"PeteSampras Posté le 12 juin 2006 à 13:01:41
Hi, I sure think I´m better than Roger, especially on the mentally side... Indeed, as you saw yesterday, Roger hasn´t been able, again, to push himself in order to turn that match in his favor. Nadal was quite nervous whereas Federer stayed on the backline... SUICIDE, man !
Well, see ya ´round, guys ! "
Hi Pete,
I wished Federer heard McEnroe´s comments about changing a losing strategy.
Federer was coming over the backhand *far* too much and not mixing it up. Federer simply isn´t used to hitting huge topspin one-handed backhands all day, not to mention the ncode 90 isn´t designed for that.
The times Federer hit the occasional slices, Nadal made more errors, was forced up to the net where he bricked some volleys. Federer should have been hitting alot of severe sliced backhands. Critical error. This change alone could have won him the match.
Standing *too far behind the baseline*. What the hell ? When was the last time Federer stood that far back. And why on clay, where the ball loses speed. And worse, standing back on *second serve*, when he should have been punishing the weak Nadal second serve.
On numerous occasions, Federer should have come in and finished things off with volleys. The few times he came in, Federer was successful.
Nadal´s second serve. Federer did *absolutely nothing* with it, partly because of standing so far back.
On top of all these strategic mistakes, Federer apparently just lost mental concentration and missed two easy points at the net which would have given him two critical games.
So disappointed more the way Federer played than at the final outcome. The first set Federer played brilliantly, then all of sudden changed his strategy to a losing one, what the heck ?
I still maintain that Federer has all the weapons to dismantle Nadal. He just doesn´t seem to be able to use the right shots at the right time. For someone who I thought had one of the best tennis minds, strategically his play at the French open was just terrible.