In terms of technique on the tennis court, Roger Federer was arguably the finest ever player. Throughout his incredible career, he kept giving fans some magical moments as he served up some truly spectacular shots to surprise and shock his awestruck opponents. Quite naturally, many aspiring tennis players try their best to emulate Federer’s tantalizing techniques. However, according to Serena Williams‘ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, there was one particular shot in Federer’s locker that cross-dominant players should steer clear of.

The iconic tennis coach recently posted a video on Instagram where he dissected Federer’s shot in great detail. He also explained why it’s a tricky shot for budding cross-dominant players.

Mouratoglou analyzes difficult Roger Federer shot in slow motion

The video Mouratoglou posted starts with one of Federer’s iconic backhand shots. As the video shows viewers the shot, Mouratoglou says, “I deeply recommend that you avoid copying Roger on that shot if you are cross-dominant.” 

Next, the veteran coach goes deeper into why cross-dominant players are likely to find it hard to emulate the shot. “Roger’s specialty is that he also has great shoulder rotation on his backhand side, which I would not advise for a player with cross-dominant eye.”

In tennis, cross-dominant refers to a playing style where players use their right hands to play shots. However, the left eye is predominantly used to judge the ball. Mouratoglou then assesses Federer’s impressive technique in slow motion. “When you look in slow motion, you can see that his left eye stays on the ball all the time. He does his turn at the same speed as the ball.”

Finally, Mouratoglou breaks down the reason cross-dominant players should avoid copying the shot. “This is very difficult to do and requires incredible timing and an enormous capacity for adaptation to the speed of the ball.”

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Very few understand tennis the way Mouratoglou does

The Instagram video undoubtedly offered a captivating insight into the technical excellence that Roger Federer possessed. However, it was also a masterclass from the one and only Patrick Mouratoglou. The tennis world regards him as one of the best tennis coaches of all time. Mouratoglou’s tennis coaching career began in 1996. However, he rose to global prominence in 2012 after he became the coach of Serena Williams.

Serena’s talent and Mouratoglou’s methods combined effortlessly and worked wonders for the American legend. During their time together, Serena won a whopping 10 Grand Slam women’s singles titles. However, there were also some tense moments. For instance, Mouratoglou was once involved in a war of words with Serena’s father. A few months before Serena announced her retirement in 2022, she parted ways with Mouratoglou. Eventually, Mouratoglou moved on and became the coach of Romanian Simona Halep.

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