2019 Swiss Indoors Basel...ATP 500...Basel, Switzerland

[don_budge]

Roger Federer in the house. Shot like out of a canon into the second round. Headed for a match against his compatriot in the third round? Stan Wawrinka. Some of the best one-handed backhands in the game in the top half of the draw.

[klacr]

What he did to Albot today was silly. He wants title #10 in Basel.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

2019 Swiss Open Match of the Day...Roger Federer vs. Anybody

Hahaha! Stan Wawrinka is not just anybody and the two Swiss compatriots will tee it up at 7PM tomorrow evening here in Europe. Stan's form has been a tad inconsistent as of late and look at the comment above...Roger surgically remove Albot from the draw yesterday. That being said this will be a pleasure to watch.

[don_budge]

2019 Swiss Open Match of the Day...Roger Federer vs. Anybody

Hahaha! Stan Wawrinka is not just anybody and the two Swiss compatriots will tee it up at 7PM tomorrow evening here in Europe. Stan's form has been a tad inconsistent as of late and look at the comment above...Roger surgically remove Albot from the draw yesterday. That being said this will be a pleasure to watch.

Stan Wawrinka withdraws citing back injury. What a shame. Hopefully Stefanos Tsitsipas prevails against Filip Krajinovic so that we get to watch a Federer vs. Tsitsipas semifinal.

[don_budge]

Roger Federer concludes the first set with an ace to win it 6-4. Playing aggressively with relentless pressure on Tsitsipas. Stefanos has in the past shown resilience in the past after losing the first but this isn't just ANYBODY. Federer playing the all court game has finished many points at the net with deft volleys and excellent smashing.

[don_budge]

Roger Federer concludes the first set with an ace to win it 6-4. Playing aggressively with relentless pressure on Tsitsipas. Stefanos has in the past shown resilience in the past after losing the first but this isn't just ANYBODY. Federer playing the all court game has finished many points at the net with deft volleys and excellent smashing.

Super clean effort from Roger. Into the finals...6-4, 6-4 over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

[glacierguy]

Dominating from Federer - loved the half volley backhand blisterer with Tsitsipas at net. Couldn't help contrasting the silky smooth Federer serve action with Tsitsipas's somewhat jerky action.

[don_budge]

Dominating from Federer - loved the half volley backhand blisterer with Tsitsipas at net. Couldn't help contrasting the silky smooth Federer serve action with Tsitsipas's somewhat jerky action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiST_3iBDOA

Yes...the contrast. It is what makes life interesting. But with regards to the respective motions of Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas I find that also very interesting. Silky smooth versus one with obvious friction. The question is always...WHY?

The reason can be found in the position from which both players commence there service motions. The setup position and subsequent backswing. Roger Federer has a somewhat idiosyncratic position where he actually starts his motion. Notice how both of his hands are in a downward position where there is no "down together" to begin the motion. It is a bit unusual. Actually it is very unusual as I cannot think of another players who does this but perhaps one from the past comes to mind. John McEnroe? As it is...Federer begins his motion with a rather smooth lifting of both arms as in "up together". Very obvious in the tossing arm.

Stefanos Tsitsipas on the other hand has a noticeable kink in his motion that is dying for an acupuncture needle to cure it. The problem lies in his tossing arm ironically enough. Notice how from his "setup" position he merely raises his arm without any "down together" motion. By doing this his racquet arm must go directly up from the position as well if there is to be any sort of silky smooth motion without a hitch. But oddly...he almost looks to be inclined to start the racquet arm in the beginning but he decides not to and the arm tries to go straight up but in order to do so it makes the "hitching" kink noticeable in the backswing. If I were his coach I would encourage him to make the downward motion with both hands which would eliminate that kink in the backswing and greatly enhance the rhythmic nature of his motion.

The great thing about Roger's serve...which I believe pound for pound to be the best on the tour...is the rhythm he is able to maintain in any given situation. Even though his "setup" position is somewhat idiosyncratic by my eye he has really perfected it to something north of perfect in the real world. At thirty-eight years old he makes a living by bossing around his opponents on his service game before going to work on their own serve. He wins so many games so easily and so quickly that it is almost impossible to take him out of his rhythm or pace of play. Then the pressure is back on the opponent to establish their own rhythm which he effectively interrupts with his chipping away at their serves.

I am a firm believer in good setup position and perfect backswings. But with both of these players one must make liberal use of *'s to explain their relative success and lack of.

[stroke]

Roger basically does every shot in tennis better than Stefanos, and that is not really a slap at Stef. The only advantage Stef has is his way younger legs.

[don_budge]

Roger Federer clinical in the final against Alex de Minaur. Made the kid look like a junior player. Lots of credit to the little guy though in getting to another final. He's a scrapper. It will be interesting to see just how far that will carry him in the long run. He may have made a big mistake with a Leyton Hewitt-like "C'mon!" early in the match. Federer focused laser like throughout the match and didn't give anything away. No freebees. Old school.

[stroke]

Roger Federer clinical in the final against Alex de Minaur. Made the kid look like a junior player. Lots of credit to the little guy though in getting to another final. He's a scrapper. It will be interesting to see just how far that will carry him in the long run. He may have made a big mistake with a Leyton Hewitt-like "C'mon!" early in the match. Federer focused laser like throughout the match and didn't give anything away. No freebees. Old school.

So true. We will never see another Federer and certainly not another 38 year old Federer.