Late 2014: How Federer very well may be surpassing Djokovic!
The last two meetings of the two titans, at the Shanghai and the IPTL league, showed Federer's increasing prowess at dominating the forecourt. Certainly, Edberg has not only improved Federer's volleys to such an extent. He has also made Fed cut off the angle from where Djokovic can pass.
The years Fed spent with Annacone trying to adapt a chip and charge approach, one would see Federer hit short return chips, ill advised high droppers and inside out forehand approaches. He'd get burned by Djokovic's world class backhand or incredible footspeed.
Now, Federer's chips have plenty of aggression and unpredictability. His adeptness of rolling in a backhand chip off the bounce is bordering on McEnroe like skill. The volleys are finishing volleys, plenty of slice knifed with control. Even his flat serves seem to have a little extra sizzle and he charges up to the net with far more conviction.
Federer is definitely mixing up the forecourt game with the baseline game, instead of defaulting sheepishly to the baseline when he lost too many points at net. He now has the confidence to lay it all on the line from the net.
It is a shame we didn't get to see the World Tour finals between Fed and Djokovic due to injury. But even though the IPTL league match was an exo, we got a glimpse of more scintillating action between the two. I am looking forward to more in 2015!
Comment
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Comment by phillip k. on February 10, 2015 at 5:54pm -
AWWWWW YEAH! 2015
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Comment by Tim Prapong on January 15, 2015 at 3:55pm
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Specific example: http://youtu.be/tr9w32Tqgl4?t=24s
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Yeah, I have not seen him hit any shanks with the new PS 97 Autograph. I believe the wider hoop has given him all the margin of error he needs with his accurate Eastern swing.
I tried the racquet was amazed at how wide the hoop was. Feels about as wide as Gasquet's round lollipop Head Extreme Pro.
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Comment by CoachV - William Vazquez on January 11, 2015 at 9:30pm
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He just won Brisbane.
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Comment by Mark / The Mayor on December 17, 2014 at 9:55am
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Interesting point, Tim. I hadn't noticed the new approaches yet. I'll keep an eye out for them at the Aussie. Can you post some videos of what you are talking about? Would love to see them.
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