RF Tennis News 2018

Roger Federer: The Timeless Champion

James Buddell, Chief Writer

Feb. 19, 2018


ATPWorldTour.com pays tribute to Federer on his return to No. 1

Roger Federer today begins his 303rd week at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings at the age of 36, more than 14 years after rising to top spot.

Tellingly, 10 years ago, during his run of 237 straight weeks at No. 1, Federer outlined his intention to “play through the generations like [Andre] Agassi and [Jimmy] Connors.” A commendable goal, but in reality when Federer underwent knee surgery in February 2016, few could have predicted that arguably the sport’s greatest stylist would today have broken myriad of ATP Rankings records and (once again) re-write the history books.

His return to the summit of men’s professional tennis for the first time since 4 November 2012, a record gap of five years and 106 days, began at No. 17 in the ATP Rankings just 13 months ago under the guidance of Severin Luthi, his coach since 2008, and former World No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic. Federer acknowledged a few years ago that to continue to play the sport deep into his 30s, he needed to be smarter with his playing schedule and further develop his incredible work ethic. His team helped to maintain his mental focus in order to prolong his career, and his confidence has soared.

Today, in his 21st season as a professional, with 97 tour-level trophies, Federer has eclipsed Agassi – aged 33 in September 2003 - to become the oldest player to ascend to top spot. In doing so, he has provided inspiration to all those, regardless of their age, who strive to attain a goal. Since Federer first rose to No. 1 a record 14 years and 17 days ago, he has redefined what it means to be a great sportsman, let alone a top-level tennis player.

After capturing his 20th Grand Slam championship last month at the Australian Open, Federer provided a glimpse of why he keeps playing tennis. “At the end it's seeing that my parents [Robert and Lynette] are incredibly proud and happy that I'm still doing it,” said Federer. “They enjoy coming to tournaments. That makes me happy and play better.
“Then, of course, my wife [Mirka] who makes it all possible. Without her support, I wouldn't be playing tennis any more - for many years. We had a very open conversation years ago, if she was happy to do this or not. I'm happy that she's super supportive, and she's willing to take on a massive workload with the kids… This life wouldn't work if she said, ‘No’.”


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So what next? With nine titles from his past 10 finals, Federer has won 97 trophies overall and 1,144 matches. Could Connors’ ATP World Tour-era leading tallies of 1,256 match wins and 109 titles be under threat? Having already made an indelible mark on the sport, free of back and knee pain, Federer may soon consider that those long-standing records are worth chasing.





OLDEST WORLD NO. 1

Player	Birthdate	Most Recent Date At No. 1	Age
Roger Federer (SUI)	8 August 1981	19 February 2018	36
Andre Agassi (USA)	29 April 1970	7 September 2003	33
Rafael Nadal (ESP)	3 June 1986	18 February 2018	31
Jimmy Connors (USA)	2 September 1952	3 July 1983	30
Ivan Lendl (CZE/USA)	7 March 1960	12 August 1990	30

FIRST AND LAST DAY AT NO. 1

Player	Debut At No. 1	Most Recent Date At No. 1	Time In Between
Roger Federer (SUI)	2 February 2004	19 February 2018	14 years, 17 days
Rafael Nadal (ESP)	18 August 2008	18 February 2018	9 years, 184 days
Jimmy Connors (USA)	29 July 1974	3 July 1983	8 years, 339 days
Andre Agassi (USA)	10 April 1995	7 September 2003	8 years, 150 days
Pete Sampras (CZE/USA)	12 April 1993	19 November 2000	7 years, 221 days

LONGEST GAP BETWEEN STINTS AT NO. 1

Player	Lost No. 1	Regained No. 1	Time In Between
Roger Federer (SUI)	4 November 2012	19 February 2018	5 years, 106 days
Andre Agassi (USA)	12 February 1996	5 July 1999	3 years, 142 days
Jimmy Connors (USA)	9 July 1979	13 September 1982	3 years, 65 days
Rafael Nadal (ESP)	6 July 2014	21 August 2017	3 years, 45 days
Andre Agassi (USA)	11 September 2000	28 April 2003	2 years, 228 days

Statistical assistance from Joshua Rey

Nike Gifts Roger Federer Custom Air Force 1s to Celebrate Return to #1

Federer Forever.


By Brandon Richard  - Sole Collector

       


With a victory in the Rotterdam Open earlier today, 36-year old Roger Federer became the oldest player to be ranked #1 in the world, surpassing Serena Williams, who surrendered her ranking last May. To celebrate his latest achievement, Nike gifted the tennis icon an exclusive pair of Air Force 1 Lows.

Dubbed "Federer Forever," this pair sports a premium black leather base, metallic gold logos and a contrasting white outsole. 'RF1' has been added to the heel embroidery to note Federer's ranking. The shoes are packaged in a custom wooden box that touts his record 302 weeks at #1 and counting.

According to Nike, these were only made for Federer, but it wouldn't be surprising to see more Federer product released soon considering the run he's had over the past year.















Images from Nike

Roger Federer’s tactics have always been a match for his talent

By Steve Tignor - Tennis.com
February 18, 2018



Roger Federer reclaimed No. 1 in Rotterdam. (AP)


In 2006, the British sports columnist Simon Barnes wrote these words about the ATP’s No. 1 player at the time: “When Federer becomes the boy with the racquet of fire, creating the illusion of art, he also creates an additional illusion: that his opponent is not, in fact, opposing him. That his opponent is in fact cooperating with him. [A match] becomes a pas de deux choreographed by Federer, dancing with a man who is partner, stooge, straight man, and butt.”

I thought of those words while watching Federer—no longer a boy, but still wielding that racquet of fire—win the title in Rotterdam this week and reclaim the No. 1 ranking for the first time in five years. Before 2017, it had been some time since Federer seemed to be choreographing his matches and conspiring with his opponents to make himself look good. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have always come to compete against him, rather than cooperate with him.

But with Djokovic and Murray sidelined, and his Nadal problem at least temporarily solved, Federer is again having his way with the rest of the men’s field. Since losing in the quarterfinals at last year’s US Open, he has won 25 of 26 matches, and is 12-0 so far in 2018. If anything, he’s having an easier time of it at 36 than he did at 35.

In Rotterdam, Federer’s opponents didn’t just cooperate with him; they took themselves out the competition entirely. First, Tomas Berdych, a potential challenger, got sick. Then the last player to beat Federer, David Goffin, retired from his semifinal after a ball ricocheted off his racquet and nearly into his eye. Then, Federer’s opponents in the semis and final, Robin Haase and Grigor Dimitrov, also fell ill. On Sunday, Federer lost two of the first three games to Dimitrov, then won 11 of the last 12 in a 55-minute sprint to the title.

“I was expecting it to be tough today,” Federer said. “I thought this wasn’t going to be the result, but he looked to be struggling a bit and I never looked back. I was able to execute my tennis the way I wanted to.” In those 55 minutes, Federer had time to hit 15 winners and break serve four times.

“You do the best you can and play with whatever you have,” said Dimitrov, who was swinging for the fences from the start. “I was following my game to the capacity I could and that was the result.”


Unstrung: Roger Federer's resurgence



But while this match was over in little more than the blink of an eye, it did include one telling moment.

Dimitrov won the first game at love with a bullet winner, and went up 15-30 on Federer’s serve in the next game. The Bulgarian, knowing he only had so much energy available to expend, was standing closer to the baseline than usual and taking the rallies to Federer. That is, until Federer recognized it and adjusted—it didn’t take him long. Serving at 1-2, Federer missed a first serve. Rather than kicking the second ball into the corner, he went hard with it into Dimitrov’s body, caught him leaning forward, and forced an error. Federer would do the same thing two more times in the early going, and elicit an error from an over-aggressive Dimitrov each time.

Federer’s adjustment reminded me of the way he broke Marin Cilic’s rhythm at the start of the fifth set in the Australian Open final. He recognized that Cilic was dialed in on his forehand return, so he took a little more risk with his serve and mixed up its location; he knew that holding serve once might be enough to break Cilic’s momentum, and he was right. Federer took what looked to be an overwhelming strength of Cilic’s in that moment—his forehand—and broke it down.

One of Federer’s old coaches, Paul Annacone, who was calling the Rotterdam final for Tennis Channel, likes to talk about Federer’s “recognition” skills In practice, Federer works on combination drills that help him recognize immediately where his opponent’s return is going, so he can, if at all possible, get around the ball and use his forehand. On Sunday, Federer was just as good at recognizing Dimitrov’s aggression, recognizing that it could be a problem for him, and finding a way to use it against him.

Federer has always been praised for his natural talent and smooth shotmaking. When we marvel at how well he’s playing at 36, we typically marvel at how undiminished he is physically, how he still has that same spring in his step that he has always had, how he can still cover the corners and knife his way to the net like few others. But it’s also what’s going on in Federer’s head that matters, and has always mattered. While he can make the sport look flowing and effortless, in reality he has always been a match player, someone who searches for the right shot in the right moment that will win him the point he needs, even if it’s pretty or spectacular. His second serves into Dimitrov’s body on Sunday, as well as the serves he used to escape Cilic in Melbourne, won’t be replayed on any highlight reels, but they were crucial to those wins.

At 36 and beyond, Federer’s physical skills will diminish. But his ability to recognize what his opponent is doing well and finding ways to counter it shouldn’t decline. His tactical acumen will continue to play a big and underrated part in his success.

Federer still wields the racquet of fire that Simon Barnes wrote about during his peak in 2006. But now we can see that, in truth, Federer was never choreographing any dances with his opponents, or conspiring with them to help him excel. He was, and still is, conspiring against them, and that’s why he’s No. 1 again.

Roger Federer, who recently became the oldest world No. 1, talks to @donriddellCNN about what life after tennis might hold. pic.twitter.com/jqTLMs2lci

— CNN Sport (@cnnsport) February 19, 2018

Roger Federer, who recently became the oldest world No. 1, talks to @donriddellCNN about what life after tennis might hold. pic.twitter.com/jqTLMs2lci

— CNN Sport (@cnnsport) February 19, 2018