Roger Federer-“I Will not Play at Tournaments to See How I Feel”

Roger Federer, in an exclusive interview with NRC, spoke about managing his schedule perfectly, in order to increase his longevity on the tour. Federer has been choosy when it comes to playing in a lot of tournaments, in the last two years. However, Roger Federer has encouraged the players on the ATP roster to start managing their schedules much more smartly, very early in their careers rather than waiting for their latter years.

“I hope players do not think (about having a planned schedule) at 36”, said Roger Federer. “They can start at 25”, continued Federer. “My philosophy is- I play when I am ready. I will not play at tournaments to see how I feel”, said the Swiss maestro. “I spoke with a player today, he told me- it’s better to be on the road than training at home”, he added. “I will not do it”, he added. “I will be at home, ready, and then I will come. If you see me, you will always get 100%”, said Roger Federer.

Federer also spoke about how the sport has changed during the past couple of decades, and has become a more baseline oriented game. “It has become more physical”, said the Swiss. “In the past, they could even hit harder, but the movement was getting from slow to medium, slow, medium, fast, medium, slow, medium, fast. Now it’s medium, fast, fast, fast, medium, medium, fast, fast. The rhythm seems higher‘, said Federer.

“That’s why it’s not easy to play “nicely”. Because if the opponent hits hard, you have to be aggressive as well”, Federer pointed out. “Previously you had more serve and volley, at the time of Henman, Sampras, Krajicek. So you had to go to the net”, Federer remembered. “Now nobody hits serve and volley, they are all comfortable from the baseline. It’s a different game”, said Federer.

It is true that with the new technologies that have gone into making the strings, as well as the slowing down of courts, has pushed the game towards a more baseline driven sport. However, players like Federer, who has had the best of both the eras(serve and volley as well as baseline), have adapted and changed their game accordingly to be in the top tier of the sport.