it was shocking - Federer’s choice of word rather than mine.

The fallout from that match was the end of his coaching relationship with Tony Roche.

Federer has opted to go into the French Open and Wimbledon without a named coach, although the Swiss Davis Cup captain, Severin Luthi, is on hand at Roland Garros to offer observations if required. I hope that Luthi has spotted something in the Federer serve that could explain the recent problems.

Looking at his service action, it’s clear to me that he is bending his elbow much more than he needs to do at the beginning of his action when he prepares to throw his racket at the ball. When his serve was supremely consistent, the bend was never any more than 90 degrees; now it’s nudging up to the 110-degree mark.

That is not a good sign. It would result in a drop in accuracy, which would affect his consistency and ultimately his confidence. Not wishing to be a harbinger of doom, but it could also result in injury, because an unwitting change in an action introduces an element of physical risk.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Federer’s dominance is that he never seems to get hurt. Much of the reason for that is the way his serving technique has been perfectly grooved.

There have been players who use a lot of elbow bend in their service action. Goran Ivanisevic, for instance, seemed to get an extra six inches of height and more velocity on the ball.

But he was plagued by shoulder problems during his later years on the Tour.

When you are the player, it’s difficult to spot this sort of thing. It is a big part of the coach’s responsibility to do so, and only Rochey will know whether it’s something of which he was aware, or even something he suggested in an attempt to tinker with Federer’s game to improve his chances of beating Nadal on clay.

You cannot argue with what Roche has done in the game, and the experience he brings is superior to most.

However, he is very “old school” when it comes to coaching technique.

He was Ivan Lendl’s main adviser when the big Czech faced me in the Wimbledon final - and that was 20 years ago.

More recently, I can remember Pat Rafter talking to me about problems he was having with his forehand and saying that Rochey did not know how to fix things.

It would be wrong if Federer went for too long without a proper coach.

I am aware that he won three majors out of four playing solo after the parting of the ways with Peter Lundgren at the end of 2003, but that was before his top position was threatened by a player as talented and forceful as Nadal. Many people maintain that my former Davis Cup teammate Darren Cahill is the best-qualified man for the job; I would not argue with that assessment.

“Killer” has an exemplary coaching CV after his spells with Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi. He would be sufficiently aware to nip this potential service problem in the bud before it becomes a serious issue.