Federer v Delpo 2012 - Summary to watch again!

I bumped into it in my youtube page. Fantastic match!

Really great match. I remember at the time I believed Fed had back problems. It doesn't look like he has in retrospect....but he is broken a few times in the first 2 sets and that certainly was teh result of his poor serving (hence his back). Again, it is the 2012 summer where Fed seems to start all his matches slowly but gets better as the match extends. He finishes beating delpo 62 60 63 in the last 3 sets....and went on to win Wimbledon that year (his last slam).

You can tell he is playing some of his best tennis this year.

Delpo runs like crazy and comes up with astonishing shots....but he runs out of gas in the last 3 as he pays for his great coverage of the courts in those first 3 sets.

Federer stands on or inside the baseline from point one, takes the ball early; Delpo, taller and younger chooses to stand back, plus has two hands on the BH.

He has the instant  luxury feeling more secure within his game although he is a shotmaker, too.

I like the fact Federer changed very little in his game philosophy over the years.

The passion and looseness with which he strikes his inside out FH is amazing.

Did he always need time to get his engine roaring?
I don't remember it in the early days.

But then again, the game and the balls coming to him then were different, too.

Yes. I was watching some more clips since and frankly the talent of this guy is out of this world. Unfortunaly he faced his match with today's fit players and slow conds.

The more I looked at his matches v Djoko or Nadal the more I felt he was robbed. The others don;t bring anything special. they are just fast enough to get to any (slow) ball.

Absurd.

Yes, he was robbed, but ultimately tennis was robbed.

I think Nole was robbed, too. 
He played different tennis and held his own against Federer in those days.

He wasn't beating him with fitness/muscle (Nadal) or pushing (Murray).

Everything was slowed down because of Nadal.

Ok, tennis world had a "rivalry" but the price was too high, I think.
Advanced fitness may suit other sports and disciplines, i.e. stick out less, but with tennis it sucked out all the flair and fun.

Actually I watched a lot of old Nole v fed clips last night and Fed was constantly lessoning Nole until Nole got fitter. Nole never had great shots. He always was a very consistent gritty bolItieri boy with excellent moving for the time. I dont think Nole would have won many slams in the 90s...especially if he had been 1990s fit! Nole made tbe most of those strings and slow balls enabling him to retrieve those incredible shots that would have simply past him with smaller balls.

Tenez wrote:Actually I watched a lot of old Nole v fed clips last night and Fed was constantly lessoning Nole until Nole got fitter. Nole never had great shots. He always was a very consistent gritty bolItieri boy with excellent moving for the time. I dont think Nole would have won many slams in the 90s...especially if he had been 1990s fit! Nole made tbe most of those strings and slow balls enabling him to retrieve those incredible shots that would have simply past him with smaller balls.

But don't forget Nole was considerably younger. Amd I don't think Fed lessoned him in USO 2007 final, and certainly not in Montreal a few weeks before.

Nole probably would have not played tennis in the 90s.

but!!! he is still my Nole  

Anyway, I always find it difficult to compare SBH-ers with DBH-ers.

The other week at the club I had another moment of inspiration for which I am becoming a bit of a legend...

I was playing mixed doubles with this 17 yo who was quite good. His favourite player was - Nadal...amd he was telling me how SBH is passe.

So I told him mine was Federer...and that I consider playing  with a DBH .....

DISABLED TENNIS!  

Fed lessoned Nole in 2012 and even in 2015!

In USO 2007 Fed played poorly and managed to win. In Montreal he was 40/0 up on his serve and could have easily won. But yes Fed had to learn the new game with the new conds.

we might discuss this no end but at the end of the day, Nole is a poor shot maker who is looking better than he his thanks to his elastic body and fitness. No one will remember him for his volleying, serve, FH or even BH. Though he play all those shots with consistency thanks to his mobility.

yes. Dhbh is clearly a technical advantage on slower conds....

How many sklams would have Nole won with a SHBH?

Tenez wrote:yes. Dhbh is clearly a technical advantage on slower conds....

How many sklams would have Nole won with a SHBH?

Here's a more interesting question:
How many slams would have Borg won with a SBH?

Tenez wrote:Fed lessoned Nole in 2012 and even in 2015!

In USO 2007 Fed played poorly and managed to win. In Montreal he was 40/0 up on his serve and could have easily won. But yes Fed had to learn the new game with the new conds.

we might discuss this no end but at the end of the day, Nole is a poor shot maker who is looking better than he his thanks to his elastic body and fitness. No one will remember him for his volleying, serve, FH or even BH. Though he play all those shots with consistency thanks to his mobility.

Well, I agree Nole isn't a classic tennis player.
He does have a great BH, I learnt to appreciate it more after seeing it live.

It's the variety.

His FH can be looser and flatter.

I actually don't think he has a "great BH". His BH is only good cause he can get there early, but there are plenty of better DHBH than his.

It's very simple. Whatever his shots they are safe....unless he has no choice.

He takes the ball early and that's good enough, better than Nadal and Murray will ever be, completely different league.

I know you like Nishi's BH, and of course Nishi hits it cleaner, but has limited variety on it.
His whole game looks limited and inefficient as a result. 
That is the only reason why he hasn't won more.

Despite the obvious talent - it is he who is the ultimate Boletieri boy at heart.
Having said that, he'd probably really good with a wooden racquet....


I actually prefer Paire's BH...it is the DBH equivalent of Gasquet's SBH - and both have weak FHs.
A coincidence?

Nahhhh Nole doesn't take the ball early. Nadal said that cause he surely takes it earlier than him but the difficulty in taking the ball early is to send it back with a purpose a la Nalby or Davydenko...but not just a block or with such top spin that the ball is seafely back in the court.

Nishi is just one player who has much better shots than Djoko. Plenty of other players have better shots. If he was taller, or/and had a better serve I think their H2H woudl be reversed.

Djoko is not a great player to watch and I think the crowd make it known all over the world....for a reason.

What do you mean naaaaah!

Of course he took it early, how else was he able to cope with Nadal's moonballs from on the baseline esp in early days...and moved in Fed's half of the draw 12/12 as a result....

Esp in his FH...and semd Nadal running left and right...as we called it "vamos-tamos" tactics.

noleisthebest wrote:What do you mean naaaaah!

Of course he took it early, how else was he able to cope with Nadal's moonballs from on the baseline esp in early days...and moved in Fed's half of the draw 12/12 as a result....

Esp in his FH...and semd Nadal running left and right...as we called it "vamos-tamos" tactics.

I was watching again the 2016 AO semi. You can see federer takes it much closer except of course when Djoko hammers Fed's BH and knows the ball is going to come back more slowly allowing Djoko to take the ball early. But despite Fed's slow BH, it's Fed dictating most of the time.

Djoko's game is at its ugliest when playing Fed. He plays ridiculously safe and hard just waiting for an UE. Watch the 3rd and 4th sets. Fed was clearly not at his best but you can still see the worlds apart in talent.