World Tennis Magazine

Unique Tennis Perspectives

stauffer

When Roger Federer’s reputation was “Grand Slam Loser”

by

It seems improbable that Roger Federer, the man who has won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other man, was once labeled a “Grand Slam loser.” But that was the case back at Roland Garros in 2003 – when he was humiliated in a first-round loss. The following excerpt from Rene Stauffer’s book ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95 New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) summarizes the valley in the career of Federer from the French Open in 2003, the major before his big break-through at Wimbledon.

***

Federer’s success continued into the start of the clay court season as he won the title in Munich and also reached the final of the Italian Open, losing unexpectedly to Felix Mantilla of Spain. The result, however, still propelled him into the conversation as being a favorite to win the French Open. “I feel much better this year than the year before when I first was in the top 10,” he explained in one of the many interviews before the French Open. “It was a new situation for me back then. I’ve gotten used to it in the meantime.”

He admitted to feeling the pressure from the public. “The entire world keeps reminding me that I am supposed to win a Grand Slam tournament and be No. 1 in the world. That’s not fair because it’s not that easy,” he said. He then stated defiantly that “whoever wants to beat me will have to work hard for it. I don’t want to lose in the first round at Roland Garros again.”

On a summery Monday afternoon in Paris, Federer’s first match at the 2003 French Open took place on Court Philippe Chatrier, the center court named after the Frenchman who was a past president of the International Tennis Federation. His opponent was an unknown Peruvian Luis Horna, whom Federer beat earlier in the year in Key Biscayne. Horna, ranked No. 88 in the world, had yet to win a match at a Grand Slam tournament. Federer took an early 5-3 lead in the first set, but began to show his insecurity and nerves when, during a routine rush to the net, he slipped and fell to the ground, only to mutter to himself and show negative emotions. Despite his lead, he seemed discouraged and, quite unusually, often glanced desperately at Peter Lundgren. Federer lost his service break advantage and despite holding a set point in the tie-break, he surrendered the first set by an 8-6 tie-break. The match immediately turned into a drama for Federer. He seemed frustrated, apathetic and didn’t show any belief that he could win. He appeared mentally absent, missing even the easiest shots. He tallied 82 unforced errors in the 7-6 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (3) first-round loss.

The tournament was shockingly finished before it even really began. Federer, the fallen favorite, appeared in the overcrowded interview room with his head bowed low. “I don’t know how long I’ll need to get over this defeat,” he said. “A day, a week, a year—or my entire career.”

Federer became the ridicule of the tournament. France’s sports newspaper L’Equipe ran a headline the next day translated as, “Shipwrecked In Quiet Waters” and published a cartoon in which a steam ship named “Roland Garros” steams away, leaving Federer behind in quiet waters. Florida’s Palm Beach Post described him as the “Phil Mickelson of Tennis,” comparing Federer to the American golfer who failed to win any of the major tournaments despite his great talent and many opportunities. “Federer has all the strokes but no Grand Slam trophy. He carries the dog tags of the best tennis player who has never won a major competition.”

The loss undeniably confirmed Federer’s reputation as a Grand Slam loser. He showed that he was a player who could not pull out a match even though he was not playing his best tennis—a characteristic that most champion tennis players exhibited, most notably in the present by Lleyton Hewitt, who could win a match on guts and determination alone. Since his victory over Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001, Federer was 0-4 in matches at the French Open and Wimbledon—the last three matches without even winning a set. His last five Grand Slam tournaments ended in defeat at the hands of much lower-ranked players

What could one say in his defense? Federer was now five years into his ATP career and approached his 22nd birthday. He won six ATP singles titles, excelled in Davis Cup play and time and again insisted he was capable of achieving greatness. He was considered one of the bigger stars in tennis and climbed to No. 5 in the world rankings. But outside of the title in Hamburg, all of the tournaments he won were smaller events and even the German Open was not a Grand Slam tournament. Federer failed routinely in the arenas where it was decided if a player was a champion or not. The once precocious maverick simply could not bring his tremendous potential to bear at the Grand Slams. When looking at the successes of his idols, rivals or earlier great players, he couldn’t help but feel envy. At his age, Becker, Borg, Courier, Edberg and Sampras as well as Hewitt, Safin and many others had already long since won their first Grand Slam titles. Federer, however, had not even reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament. The experts were unanimous in their opinions that Federer was mature enough athletically to break through a win his first title. But athletic brilliance alone was not sufficient enough and Federer was still searching for the key to real success. An analysis would seem to indicate that a mental block was preventing him from winning. He felt under pressure to such a degree at the Grand Slam tournaments that he couldn’t concentrate on the moment, especially in the early rounds. This was a basic rule for success. The pressure came from all sides—but mostly from himself. He hadn’t yet learned that these tournaments couldn’t be won in the first week but they certainly could be lost. With some luck, he could have already won a Grand Slam title—in 2001, for example, after upsetting Sampras. Everything would have looked different.

After his loss to Horna, Federer seemed to be the loneliest man in tennis. He was a man alone braving the stormy tempest. How could he have known that this defeat was to be his last such one-sided Grand Slam defeat in a very, very long time? How could he have known that this painful experience was necessary in order to become the hardened, keen-sighted but yet modest champion who would have the tennis world at his feet?

Federer described what really happened when he faced Horna in Paris months later. “I was simply not prepared mentally,” he said. “I put myself under too much pressure. After losing the first set, I couldn’t get back into the match. I had the feeling that it was impossible, that I was no longer in control of the situation. After the first set, I said to myself, ‘Even if I survive this round, I still have to play six more rounds to win this tournament.’ That almost drove me insane. I put myself under such pressure that I couldn’t play anymore.”

After the match, he said that he was overwhelmed with questions about the how and why. “But at that moment, I didn’t really feel like talking about it. I was too disappointed. I wanted to do nothing else but take eight days vacation and then start my preparations for the grass tournament in Halle. I didn’t want to think about Roland Garros—I wanted to forget it. I didn’t want to analyze what happened because I knew that I had simply failed mentally. I didn’t accept it by any means.”

Roger Federer’s Missing Titles

by

By Bob Stockton

Roger Federer is the top seed this week in the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris – one of the biggest tournaments in tennis that the Swiss maestro HASN’T won.

Federer has played in the Bercy tournament seven times in her career and – remarkably – has never even reached the semifinals of the event. He first reached the quarterfinals in 2002 – clinching his first-ever trip to the ATP World Tour Finals – before losing to Lleyton Hewitt. He reached the quarters again in 2003, losing to Tim Henman, but then was absent from the event until 2007, losing in the round of 16 to David Nalbandian. He reached the quarterfinals again in 2008, but had to withdraw from the event with a bad back – the first and only time to date that Federer was forced to withdraw from an ATP World Tour event. In 2009, Federer lost in his opening match to Julien Benneteau of France.

The other big titles missing from the Federer mantelpiece include the following;

  • The Italian Championships in Rome: Federer has played the event 10 times, reaching the final twice in 2003 and 2006. In 2003, Federer blew a great chance to capture to prestigious title when he lost to the lower-ranked Felix Mantilla 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (8) in the final. In 2006, in one of the best matches ever played at the Foro Italico – and another great chance for Federer to lay claim to the Italian title – Federer lost by a 6-7(0), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5) margin. . Federer led 4-1 in the fifth set and botched two match points at 6-5 in the fifth set before losing in a five-hour-and-six-minute struggle. Wrote Rene Stauffer in his book ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com), “The match not only proved that Federer was catching up to the clay court prowess of Nadal, but also firmly cemented the rivalry between Federer-Nadal as one of the best in global sports.”

    Roger Federer
  • The Monte Carlo Open: Federer has played the tournament nine times, reaching the final in 2006, 2007, 2008, losing all three times to….you know who….Rafael Nadal. His best chance came in 2006, losing to Nadal 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (5). He lost the 2005 final 6-4, 6-4 to Nadal and the 2006 final by a 7-5, 7-5 margin to his lefty arch-rival.
  • The Olympic Games: Federer has won a gold medal in men’s doubles in 2008, pairing with Stan Wawrinka, but in singles, his best showing came in 2000 when he lost the bronze-medal match with Arnaud DiPasquale of France, after losing to Tommy Haas in the semifinals. As the top seed at the 2004 Games, Federer was upset in the second round to Tomas Berdych. In 2008 in singles, Federer lost one-round before the medal round in singles, falling to James Blake.

Davis Cup: Federer hasn’t played in a Davis Cup world group match for Switzerland since the 2004 quarterfinals against France. He and Switzerland’s best chance on his watch to win the Davis Cup came in 2003, when he and Switzerland lost a hard-fought semifinal against Australia 3-2 in Australia, Federer losing a two-sets-to-love lead against Hewitt 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-1.

When Federer was the “Savior of Shanghai”

by

Is Roger Federer “The Savior of Shanghai?”

Rene Stauffer, the author of the Federer book ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) labeled him that from his appearance at the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup, held at the same venue – Qi Zhong Stadium – where this week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters is taking place.

The chapter of Stauffer’s book, called “The Savior of Shanghai” is excerpted below.

With the Grand Slam season of 2005 behind him, Roger Federer now focused on achieving his goals for the remainder of the calendar year. He wanted to play Davis Cup for Switzerland and help his homeland stay in the elite 16-team Davis Cup World Group and also protect his No. 1 ranking. He also wanted to defend his title in Bangkok, finally win the title in his hometown of Basel and, for the third year in a row, end the year with a victory at the Tennis Masters Cup. While he was at it, why not win titles in Madrid or in Paris at the Bercy tournament for the first time?

Federer’s plan got off to a good start, beginning with the Davis Cup. He rejoined the Swiss team for its Play-off Round match against Great Britain in Geneva. Federer easily defeated Alan Mackin in the opening singles match, and after he and Yves Allegro defeated Andy Murray and Greg Rusedski in four sets in the doubles, Switzerland clinched the victory that allowed the nation to remain in the Davis Cup World Group for a 12th straight year.

Roger Federer

Federer encountered Murray, the talented Scottish teenager, one week later in the singles final in Bangkok, when he won his 24th straight match in a singles final. The win in Bangkok clinched the year-end No. 1 for Federer, giving him the distinction of being ranked No. 1 in the world for every week of the 2005 season—a feat only achieved by four other players (Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt.) As a reward, he and girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec treated themselves to a few days of vacation in Bangkok where they toured temples and Buddha statues and enjoyed the Thai cuisine. If not for Federer, Rafael Nadal was the clear cut No. 1 player for the 2005 season. The Spanish teenager won an astounding 11 tournaments, including the French Open and the Tennis Masters Series events in Monte Carlo, Rome, Montreal and Madrid. Nadal’s point total for the season ranked higher than four of the last five year-end No. 1 ranked players—Gustavo Kuerten (2000), Lleyton Hewitt (2001, 2002) and Andy Roddick (2003). In the era of Federer, this was only good enough for second place.

In October 11, Federer was in Allschwil, Switzerland training with countryman Michael Lammer, when he was once again struck by the “Curse of Basel.” At the same facility where he suffered a muscle tear the previous year, Federer injured his right ankle. He felt a searing pain and fell to the court and could not get back up. “At first I thought I had broken something,” he explained. The diagnosis was not that bad, but it was bad enough. Federer tore ligaments in his ankle and while surgery was not required, it forced him to withdraw from the events in Madrid, Basel and Paris. It was debatable if there was enough time for him to recover to play in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai in a month’s time.

Federer’s foot was in a cast and he was on crutches for two weeks. He did everything he could to accelerate the therapy to enable him to play in Shanghai. He underwent ultrasound, lymph drainage, massages, elevated the legs, special exercises—everything. To his benefit, he was not the only top player who was injured as the top 10 rankings at the time read more like a list of casualties. Three former Grand Slam tournament champions withdrew from Shanghai—Marat Safin was out with a bad left knee and Andy Roddick withdrew with a bad back. Lleyton Hewitt chose not to compete in Shanghai so he could spend time with his new wife, Bec Cartwright, who was expecting the couple’s first child.

A fourth former Grand Slam tournament winner, Andre Agassi, arrived in China still gimpy after injuring ligaments in his left ankle around the same time as Federer’s injury. After losing in his first round-robin match to Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-2, Agassi also withdrew from the event. Since he won the tournament in Madrid in October, Nadal was troubled with a left-foot injury that caused him to withdraw from the events in Basel and Paris. Although he was in China with the expectation of competing, he also withdrew from the tournament just before his first scheduled match. Within a matter of hours, the tournament lost two of its most popular draws—Agassi and Nadal—and Federer’s start was still doubtful as well. The two-time defending champion arrived in Shanghai early to prepare, but he still didn’t know until two days before the event began whether he would compete at all.

The typhoon-proof stadium in Shanghai was nearly sold out—but for the ambitious Chinese organizers—the situation was far worse than a typhoon. After a highly successful staging of the 2002 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, Chinese officials were able to lure the event back to their country for three years starting in 2005. During the two-year stint of the tournament in Houston, the Chinese built the magnificent Qi Zhong Stadium that seats 15,000 spectators in the Minhang district in southwestern Shanghai. The facility features a retractable roof that is shaped like a blooming magnolia—the city’s emblem. It is an eight-ton structure with eight retractable pieces that open and close. Since eight is Federer’s favorite number—because his birthday is on the eighth day of the eighth month—it made for a special connection between him and the tournament. Shanghai was also special for Federer since it was the site of his Tennis Masters Cup debut in 2002—and the memories were still fond. He even made an extra trip to take part of the official opening in the stadium in early October.

Federer’s injury was definitely the most serious of his career to date. While he was healthy enough to play in the tournament, his expectations were low. He did not properly prepare for the event and did not rule out the possibility of losing all three of his round-robin matches. In his opening match, Federer surprised himself when he was able to defeat David Nalbandian 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. He described the victory as one of the finest wins of his career, which gave some indication how ill-prepared for the tournament he actually felt.

Federer’s next match with Ivan Ljubicic became a high-point of the tournament. Ljubicic was regarded as a threat to win the title after posting the best indoor record of any player during the year. After Federer gave fans—and organizers—a scare when he called for a trainer to treat him on court before the third set, he saved three match points before prevailing in a 7-4 final-set tie-break. The win clinched Federer’s spot in the semifinals as the winner of his group.

In the semifinals, Federer registered an incredible 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of Gaston Gaudio of Argentina that not only moved him into the Tennis Masters Cup final for a third straight year, but gave him an 81-3 record for the year. He was within one match victory of tying John McEnroe’s record for the best won-loss record in the history of men’s tennis. In 1984, McEnroe won both the US Open and Wimbledon and achieved a record of 82-3. Nalbandian, whom Federer defeated in his opening round-robin match, was the only barrier that stood in his way of tying this important record. However, unlike round-robin play, the final was a best-of-five set affair, making the achievement that much more difficult for the out-of-match-practice Federer. Tie-breaks decided the first two sets, with Federer winning a first-set tie-break 7-4 and a second-set tie-break 13-11. With two hours of arduous tennis needed to take the two sets-to-love lead, Federer began to look weary in the early stages of the third set. Nalbandian took advantage and crawled back into the match. During a stretch in the fourth and fifth sets, Federer lost 10 straight games to trail 0-4 in the fifth set. At 0-30 in the fifth game of the final set, Federer, perhaps motivated by chants of “Roger! Roger!” as well as by his own will and pride, began to rally back into the match. Forty-five minutes later, he was just two points from victory serving for the match at 6-5, 30-0. Nalbandian, however, turned the tide again. Federer would later say, “I wasn’t playing to win any longer but just to make it as hard as possible for him.”

After breaking Federer back to force the final-set tie-break, Nalbandian rallied to win the match 6-7 (4), 6-7(11), 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (3). Federer watched Nalbandian sink to the ground after the greatest victory of his career and as the first Argentinean Masters champion in 31 years. “I came closer to winning the tournament than I had thought,” said Federer. “Under these circumstances, this was one of the best performances of my career. This tournament was probably the most emotional one for me this year.”

Whether satisfied with his effort or not, the loss, nonetheless, meant the end of several of Federer’s streaks. It was his first defeat since the semifinals of the French Open in early June—a streak of 35 matches and the fifth-longest match winning streak in ATP history. (Nalbandian’s countryman Guillermo Vilas is the record-holder with 46 straight victories). The loss also marked his first defeat in a tournament final since July of 2003—a streak of 24 straight final-round matches. Although he only lost four matches, he ranked his 2005 season worse than 2004, since two of his four defeats happened at Grand Slam tournaments. “But this season was unbelievable as well,” he said. “At some stages, I felt invincible.”

Thanks to the star power of Federer, the Tennis Masters Cup was not a complete disaster for the Chinese promoters. The fledgling tennis movement in Asia continued. A few months later, the ATP renewed its contract for Shanghai to assume organization for the Masters through 2008. “If the tournament had been damaged by the many forfeits, then it was compensated for by one of the most exciting matches of the year,” the Shanghai Daily wrote the day after the epic Federer-Nalbandian final. John McEnroe was also satisfied. “It was nice to see how hard Federer fought to break my record,” McEnroe said. “Perhaps people will now realize that it’s not so easy to achieve a record of 82-3.”

Federer’s Flair-for-the-Dramatic Mental Mistake May Have Cost Him Victory Over Djokovic

by

A mental mistake that has plagued Roger Federer since his early days of competitive tennis may have cost him a chance to play Rafael Nadal in the 2010 US Open men’s singles final. In one of the most memorable semifinal matches in the history of the US Open, Novak Djokovic prevented Federer from reaching a seventh straight US Open final with a stirring 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 upset win.

Roger Federer

With Djokovic serving at 3-4, 15-30 in the fifth set, Federer had a look at a near sitter backhand as Djokovic’s volley popped up giving Federer a great opportunity for a double-break point opportunity to serve for the match. It appeared, as John McEnroe on CBS television also pointed out, that Federer tried to hit a dramatic around-the-post backhand passing shot, instead of hitting a higher percentage – but less spectacular – forceful backhand that if placed in play, would have, in all likelihood, won him the point. Federer, however, netted the shot, making the score 30-30 rather than 15-40. While Djokovic scrapped his way to hold serve that game – and later saving two match points at 4-5, 15-40 – any slim opportunity in a match determined by such a slim margin is critical. This one point may have caused Federer to lose the match.

Swiss tennis journalist Rene Stauffer in his book ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) notes that since Federer was a young player, he always had the flair for making the dramatic shot rather that the necessary shot needed to win the point and match.

Wrote Stauffer in his book, “From his early professional days, Federer was a “show-off” who enjoyed trying to hit spectacular—but low percentage—shots and therefore constantly lost matches that he should have won due to his lack of a conservative game plan. “Back then I wanted to show everybody what I was capable of, the difficult strokes I had mastered,” Federer once admitted. “But at some point it became clear to me that I would get more attention if I were among the top players in the world and if I were to play on the big Centre Courts.” Federer learned to manage the theatrics and began to play more for the scoreboard and not as much the spectators. The willingness to take big risks and his uncompromising aggressiveness gave way to a more calculating tactic that also took the weaknesses of his opponents into consideration. Without this reorientation and change of tactics, Federer never would have become No. 1 in the world.”

The prime example of the Federer “flair for the dramatic” came exactly one year ago on the same court, against the same opponent in the same round of the US Open. Federer hit his legendary between-the-legs shot in the pre-ultimate point in his 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5 win over Djokovic in the 2009 US Open semifinals. The shot furthered the Federer legend, spawning commercials for the USTA and the Olympus U.S. Open Series and the now famous Gillette video that has generated millions of views on YOUTUBE of six-time Wimbledon champion hitting a bottle off a person’s head with a serve, ala William Tell. The Federer trick-shot hype was further enhanced when he hit another between-the-legs winner against Brian Dabul in the first round of the US Open this year. The trick shots have been the prevailing theme at the US Open among media, fans and players.

While many have celebrated these two between-the-legs shots during the 2009 and 2010 US Opens, Mary Carillo of CBS also astutely pointed out during Saturday’s CBS US Open coverage the between-the-legs shot that Federer MISSED while match point up on Marat Safin in the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open. Holding match point by leading two-sets-to-one and 6-5 in the fourth-set tie-break, Federer attempted a “tweener” – that he netted – instead of a higher-percentage shot. Safin won the fourth-set tie-break two points later and went on to win the fifth set 9-7. That missed shot – and the one Saturday against Djokovic – cost Federer a chance at another major title.

The Last Time Federer-Nadal Played in the USA

by

The day was April 3, 2005.

The scene was the Tennis Center at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne in Florida, just outside of downtown Miami.

The occasion was the singles final of the NASDAQ-100 Open – the event now known as the Sony Ericsson Open.

The contestants were Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – competing for only the second time in their careers.

Federer was the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion with four major titles in his closet. Nadal was still two months shy of winning his first major title at the 2005 French Open.

The significance of this match was that it marked the last time that the two modern legends of men’s tennis played a match in the United States.

As documented in my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com), Federer, the world No. 1, was two points from defeat in the third-set tie-break, but rallied from two-sets-to-love down to defeat Nadal 2-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-1 in 3 hours, 43 minutes to win the NASDAQ-100 Open title. Federer trailed 4-2 in the third set and 5-3 in the third-set tie-break before he rallied to win his 22nd consecutive match and his 18th consecutive final. Said Federer after the match, “I’ve hardly ever come back in a situation like that. It was a big moment for me. It was uphill. I was trying to force him too much, but I got myself to relax. I thought I’d be all right if I could get him into a fifth set.”

Swiss tennis writer Rene Stauffer, in his book, the newly updated and re-released paperback ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com), summarizes the last U.S. match between Federer and Nadal in this book excerpt:

After defeating world No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt in the final of Indian Wells, Federer won the title in Key Biscayne, Fla., for the first time, defeating the young 18-year-old Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who defeated Federer decisively at the same event the previous year.

Entering Key Biscayne, Nadal moved to No. 6 in the year-to-date ATP Champions Race with victories in tournaments in Brazil’s Costa do Sauipe and in Acapulco in Mexico. His match winning streak hit 15 as he entered the Key Biscayne final with Federer. The burly left-hander played fearlessly in his first appearance on the big stage of professional tennis and to everyone’s amazement, he led Federer 6-2, 7-6, 4-1 after two hours of play. “I looked up at the scoreboard and only hoped that 6-1 would not appear there ten minutes later,” Federer explained. “I blew one opportunity after another and I thought, ‘This can’t be happening.’” In an earlier time in such a situation, Federer would have thrown in the towel but these days were well in his past. Somehow, he crawled back into the match and, came back from a two-sets-to-love deficit to win 2-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-1.

The Indian Wells/Key Biscayne “double” that went favorably for such players as Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios and Andre Agassi before him, now garnered Federer 1,000 points in the world rankings, the equivalent of a Grand Slam title. He was now 2,245 points ahead of Hewitt in the No. 2 spot. The conversations that Federer may be in a “crisis” quickly faded. “This is a great moment in my career,” Federer said after his win over Nadal. “Making a two-set comeback against a player of his caliber and then winning it isn’t normal—even for me.”

One year before their 2004 Key Biscayne final, on March 28, 2004, at the same event on the same court, the iconic rivalry kicked off when a seventeen-year-old Nadal registered the biggest win of his young career at the time, upsetting the world No. 1 Federer 6-3, 6-3 in the third round. Said Nadal, the youngest player in the 2004 NASDAQ-100 field, “I played almost perfect tennis.” Federer’s loss was only his second in 25 matches in the 2004 season. Said Federer at the time of Nadal, his future top rival, “He hit some really incredible shots, and that’s what youngsters do. I’ve heard a lot about him and saw some of his matches, so this is not a big surprise.” Stauffer also summarizes this match in ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION in this excerpt:

The 2004 season was turning into a triumphal march for Federer. He was celebrated wherever he appeared. His results continued to be worthy of a world No. 1. His first defeat of the year—and in manner of three months— came in mid-February, when he lost to Tim Henman in the quarterfinals of Rotterdam. He quickly regained form and successfully defended his title in Dubai, defeating the Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the final. At the Tennis Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Federer avenged his loss to Henman in the championship match and realized his first “countable” victory against another of his early nemeses. The win over Henman was only his second in eight matches, with Federer’s only previous win over the Brit in Key Biscayne in 2002 being decided when Henman was forced to quit after one set due to a stiff neck. His victory, therefore, was especially satisfying. “Now I believe that no opponent has a psychological advantage over me,” he said.

An opponent that would bring Federer to his knees, however, appeared shortly after Indian Wells—illness. Immediately after the final, Federer began to run a fever and suffer from nausea and muscle pains. Despite his illness, he did not cancel his pre-arranged trip to Portland, Ore., the home of his clothing sponsor “Nike,” for a promotional visit, but en route to Miami for the next tournament, Federer was forced to stop and check into an airport hotel in Los Angeles to rest and try to recover. As he and Mirka finally arrived in Florida, he considered withdrawing from the tournament, but when rain gave him an extra day of rest, he decided to give it a go.

After he was able to muster up enough strength to negotiate a three-set win in his first match against No. 54-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Federer next drew the highly-regarded Spaniard Rafael Nadal. The 17-year-old left-hander from Mallorca played what he described at the time as the best match of his life and dominated the listless Federer 6-3, 6-3. The loss was the most decisive defeat Federer experienced in a year. Nadal also became the youngest player to defeat the Wimbledon champion. Federer was not surprised that he lost since he was not yet recovered from his illness. Nonetheless, he suspected that Nadal would be a dangerous rival coming of age. “He will become the most powerful left-hander in tennis in the coming years,” Federer prophesized.

WHY WAS ROGER FEDERER NAMED ROGER?

by

It was 29 years ago on August 8, 1981 that Roger Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland.

Why did Federer’s parents Robert and Lynette name him Roger? Writes Rene Stauffer in his book ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) it was because “it could also be pronounced easily in English. Roger’s parents, even in the first hours of his life, felt that one day it could be beneficial for their son to have a name that was easy to pronounce in English.”

Stauffer, the esteemed Swiss tennis journalist who has covered Federer since the budding tennis champion was a 15-year-old, writes of the Federer’s early days – as well as the courtship between Roger’s parents Robert and Lynette – in this exclusive book excerpt below.

The village of Berneck is situated in the northeastern corner of Switzerland in the St. Gall Rhine valley, where the Alpine foothills are kissed by the famed Foehn winds and the inhabitants speak a rough dialect of German. The people of this village feel a closer association to Austria and its Vorarlberg state—located just on the other side of the Rhine—than they do Switzerland’s major cities of Zurich, Bern or Geneva. A few kilometers to the north, the Rhine flows into Lake Constance, where the waters comprise the borders between Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

Roger’s father, Robert, grew up in Berneck as son of a textile worker and a housewife. At the age of 20, he left the area and followed the course of the Rhine and arrived in Basel, a border city in the triangle between Switzerland, Germany and France and where the Rhine forms a knee joint and flows north out of the country. Basel is where some of the world’s most important chemical companies are headquartered and Robert Federer, a young chemical laboratory worker, found his first job at Ciba, one of the world’s leading chemical companies.

After four years in Basel, Robert Federer was seized by wanderlust, and in 1970, he decided to emigrate and pull up stakes from Switzerland. It was a coincidence that he chose South Africa, but also due to formalities. Among other things, he could get an emigration visa with relative ease in the country dominated by Apartheid. It was also a coincidence that he found a new job with the same employer he had in Switzerland, Ciba. The chemical company, along with several other foreign companies, was located in Kempton Park, an extended suburb of Johannesburg near the international airport.

It was in Kempton Park where he met Lynette Durand, who came to work for Ciba as a secretary. Afrikaan was the spoken language on her family’s farm—she had three siblings; her father was a foreman and her mother was

a nurse—but Lynette went to an English school and her intention was to save money as quickly as possible and to travel to Europe. She preferred England, where her father was stationed during World War II.

Robert Federer is a modest and unpretentious man who usually remains in the background. He prefers to observe and listen quietly and then to steer things in the direction desired. He is small of stature with a prominent nose and he has a distinct mustache. He is athletic, strong, quick-witted, funny, cosmopolitan and easy-going. Nothing characterizes him better than his ringing laughter that draws his eyes into narrow slits and raises his bushy eyebrows. Despite his affability, he knows how to defend himself when crossed. He is realistic but decisive. A female portrait painter once described him as being “caustic, having the bite of a bear.”

Lynette, the charming 18-year-old secretary with the piercing eyes, instantly made a favorable impression on Robert Federer when he saw her in the company cafeteria in 1970. They met and eventually became a couple. Robert took Lynette to the Swiss Club in Johannesburg to introduce her to his new hobby—tennis. The young woman, who used to play field hockey, was instantly enthused about the sport and began to play regularly. The couple had a wonderful time in South Africa—Apartheid hardly affected them.

Robert Federer cannot really explain why they moved to Switzerland in 1973. “You had this feeling of being a migratory bird,” he said. Back in Basel, he often asked himself why they didn’t stay in Africa, especially because his consort admitted to having difficulty with the confines of Switzerland and the narrow mentality of its people. “But one learned quickly to adjust,” she said. The couple married and a daughter, Diana, was born in 1979. Twenty months later, Lynette Federer then bore a son, on the morning of August 8, 1981 in Basel’s canton hospital. He was named Roger because it could also be pronounced easily in English. Roger’s parents, even in the first hours of his life, felt that one day it could be beneficial for their son to have a name that was easy to pronounce in English.

The name Federer was already familiar in Berneck before 1800, but it is actually an extremely uncommon clan name in Switzerland. The most famous Federer up to that point was Heinrich Federer, a priest turned poet who died in 1928. In 1966, on his 100th birthday, he was immortalized on a Swiss postage stamp.

In the 1970s, the Ciba Company that Robert and Lynette Federer continued to work for in Switzerland sponsored a tennis club in Allschwil, a suburb of Basel, and the Federer family soon became regular players. Lynette displayed a great talent for the sport with her greatest triumph coming when she was a member of the Swiss Inter-club senior championship team in 1995. She loved tennis so much that she soon became a junior tennis coach at the club. She later became involved in the tournament organization at the Swiss Indoors, the ATP tournament in Basel, working in the credential office.

Robert Federer was also a committed tennis enthusiast and was a regionally-ranked player. He and his wife would later more frequently hit the golf course, but at the time, tennis still came first. Lynette often took her son to the tennis courts. Young Roger was fascinated by balls at a very young age. “He wanted to play ball for hours on end—even at one-and-a-half years old,” his mother recollected. His skill was plainly apparent: He could hardly walk but he managed to catch larger balls. Little Roger hit his first tennis ball over the net at three-and-a-half years old. At four, he could already hit twenty or thirty balls in a row. “He was unbelievably coordinated,” his father gushed.

The Federer family was neither rich nor poor, just solid Swiss middle class. Roger grew up in a townhouse with a yard in a quiet neighborhood in Wasserhaus in Münchenstein, a suburb of Basel. Impulsive and ambitious, he was not an easy child. “Defeats were total disasters for him, even at board games,” his father remembered. He was “a nice guy” in general “but when he didn’t like something, he could get pretty aggressive.” Dice and game board pieces sometimes flew through the living room.

Even as a little boy, his mother said, he always did as he pleased and attempted to push limits, whether it involved teachers at school or his parents at home or with sports. “He was very vibrant, a bundle of energy, and was sometimes very difficult,” said Lynette. When forced to do something he didn’t like, Roger reacted strongly. When bored, he questioned it or ignored it. When his father gave him instruction on the tennis court, Roger would not even look at him.

Stauffer is one of the world’s leading tennis journalists and the highly-respected tennis correspondent for Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger and Sonntags-Zeitung. A sports writer since 1981, Stauffer worked for the Swiss newspapers Blick and Sport, before joining Tages-Anzeiger in 1993. After first writing about Federer in 1996, Stauffer has traveled the world covering Federer and his many triumphs.

New Chapter Press is also the publisher of  The Bud Collins History of Tennis by Bud Collins, Tennis Made Easy by Kelly Gunterman, The Education of a Tennis Player by Rod Laver with Bud Collins, Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games by Tom and Jerry Caraccioli, Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match by Cliff Richey and Hilaire Richey Kallendorf, Jan Kodes: A Journey To Glory From Behind The Iron Curtain by Jan Kodes, The Lennon Prophecy by Joe Niezgoda, Bone Appetit, Gourmet Cooking For Your Dog by Susan Anson, The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According to Hoyle by Stewart Wolpin, People’s Choice Cancun – Travel Survey Guidebook by Eric Rabinowitz and Weekend Warriors: The Men of Professional Lacrosse by Jack McDermott, among others. Founded in 1987, New Chapter Press is an independent publisher of books and part of the Independent Publishers Group. More information can be found at www.NewChapterMedia.com.

ROGER FEDERER’S TRAGEDY

by

There has been much written this week about Roger Federer’s decision to “try out” former Pete Sampras coach Paul Annacone as his personal coach as the 16-time major tournament winner looks to regain his form after failing to reach the semifinals in his last two major tournaments.

August 1 marks the anniversary of a very difficult day in coaching history of Federer as it marked the day that his first real coach and very good friend Peter Carter passed away in car accident in South Africa. Rene Stauffer, author of the book THE ROGER FEDERER STORY: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($24.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) discusses the Carter tragedy in his exclusive book excerpt:

South Africa was always a special place for Roger Federer. He held a South African passport since birth and became endeared to his mother’s native country. He routinely traveled there with his family when he was little. “South Africa is a haven for him away from the world of tennis to find fresh inspiration,” his mother explained once. “It has a certain openness to it. You grow up with a lot of space in South Africa, which is something different compared to the narrowness of a mountain landscape. South Africans are more open, less complicated. Roger had taken on these characteristics.”

Roger Federer
Roger Federer

Meanwhile, Federer acquired a valuable piece of property along the picturesque Garden Route on the western coast of South Africa at the luxurious Pezula Resort. After the exhausting 2000 season, Federer vacationed in South Africa, where he went on safari with his godfather, Arthur Dubach, a work colleague of Federer’s father during his work days in South Africa. They even experienced a rare site for tourists—a group of leopards killing and eating a gazelle.

In the early afternoon on August 2, 2002, the announcement came over the Swiss news agency Sportinformation—“Davis Cup Captain Carter Killed In Car Crash.” According to the story, the accident occurred in South Africa where he was vacationing with his wife Silvia. There was no further information. The bad news was then updated with the report that a second man died in the accident.

What really transpired during this belated honeymoon between Peter and his wife was not immediately known. Carter was driving in a Land Rover in the vicinity of the Krueger National Park on August 1, Switzerland’s national holiday. The accident occurred in the Phalaborwa area, about 450 km north of Johannesburg. The vehicle where Carter was a passenger and which friends and his wife were apparently following, was reported to have gone out of control due to a defective tire. The car then crashed into a river bed and rolled over.

The news reports were contradictory. At first, it was announced that Carter died in the evening and later that both passengers were killed instantly. According to initial reports, it was Carter who was driving at the wheel. Later, it was reported that a friend of Carter’s was driving the car and later that a native South African was behind the wheel. The Limpopo police spokesperson in South Africa then issued the statement: “Carter and the driver, a South African, were killed instantly when the roof of their vehicle was crushed in.”

Silvia Carter explained what really happened. “My husband was in the car with a very good friend of ours. We were driving ahead of them and they were following behind us. The vehicle did not have a defective tire. Our friend had to swerve to avoid a minibus that was heading directly at them. Such risky passing maneuvers are unfortunately a daily occurrence in South Africa. In order to avoid a frontal collision, he pulled off onto the ‘accident lane.’ The fateful thing was that a bridge was coming and they had to pull back onto the tarred lane. The speed as well as the difference in surfaces—the natural surface and the tarred surface—that the wheels had to deal with spun the Land Rover. It broke through the bridge railing and landed about three meters below on its roof.”

Federer received the shocking news courtside at the Tennis Masters Series event in Toronto. He was never so upset in his life. Carter was a good friend and the most important coach in his career. Although Federer lost already in the first round in Toronto, but was still playing in the doubles tournament partnering with Wayne Ferreira, ironically, a South African. The mood was grim for the third-round doubles match, which Federer and Ferreira lost to Joshua Eagle and Sandon Stolle. Federer played the match wearing a black armband in honor of Carter. His eyes were red. He nonetheless announced after the doubles loss that he was prepared to give an interview. “We spent a lot of time together, since I was a boy,” Federer said of his relationship with Carter. “I saw him everyday when I was a boy. It’s terrible…He died so young and unexpectedly.” Federer said that the two always had a connection and they were born under the same Zodiac sign—he was born on August 8, the coach one day later. “Peter was very calm but he was also funny with a typical Australian sense of humor. I can never thank him enough for everything that he gave to me. Thanks to him I have my entire technique and coolness.”

Carter watched Federer play for the first time when Roger was a kid in the 1990’s and exuberantly told his parents in the Barossa Valley in Australia that he had discovered a gigantic talent who could go a long way. He worked with him for all but two years until 2000 and led him to his storied success in the world junior ranks as well as to a top 50 world ranking. After Federer chose Lundgren as his private coach, Carter remained a coach with the Swiss Tennis Federation and took up responsibilities in promoting new talent in men’s tennis. He married Silvia von Arx from Basel in May of 2001.

Carter was the players’ favored choice as Davis Cup team captain for a long time. However, when his wife suffered from lymph node cancer, Carter put his coaching duties on hold until Silvia’s recovery was certain. Since Carter was not a Swiss citizen with a Swiss passport, he was not permitted, as Davis Cup captain, to sit with the players on the court or assume the role as the “official” Davis Cup captain. However, the International Tennis Federation, agreed to recognize him as a Swiss citizen and as the official Davis Cup captain as soon as he acquired a resident permit, which he was scheduled to receive in September of 2003. Carter led the team only once, in February of 2002 in Moscow.

Federer left Toronto for Cincinnati where, like in Paris, Wimbledon and Toronto, he lost in the first round. He couldn’t concentrate. He no longer had confidence in his game and tennis was no longer fun. His thoughts were with Peter Carter. “When something like this happens,” he said, “you see how really unimportant tennis is.” He pulled the emergency brake. He withdrew from the doubles event in Cincinnati and pulled out of the next week’s event in Washington, D.C., and flew home to Switzerland.

The funeral took place on August 14, 2002 on a warm summer’s day in the Leonhard Church in Basel. About 200 people were in attendance to bid farewell, among them many familiar faces in the tennis world. Carter’s friend from his youth, Darren Cahill, who was now coaching Andre Agassi, was also present. The simple ceremony, accompanied by music, was conducted by the same clergyman who married the Carters a year before. Silvia Carter gave a brief, touching speech, as did a friend who came from Australia, Davis Cup physiotherapist Caius Schmid and Christine Ungricht, the President of Swiss Tennis. “He was such a great person,” she said. “Why him? Why does it always happen to the best?”

Federer’s parents were also inconsolable. Carter formed a link to their son over the years. He informed them about everything concerning Roger when they were traveling together. “It was the first death Roger had to deal with and it was a deep shock for him,” his mother said. “But it has also made him stronger.”

Federer left the church with a sense of grief that he never before experienced in his life. “Any defeat in tennis is nothing compared to such a moment,” he explained weeks afterwards. “I usually try and avoid sad events like this. It was the first time that I’d been to a funeral. I can’t say that it did me good but I was close to him in thought once again and I could say goodbye in a dignified setting. I feel somewhat better now, especially in matters concerning tennis.”

Although Federer lost in the first round of five of his last eight events, he no longer viewed his athletic position in such a negative light. He pointed out that he had expended little energy since his victory in Hamburg in May and was still physically fresh for the rest of the season. “You also have to see the positive things despite the defeats,” he said. “I played a great deal at the beginning of the season and now I’ve had time to rest. All the energy that I now have will help me at the end of this year or in the coming year.”

After reaching the round of 16 at the US Open for the second straight year, Federer only had one thing in mind—the up-coming Davis Cup match in Morocco. “We simply have to win there—for Peter,” he said. The empty spot left by the fallen team captain was filled during Casablanca’s late summer by Peter Lundgren. The task faced by the Swiss at the modern tennis facility in al-Amal proved difficult. The North Africans had two dangerous clay court specialists at their disposal—Hicham Arazi, against whom Federer lost at the French Open earlier in the year, as well as Younes El Aynaoui, who was among the top 20 players in the world. “I believe the Moroccans are the favorites because of their home advantage,” Federer said.

Michel Kratochvil lost the opening match of the series to El Aynaoui, but then another Federer Davis Cup spectacle ensued. He easily defeated Arazi—and then El Aynaoui—by identical 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 scores and also was the dominant figure in the doubles victory to lead Switzerland to the 3-2 win.

“Perfect from beginning to end,” Lundgren described Federer’s performance. There was huge feeling of relief in the Swiss camp after the victory. Wild cheering reverberated through the halls and doors as the victorious team retired to the locker room. Federer said the victory was important but “the fact that I played so well was only a bonus.” Not surprisingly, he dedicated the success to Carter. “I thought about him today even more than I usually do.”

The strong result at the US Open and his spectacular performance in Casablanca erased all of Federer’s doubt and demons. His grieving for Carter slowly receded and his self-confidence returned. “The fact that I could keep Switzerland in the Davis Cup World Group through my victory gives me a lot of momentum,” Federer said before the indoor season. Physically, he was still fresh due to many early-round defeats over the summer and his motivation for the final six weeks of the season was high. The goal was clinch a spot for the first time in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China as one of the eight best players for the year.

The undertaking was going to be difficult. Federer was ranked No. 10 in the year-to-date ATP Champions Race but he had to place at least in the top seven to guarantee a spot in Shanghai. In Moscow, Federer reached the quarterfinals, where for the first time, he was defeated by Safin. Eight days later in Vienna, a tournament where he always played some of his best tennis, Federer once again held a trophy over his head. In the semifinals, Federer defeated Carlos Moya 6-2, 6-3 in a match where Federer played so well that Lundgren talked of it for months. In the final, he defeated Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic and a rival for one of the final spots in the Shanghai field, by a 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 margin. It was his first trophy since Carter’s death and his thoughts were once again with his Australian friend and coach. “I dedicate this title to him,” he said with glistening eyes at the award ceremony.

FEDERER’S FIRST MAGIC SUNDAY

by

It was seven years ago in 2003 that Roger Federer first tasted victory at Wimbledon. The Swiss maestro, who is seeking a seventh Wimbledon title in 2010, finally broke through to win his first major title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club by beating Mark Philippoussis of Australia in the 2003 Wimbledon final. Rene Stauffer, the author of the book THE ROGER FEDERER STORY, QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($24.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com), reviews Federer’s first Wimbledon triumph in this book excerpt below.

Two weeks after his ill-fated appearance against Luis Horna at the 2003 French Open, Roger Federer was back on his saddle. The loss to Horna seemed like a surreal dream, but Federer’s fortunes quickly changed for the better. He reached the final of fashion entrepreneur Gerry Weber’s fancy pre-Wimbledon grass court tournament in Halle, Germany, where he faced Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer. Despite losing all three previous matches with Kiefer, Federer gave him no quarter and won his fourth title of the year—and his first on grass since he won the junior title at Wimbledon in 1998. “Prospects for Wimbledon are good,” he said after his win in Halle. “I know that I am going to England as the favorite and I am ready to win a big title. My chances on grass are better than on clay.”

In contrast to 2002, when he resided in a luxurious house, Federer, on Peter Lundgren’s advice, rented a small simple three-room apartment at 10 Lake Road in Wimbledon Village for the 2003 tournament. Federer lived in the modest apartment with Lundgren, his girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec and Pavel Kovac, his physiotherapist, who had to sleep in the living room because of the cramped conditions. Federer arrived early on the grounds of the All England Club, consciously keeping a low profile. He gave only obligatory interviews, didn’t read any newspapers and didn’t compete in doubles in order to concentrate only on the singles competition. “It wasn’t easy keeping him away from everyone because the telephone was constantly ringing. Everybody wanted something from him,” said Mirka, who meanwhile had officially taken over his management, organizing his appointments and travel schedule. Despite his dismal Grand Slam tournament record, most betting offices in Britain considered Federer one of the favorites to win the title at 5:1 odds—behind Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.

Thanks to his good preparations and an improved attitude, Federer finally entered a Grand Slam tournament in positive and comfortable frame of mind. By contrast, defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was out of sorts and lost in the first round to the six-foot-10 inch Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Federer fought his way into the round of 16 with the loss of only one set to American Mardy Fish in the third round. In the traditional Monday playing of the round of 16 matches at Wimbledon, Federer faced Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on the cramped and notorious Court No. 2—dubbed the “Graveyard of Champions” due to its turbulent history of many of the all-time greats losing matches to unheralded challengers. The Spanish left-hander was ranked No. 52 in the world and certainly did not enjoy the fame of Sampras, whom Federer defeated two years ago in the same round. The Swiss player took it easy on the weekend prior to his round of 16 match. He trained for just an hour and felt rested and in top form. Then, suddenly, in the warm-up of his match with Lopez, he felt a stabbing pain in his lower back after hitting a practice serve. “I thought, my God, what’s this? I couldn’t move anymore. Everything had seized up,” he explained later. He began his match with Lopez without his usual dynamic. After the second game of the match, he sat down in his chair, even though it was not a changeover, and called for the trainer.

Anxious minutes ticked away. While he was being treated with a heat cream by the trainer during his injury timeout, he lay on the grass turf and looked up at the sky in desperation. “I thought about giving up,” he said. “But then I hoped for a miracle or that the next black cloud would bring rain again.” His wish for rain did not come true, but a minor miracle did happen. Federer was able to continue play and went on to win a hard-fought, but straight-set 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 victory. He had no idea how he did it and couldn’t believe his luck. “Lopez had plenty of opportunities to beat me in three sets or drag out the match,” he said. Federer said he began to feel better as time passed—and thanks to the pain killers as well as the increasing temperatures that loosened the muscles in his back. “It also helped that we were playing on a grass court and that Lopez was constantly looking to win the quick point,” Federer said. He also admitted later that the pain was so strong that it not only adversely affected his serve and return but he could hardly sit during changeovers.

It was already certain before the quarterfinals that there would be a first-time Grand Slam tournament champion for the seventh year in a row. Following Hewitt’s defeat, French Open Champion Juan Carlos Ferrero as well as No. 1 seed Andre Agassi were eliminated. Mark Philippoussis, the unseeded Australian, dealt Agassi 46 aces in his five-set upset victory in the round of 16. On Tuesday, a day of rest in the men’s tournament, Federer was still in pain. “I am going to compete for sure,” he reassured Swiss journalists over the phone. But that evening, Dutch journalists hinted that Federer’s opponent, Sjeng Schalken, probably couldn’t compete as they reported that their countryman was at the hospital with a severe bruise and was having his foot X-rayed.

Rain gave Schalken some respite. The match was scheduled for Centre Court on Wednesday, but, due to the rain, was now scheduled for Thursday on Court No. 2. “Even with an injection, if I played on Wednesday, I would have had to throw in the towel after two games at the most,” Schalken said. It rained on Thursday as well, delaying the match by another three hours, but Federer was healthy once again and a negotiated a relatively routine 6-3,6-4, 6-4 victory over the No. 12-ranked Dutchman. Federer committed only eight unforced errors in a strong quarterfinal display played before half-empty grandstands.

To Federer’s relief, he was in the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time and joined Marc Rosset as the second man from Switzerland to reach the final four of a major tennis tournament (Rosset lost to Michael Stich in the semifinals of the 1996 French Open.) Federer’s semifinal match had the feel of a pre-determined final as fans and experts alike anointed the winner of his semifinal with Andy Roddick as the eventual winner of the Wimbledon title. Roddick was unbeaten on grass courts in his last 10 matches and was ranked No. 6 in the world. The other semifinal featured No. 14-ranked Sebastian Grosjean of France and Australia’s Mark Philippoussis, ranked No. 48.Roddick was considered the heir apparent to the American tennis throne held by Agassi and Sampras. He was the darling of the American tennis media and favored among them to defeat Federer—even though he lost all three

previous matches with his Swiss rival. Federer seemed unimpressed by this—“He’ll hardly be able to serve 200 aces.”

The match didn’t go as many had expected. Federer irritated Roddick by returning his serves, often clocked at over 135 miles per hour, as if it were standing still. Although the American trailed most of the first set, he held a set point at 6-5 in the first-set tie-break, which he squandered by hitting his trusty forehand into the net. It would be Roddick’s only opportunity against Federer all afternoon.

Federer won what was by far his best match of the tournament. His serve was unshakable and only faced break point twice in his 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3 victory. Federer was in a Grand Slam final for the first time. As he left Centre Court, he received a standing ovation by the fans who watched his brilliant shotmaking display. “The spectators had no other choice than to give a standing ovation,” London’s Daily Telegraph wrote the following day. “The tennis played by Federer that swept Roddick, favored by many, from the court, was as inspired and flawless as it could only be on grass.”

Roddick, who is more well-known for his powerful serve, only registered four aces in the match against Federer’s 17. Federer ranked his performance as one of the best of his career, “I don’t think I played a perfect match but it was definitely a very good match,” said Federer. Lundgren couldn’t remember a time when Federer played so well. Roddick was at a loss. “I don’t know if there’s anybody out there more talented,” said Roddick. “There’s not much he doesn’t have. He’s a great athlete. He’s so quick out there.”

Federer proved that he could finally rise to the occasion in a big match in the later rounds of a Grand Slam tournament. This was his trademark as a junior player, but had yet to demonstrate the ability on the biggest stages of professional tennis. However, the biggest match of his career still lay ahead—the Wimbledon final. His opponent was Philippoussis, who also won his semifinal in straight sets, defeating Grosjean 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 (the same score as the Federer-Roddick match). The Australian was once a top 10 player who reached the US Open final in 1998, losing to countryman Patrick Rafter. Philippoussis was known as much for his collection of expensive sports cars, fast motorcycles and his appetite for beautiful women as his tennis as his career took a turn for the worse with injuries and distractions. Following a third knee operation, Philippoussis was confined temporarily to a wheelchair but worked his way back to a No. 48 world ranking.

One of the few who believed in Philippoussis before the final was Pat Cash, the Wimbledon champion in 1987. “He can return better than Roddick and if he continues to serve as he has been, he’ll win,” Cash said. But the fellow Australian was mistaken. It would not be the only false prediction Cash would have regarding Federer’s career.

Federer appeared loose and optimistic when he walked into the Wimbledon interview room on Saturday, the day before the final, wearing jeans and a T-shirt after his practice. “It will be a completely different match compared to the one with Roddick,” he said. “Philippoussis charges the net after the serve and his serves are shallower. I’ll have to stand closer to the baseline and return differently. I can’t just block the serve like I did with Roddick. I’ll

have to try to return the balls at his feet so that he’ll have difficult returns to play.”

Federer’s preparations and tactic proved to be ideal. The physically superior Philippoussis, nicknamed “Scud,” began the final in fine form and scored 18 points directly off his serve in the first set, of which seven were aces. He attempted to intimidate Federer with stinging returns, but Federer was not impressed and didn’t show the slightest vulnerability. In the first set tie-break, Philippoussis hit an ill-timed double fault to give Federer two set-points at 6-4. Two points later, a Federer ace gave him the first set.

From this point forward, the man from Basel dominated almost at leisure and played at an even a higher level than he did against Roddick in the semifinals. He did not face a break point in the entire match and, like the Roddick match, out-aced his stronger serving opponent (21 aces against 14 for Philippoussis). All the while, Federer kept a clear head, even though the match became more complicated. In the third set, with a two-sets-to-love lead, he reached 15-40 on Philippoussis serve at 5-5—points that had the character of match points. Federer was unable to handle a Philippoussis serve on the first break point, and on the second break point, he missed a forehand beyond the baseline by the narrowest of margins that would have given him the crucial service break. It was like a soccer player who missed a penalty shot in the final minute of play without a goalie in the net.

Federer recovered immediately from the lost opportunity, forcing a tiebreak which he attacked with abandon quickly winning six of the first seven points. Federer stared at five match points to win the Wimbledon title. “You can see on TV that I was shaking my head,” he explained later. “It’s crazy, I thought. I’m so close. I had always dreamed about this. It went quickly after this, 6-2, 6-3. I served and knew that if I don’t do it now, I’ll be eternally sad.”

But he did it. On his third match point, Philippoussis returned his serve into the net. “Game, set and match Federer,” said Chair Umpire Gerry Armstrong. “Seven-six, six-two, seven-six.”

Federer, on his way to the net, sank to his knees, raised his arms, looked skywards and then to Peter Lundgren, Mirka Vavrinec and Pavel Kovac. They jumped up from the grandstands and fell into each others’ arms. Federer shook hands with his opponent and the chair umpire, waved to the public, held his left hand in front of his face and stepped back to his chair where he began crying. He cried profusely when Alan Mills, the referee, congratulated him and held him by both shoulders. He looked skywards once again, stood up and waved once again to an audience who gave him a standing ovation.

He sat back on his chair. The tears continued to flow. Hardly a minute elapsed since the last point of the match, but, to Federer, seconds turned into minutes. “I was relieved, exhausted, overwhelmed with emotions,” he said. “I thought I was on my knees longer than I really was.”

As the award ceremony was prepared, a dignified, almost pious calm settled over Centre Court. According to exact protocol, the Duke of Kent presented Federer with the 47 cm high “Challenge Cup,” the gold-plated silver trophy with two handles and the miniature pineapple on the top that had been used since 1887—certainly the most beautiful and important trophy in tennis. He raised the trophy high but didn’t yet have the heart to kiss it. It was still too early. The original trophy would remain in Wimbledon. Federer would be allowed to take home a 22 cm high replica.

In the official on-court champion’s interview with Sue Barker of Britain’s BBC television, Federer still was unable to control his emotions and his voice. He lost control of himself when the former British top player asked him if he knew that many of his friends came from Basel to watch the final. His voice broke—“Thanks to everybody…It’s great…” The tears flowed once again.

Federer suddenly belonged to an exclusive circle in his sport. Having also won the junior title at Wimbledon five years earlier, Federer became the 4th player to win both junior and gentleman’s singles titles at the All England Club, joining Björn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Pat Cash. When he left Centre Court following the photo sessions and victory laps, he walked into the entranceway of the club and found that his name had already been engraved on the 2003 silver championship plate located on the wall to the right.

FEDERER PART OF 700 CLUB

by

Roger Federer is now a member of the 700 club.

His third-round win over German Julian Reister marked the 700th win of Federer’s career.

Who did the Swiss maestro beat for his career ATP World Tour level win? Rene Stauffer, the author of the book THE ROGER FEDERER STORY: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($24.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) reveals that answer in this book excerpt below.

Federer bolstered his quest for the year-end No. 1 junior ranking with a semifinal showing at the European Championships in Klosters, Switzerland in the summer. At the US Open, he reached the junior singles final, where David Nalbandian of Argentina denied him a second straight junior Grand Slam title.

Yet, before the chase for the year-end No. 1 junior ranking reached its decisive phase, the unexpected happened. Federer achieved his first great breakthrough on the ATP Tour. With a ranking of No. 878, he traveled to Toulouse, France at the end of September and, to his own surprise, advanced through the qualifying rounds to progress into the main draw of the tournament. In only his second ATP tournament, the 17-year-old registered an upset victory over No. 45-ranked Guillaume Raoux of France—his first ATP match victory—allowing the Frenchman just four games. In the next round, Federer proved this win was not a fluke by defeating former Australian Davis Cup star Richard Fromberg 6-1, 7-6 (5). In the quarterfinals—his sixth match of the tournament including matches in the qualifying rounds—Federer lost to Jan Siemerink 7-6 (5), 6-2, with a throbbing thigh injury hampering him during the match. The Dutchman was ranked No. 20 and went on to win the tournament two days later, but Federer was also handsomely rewarded. He received a prize money check for $10,800 and passed 482 players in the world rankings in one tournament—moving to No. 396.

ROGER FEDERER’S GRAND SLAM DEBUT AT THE 1999 FRENCH OPEN

by

Roger Federer is playing in his 44th career Grand Slam tournament at the 2010 French Open. He is the most prolific winner of major titles, winning a record 16 major singles titles and has reached at least the semifinals of his last 23 major tournaments.

Federer’s Grand Slam tournament debut came at the French Open in 1999 at the age of 17, when he drew world No. 3 in Patrick Rafter. Rene Stauffer, in his book THE ROGER FEDERER STORY: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($24.95, New Chapter Press, www.NewChapterMedia.com) documents this important beginning in tennis history in this exclusive book excerpt below.

At the time, Federer was an inconsistent player with the fascinating repertoire of strokes. He still had trouble concentrating and often couldn’t find his way to winning matches, despite his technical superiority. This was especially the case in matches that exceeded three sets, where stamina, patience and tactical maturity—not brilliance—were required. He became irritated when the wind and weather altered playing conditions and when fans moved in the grandstands.

However, he consistently proved that he had everything it took to compete with the pros—indoors or outdoors—regardless of court surfaces. This proved to be the case on the clay courts at Roland Garros, where the 17-year-old made his main draw Grand Slam tournament debut as the youngest competitor in the men’s field. In his first-round match, Federer drew Patrick Rafter, the Australian two-time US Open champion. He jumped out to win the first

set against the world’s No. 3-ranked player who then was at the peak of his career. However, the sun came out and the conditions became warmer and faster. The clay courts dried out and balls moved much faster through the court. The Australian’s attacking serve-and-volley style seemed to run on automatic and he won in four sets.

“The young man from Switzerland could be one of the people who will shape the next ten years,” the French sports newspaper L’Equipe wrote during the tournament. Rafter shared the same opinion. “The boy impressed me very much,” he said. “If he works hard and has a good attitude, he could become an excellent player.” Asked at a press conference what he was still lacking to beat such players, Federer said, “I just have to mature.”

WHEN WILL ROGER AND RAFA MEET AGAIN?

by

By Randy Walker

Many are speculating – and hoping – that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will renew their epic rivalry soon.

The two titans have not clashed in a year – since the final of Madrid last May, won by Federer 6-4, 6-4. The stretch equals the two player’s longest period without playing – matching the one year period between their first and second meetings at the 2004 and 2005 Sony Ericson Opens.

The rivalry began on March 28, 2004 when Nadal, then an aspiring 17-year-old, took down the world No. 1 Federer 6-3, 6-3 in the third round of Key Biscayne – then labeled as the NASDAQ-100 Open. As outlined in my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, www.TennisHistoryBook.com), Nadal was the youngest man in the tournament field and said following the match, “I played almost perfect tennis.” Federer’s loss was only his second in 25 matches in the 2004 season and predicted great things for the young Spaniard. “He hit some really incredible shots, and that’s what youngsters do. I’ve heard a lot about him and saw some of his matches, so this is not a big surprise.”

The two tennis giants go on to play 19 more matches over the next six years. Their current head-to-head sits at 13-7 in favor of Nadal.

Rene Stauffer, the author of the book THE ROGER FEDERER STORY: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($24.95 New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) discusses Federer’s first match with Nadal – and that period in his career, in his book excerpt below.

The 2004 season was turning into a triumphal march for Federer. He was celebrated wherever he appeared. His results continued to be worthy of a world No. 1. His first defeat of the year—and in manner of three months—came in mid-February, when he lost to Tim Henman in the quarterfinals of Rotterdam. He quickly regained form and successfully defended his title in Dubai, defeating the Spainard Feliciano Lopez in the final. At the Tennis Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Federer avenged his loss to Henman in the championship match and realized his first “countable” victory against another of his early nemeses. The win over Henman was only his second in eight matches, with Federer’s only previous win over the Brit in Key Biscayne in 2002 being decided when Henman was forced to quit after one set due to a stiff neck. His victory, therefore, was especially satisfying. “Now I believe that no opponent has a psychological advantage over me,” he said.

An opponent that would bring Federer to his knees, however, appeared shortly after Indian Wells—illness. Immediately after the final, Federer began to run a fever and suffer from nausea and muscle pains. Despite his illness, he did not cancel his pre-arranged trip to Portland, Ore., the home of his clothing sponsor “Nike,” for a promotional visit, but en route to Miami for the next tournament, Federer was forced to stop and check into an airport hotel in Los Angeles to rest and try to recover. As he and Mirka finally arrived in Florida, he considered withdrawing from the tournament, but when rain gave him an extra day of rest, he decided to give it a go.

After he was able to muster up enough strength to negotiate a three-set win in his first match against No. 54-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Federer next drew the highly-regarded Spaniard Rafael Nadal. The 17-year-old left-hander from Mallorca played what he described at the time as the best match of his life and dominated the listless Federer 6-3, 6-3. The loss was the most decisive defeat Federer experienced in a year. Nadal also became the youngest player to defeat the Wimbledon champion. Federer was not surprised that he lost since he was not yet recovered from his illness. Nonetheless, he suspected that Nadal would be a dangerous rival coming of age. “He will become the most powerful left-hander in tennis in the coming years,” Federer prophesized.

ROGER FEDERER’S FITNESS GURU

by

Why has Roger Federer been able to achieve such incredible feats in tennis?

Of course, his immense talent is a large reason, but his health and fitness is another major factor. Federer has been without serious injury for most of his career and his excellent fitness has allowed him to maintain his incredible level of play year after year with great consistency.

The man largely responsible for the fitness of Federer is Pierre Paganini, who has served in the role as Federer’s fitness trainer for 10 years.

In this exclusive excerpt from the book THE ROGER FEDERER STORY: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($24.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererbook.com), author Rene Stauffer reviews the time when Federer and Paganini first began working together – and the immediate results from their training sessions – in the chapter called “No Pain, No Gain.”

Roger Federer was still the youngest player in the top 100 of the ATP rankings at the end of the 2000 season and was rapidly working his way to the top. However, when it came to winning his first ATP singles title, it seemed as though he was jinxed. No matter how well he played, he just couldn’t break through and win his first title. By contrast, Lleyton Hewitt, who was just five months older than Federer, already won six titles in his career, including four alone in 2000. Hewitt also ranked No. 6 in the world rankings and was firmly established as a consistent top 10 player.

Hewitt’s style was different and simpler. He was fast and was one of the greatest warriors on the court—fighting tooth and nail for every point and wearing his opponents down with his steady baseline play. He intimidated opponents with fist pumps and his signature yell-out of “C’mon!”

While Hewitt was winning in a relatively non-dazzling way, the opposite was usually the case for Federer. He charmed the spectators with dynamic displays of the most diverse strokes and with his virtuoso onslaught. He seemed to possess infinite potential—but he nonetheless repeatedly lost to inferior opponents. He seemed like somebody who had the winning lottery ticket but didn’t know what to do with all his money. “He has so much potential that it sometimes confuses even himself,” said John McEnroe, himself, a one-time artist with the tennis ball.

Federer’s time finally seemed to come in October of 2000 in Basel, his hometown. He overcame a match point in defeating Hewitt for the first time in his career in the semifinals, winning by the narrowest of margins—8-6 in the decisive third-set tie-break. “That was one of my most unbelievable matches,” the local matador said exuberantly of one of his early marquee wins. But Federer was not able to carry the momentum through to the title, losing a hard-fought final to No. 6 seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden.

The final-round showing in Basel placed Federer among the top 25 ranked players in the world. But mental and physical exhaustion from the long season set in and Federer won just three matches in his final four tournaments and finished the 2000 season ranked No. 29. For the first time, he failed to achieve his goals for the season—winning his first title and finishing the year in the top 25 of the rankings.

Federer’s 2000 season—his second as a professional—taught him the bitter lesson that spectacular strokes and talent by themselves weren’t enough to win tournaments and get to the top. He had to work on his physical fitness. Although fitness training was something he didn’t particularly like, he hired a fitness coach, Pierre Paganini, an old acquaintance from his time with the Swiss Tennis Federation at Ecublens, to join Lundgren as part of his team. Training with the 43-year-old Paganini 100 days a year proved to be a stroke of luck.

Roger Federer
Roger Federer

“He is the best fitness trainer you can imagine,” said Lundgren of Paganini. The bald, bespectacled man was a former soccer player as well as a smart, professional and unobtrusive worker—and he quickly deduced what Federer was lacking. “Athletically, he had great shortcomings. There was enormous po­tential for improvement, especially in legwork and body building,” Paganini recalled. “His problem was that his enormous talent allowed him to cover up his athletic shortcomings.” At the same time, however, he also had to defend his position in the world rankings and he could not afford to just work on basic conditioning. “I had a time table of three years to bring him up to the best physical condition.”

Paganini’s goal, however, was not to transform Federer into a muscle-man. “A tennis player is not a sprinter, a marathon runner or a shot-put thrower,” he said. “But he does have to have something from all of them and he does have to be able to summon all of these qualities when playing.” Because Federer was a creative player who often improvised many different shots dur­ing a match, he had to be able to execute many different movements, unlike a player like Hewitt, who tended to play the same style and hit the same type of shots repeatedly. Paganini worked with Federer to achieve a “coordinated creativity,” high precision movements and the ability to muster top athletic performance after four hours of play. “Roger couldn’t be permitted to choose the wrong tactic for physical reasons,” Paganini said.

Every day brought fresh challenges for Paganini to keep the young firebrand’s morale high. “Roger is not a workaholic that you can hit 3,000 backhands to and he hits them and feels good doing it. Training has to be fun for Roger,” said Lundgren.

“He wants to work hard but he needs a lot of variety,” Paganini said. “He has to see that an exercise is useful to him. He is an artist. If you motivate him, then he turns into a training animal.”

In Biel in December of 2000, Federer received a two-week preview of what his new training work would entail. Paganini developed special exercises for him that he termed “integrated fitness training.” Federer, for example, ran on the side of the court until he was exhausted and then immediately ran back onto the court to play tennis. “The natural reflexes and all the bad habits that are the hardest to break kick in when one is in an exhausted state,” Paganini said, explaining his method. “And then the coach goes to work on them.”

While many tennis players only concentrated on building fitness in December, the only tournament-free month of the year, Federer punctually worked on his fitness training the entire year. Paganini was immediately en­thused by the professional dedication shown by his protégé. “He was really motivated for such exercises and this surprised me,” he said. “But he is, after all, a natural athlete.” Paganini, who called Federer “naturally coordinated,” said Federer accepted the fact that fitness work and practicing would not al­ways be fun. “He noticed that he was there to acquire something that would later serve him on the tennis court.”

Paganini’s three-year plan proved successful. “Today, Roger can reach a maximum speed of 20 km/h (12 mph), which means that he can keep up with a regional sprinter for the first 30 meters,” he recollected in 2003. Federer could run 3,300 meters in 12 minutes, 9,300 meters in 40 minutes and he could press 150 kg (330 lbs) while doing knee-bends. This was an im­mense improvement from before.

Federer found it easy to motivate himself for these goal-oriented training sessions because they broke up the routine. “Just a little bit of change does me a lot of good,” he said. “Once I’m out on the court, I don’t have any problem getting motivated. If I want to be No. 1, I have to give my all in training.” Thanks to Paganini, he understood why he was training so hard. He quickly noticed that his improved fitness was helping him to increase his self-confidence. “I feel mentally really good because I know that I am physically prepared and that I can compete,” he said after the first extended training session with Paganini.

Lundgren expected a lot from Federer in 2001, his first full season as Federer’s private coach. He was convinced that “if he plays like he did last fall in Sydney, Vienna or in Basel, he’ll be in the top 15.” He even dared to speculate that “he could have his first title very soon.”

At the start of the season, Federer and Martina Hingis won the Hopman Cup in Perth. It was not an especially significant event but it was, after all, the International Tennis Federation’s sanctioned world mixed tennis tournament. He reached the third round of the Australian Open—avenging his Olympic loss to DiPasquale in the first round before losing to eventual finalist Arnaud Clement. February, however, became the best month of his career to date. At the indoor event in Milan, Italy after the Australian Open, Federer defeated Olympic Champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov for the first time in his ca­reer in the semifinals to reach his third career ATP singles final. Federer seized the opportunity and, with his parents in the stands cheering him on, he finally won his first ATP singles title, defeating No. 53-ranked Julien Boutter of France 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-4.

Lundgren was correct. A milestone was achieved. “The relief is enormous,” Federer said. “I’ve had to wait a long time for this moment. It should get easier from here on out.” But the excursion to Milan didn’t end very happily for Roger’s father. In his excitement, he locked his car keys inside the car and had to smash in the car window to retrieve them.

A week later, another career milestone was achieved for the 19-year-old as he returned to Basel for Davis Cup duty against the United States. There was no stopping Federer. He beat Todd Martin and Jan-Michael Gambill in two breath-taking performances in singles, and in between, paired with Lorenzo Manta to defeat the American team of Gambill and Justin Gimelstob in dou­bles. With his three match victories in the 3-2 Swiss defeat of the USA, he joined Raul Ramirez, Neale Fraser, Nicola Pietrangeli, Frank Sedgman, Henri Cochet and Laurie Doherty as the seventh and the youngest player to win three live matches in a Davis Cup tie against the United States. “It’s like a dream,” said Federer, who shed tears of joy after his match-clinching victory over Gambill.

The Americans, by contrast, were stunned. “You’d have to be blind not to see that he’s got a great future in store for him,” said Gambill. U.S. Captain Patrick McEnroe didn’t try to make any excuses although he was missing his two strongest players, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, in this match. “We knew that Federer would be tough but we didn’t expect this,” he said. “Whenever he got hold of the ball, the point was his.”

February would bring even more success for Federer. The week after his single-handed defeat of the U.S. Davis Cup team, he reached the semifinals in Marseille where his 10-match winning streak was ended by Kafelnikov. The next week, he reached his fourth career singles final, losing to Nicolas Escude of France in a third-set tie-break in the final of Rotterdam. The ATP chose him their “Player of the Month” and effusively praised in their official press communication, “The Federer Express has arrived!” A playful warning was also issued in the press release stating that Federer, “has been blessed with so much talent that it almost seems unfair to his opponents.”