Federer's bigger racquet

It took time for Federer to listen to GP and I who had mentioned the benefits of a bigger racquet a long time ago. I consider this quite a big mistake for Federer in his career. as it seems that racquet has almost whipped out his famous shanking reputation overnight. I think he could have won more grand slams then, including the FO considering how close some of those matches were and that the main reason of those losses was the shanking and lack of power on his BH. Of course it's difficult to change a winning racquet but still I would have tried seriously at least a bigger frame from 2007 if I were him.

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Federer, who began using a larger racquet head at the start of the season, acknowledged his strong results in Dubai have established a newfound sense of mental clarity and comfort with his new weapon of choice.

“I'm just happy that now it's clear, I don't have to think of it, and I can just play tennis,” Federer said, referring to the uncertainty regarding his racquet. "It's not in the back of my mind anymore, Is this racquet good or not? I was convinced in practice, but then you hope that the results are going to follow and they did.

“When you can play that way, you're more free, you have an open mind. That's when you are more successful. I'm very happy."

His rejuvenated form in 2014, highlighted by runs to the final in Brisbane (l. to Hewitt) and semi-finals at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal), have given back to the Swiss some confidence in his abilities that he felt was lacking in the big points in matches.

“I’m happy that the results are paying off, especially in quick succession. I have only just switched (racquets), and here I am, already getting to the finals in Brisbane, semis at the Australian Open, I won my Davis Cup match, and now here I am with a trophy.”
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Although for me, that old racquet still encapsulates Federer's tennis perfection, and in some nostalgic way I am sad to see that chapter closed now, the new racquet has brought a genuine fresh and very, very exciting start.
A proper solution which will enable him to enjoy his talent, not put it under unnecessary pressure.
In hindsight, yes, he should have done it long ago.
The potential of quite a bit of free power he seems to be getting on his FH looks mighty.
His game has just began to relax with it, and the few times he comitted to his shots were quite breath-taking first on FH, then some of his serves and even volleys.
BH has stabilised and I cannot wait to see it start living its own life soon.
The confidence the win over Nole will have given Fed was such an enormous step forward, rain in the desert.
Watching him this week, esp the last two matches, it was so heartening to see him begin to believe and be his old self, where the opponent across the net doesn't matter much.

Exciting times ahead!

I think that what he says in his post match interview...."believing you can win makes all the difference"....certainly but would he believe he could win with a 80inch racquet?

Looks like it is now contract time for Federer. He has not got an official racquet and Wilson was probably wanting to know more about where he is with it and his back before splashing on a big contract with a 32yo athlete. I even noticed that Federer is not listed in Tennis warehouse anymore meaning there is a huge vacuum that needs to be filled very soon. Most likely before IW and Miami.

Truffin probably could tell us more about the marketing side of it I am sure.

“When you can play that way, you're more free, you have an open mind. That's when you are more successful. I'm very happy."


Well, you can see here see doubt there was and all the walking on water he must have done initially, making the decision to try a bigger frame.How much of the need for change came from him, and how much from sponsor's pressure?

It was sad to watch him struggle with both the racquet uncertainty and especially play through injury...during those unexpected two weeks on clay post Wimbledon.

It must have been so hard  with the world watching and judging relentlessly, waiting to write him off, telling him he is too old, questioning his ability to play tennis, forgetting all the glory and beauty he had given them for years and worst of all, choosing to ignore the specialness of his talent and all the work/sacrifice that went into it for years...at the same time praising Nadal's "miraculous" comeback....

Amazing will to persevere through all that during late summer/autumn last year, work on his back/fitness, still with no guarantee of anything, and now begin to reap the fruit of it all.

His tennis looks a little different with the new racquet, and I have a feeling it will show its best results on clay for some reason.

As I said earlier, I really look forward seeing his game mature with it through growing confidence and trusting the racquet's power fully both on his FH (some of which we have already seen) and especially BH.

As for serving, it will all be down to the state of his back, I suppose.

noleisthebest wrote:His tennis looks a little different with the new racquet, and I have a feeling it will show its best results on clay for some reason.

As I said earlier, I really look forward seeing his game mature with it through growing confidence and trusting the racquet's power fully both on his FH (some of which we have already seen) and especially BH.

As for serving, it will all be down to the state of his back, I suppose.

The key of course will be the slams and how he can sustain those long matches. What was obvious in Dubai, like in the AO v Murray is that his BH was very much a match to his opponents DBH. That makes such a huge difference.

I did notice the BH, esp against Nole, I couldn't believe the pace it had, Federer had no problem holding his own in any BH to BH CC rallies, so much so I began to wonder why Nole's BH looked so weak in comparison.
Then there was that one  brilliant short BH volley, which required all the skill in the world to execute.
I don't remember any DTL shots, but look forward to those whenever they come.
At the moment, it looks like he is getting used to the power&control, and once he relaxes with those (in matches, not practice) that's going to be a feast.
Good point about the slams where DBHers have such huge advantage in long matches, where their FH arm tires so much slower, especially in these slow conditions where long rallies have become the norm.

I agree with nitb, because it looks to me like he needs some time in each match to judge the racquet.  Clearly the racquet rehearsal can't really mimic the match challenge of the superior players and he can only suss out what to do during the matches.  Actually maybe the focus on learning and responding is what allows him to remain concentrated on winning and not get down about being broken, errors, etc.

I had meetings yesterday and missed the final, so have only seen highlights.  It was wonderful to see him so thrilled by the win - so boyish!  I was also amazed by the way he scampered around the court.  It seems he has officially announced that he too will be making impossible gets.  This year is going to be very interesting.

But he is a professional tennis player. Trying a bigger racquet should have been done years ago imo. We can somehow understand that on up to 2006/7 only Nadal was troubling him and shanking v Nadal may not have been a good reason enough to get a bigger frame but from then on he was struggling v Djoko and Murray too though I agree he could still beat them most of the time when fit.

In 2007 he change his FH for a more loopy and secure one and he should have done changed racquet as well at that time. I understand the fear but he has enough talent to adapt.

Before Nadal's time he coudl win thanks to winners but from Nadal's time it became much more physical and therefore tactical and needed to rely on solid shots and not those millions of shanks we got. Even Gasquet, Stan ended up having a more solid BH thx to those racquets...it was obvious he needed to make the change as the balls got spinnier and spinnier.

It' beyond the "feel" effect...It's about power and consitency....whihc thankfully he seems to have now from that side.

Djoko's view on this.

Q. You played a lot to his backhand,
as people do. Did you notice any difference
in the way he was playing it now with the new
racquet? I think it's the first time you have
played him when he's had the new one.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, not much,
you know, but he did play much better backhand,
you know. End of second and the whole third set
was working really well for him.
Whenever he had an opportunity to open
up with the backhand along the line, he did, so
that's a shot that won him a couple of crucial
points.

So look like Fed thought of changing racquets a long time ago after all. I am just surprised he did not at the end....though I understand also the risk. My main point is that it was obvious his BH was the liability and it was obvious that a larger frame would be the main solution to that problem.

Q. You trained extremely well this year compared to last year. What role does your racquet play now, the good results you have had?
ROGER FEDERER: I mean, look, I played well with my old racquet for years, you know. So I always know I can go back to that one just in case, you know. It's a good‑just‑in‑case racquet, I must say (smiling).
I trained a lot with the new racquet, you know. It was a switch I wanted to do for a long time. I tried a few, tried a racquet in Hamburg and Gstaad last year, but just felt it was a good one but wasn't quite what I liked the most. It just felt totally different to what I was playing with before.
This one is in between, and I like the changes Wilson was able to come up with. I'm happy that the results are paying off, especially in quick succession. I have only just switched, and here I am, already got to the finals in Brisbane, semis at the Australian Open, won my Davis Cup match, and now here I am with a trophy.
So now it's not in the back of my mind anymore, Is this racquet good or not? I was convinced in the practice, but then you hope that the results are going to follow and they did.
I think it has somewhat to do with it, but it's like a puzzle. You need the hard work, you need the coaching staff. You need your, you know, your family, my wife, everybody who makes it possible for me to still be playing.

Tenez wrote:So look like Fed thought of changing racquets a long time ago after all. I am just surprised he did not at the end....though I understand also the risk.  My main point is that it was obvious his BH was the liability and it was obvious that a larger frame would be the main solution to that problem.

Q.  You trained extremely well this year compared to last year.  What role does your racquet play now, the good results you have had?
ROGER FEDERER:  I mean, look, I played well with my old racquet for years, you know.  So I always know I can go back to that one just in case, you know.  It's a good‑just‑in‑case racquet, I must say (smiling).
I trained a lot with the new racquet, you know.  It was a switch I wanted to do for a long time.  I tried a few, tried a racquet in Hamburg and Gstaad last year, but just felt it was a good one but wasn't quite what I liked the most.  It just felt totally different to what I was playing with before.
This one is in between, and I like the changes Wilson was able to come up with.  I'm happy that the results are paying off, especially in quick succession.  I have only just switched, and here I am, already got to the finals in Brisbane, semis at the Australian Open, won my Davis Cup match, and now here I am with a trophy.
So now it's not in the back of my mind anymore, Is this racquet good or not?  I was convinced in the practice, but then you hope that the results are going to follow and they did.
I think it has somewhat to do with it, but it's like a puzzle.  You need the hard work, you need the coaching staff.  You need your, you know, your family, my wife, everybody who makes it possible for me to still be playing.

I've posted before that Annacone and even Luthi have both talked about being either against or at best - ambivalent about Federer changing racquets- which frankly shocked me- and I speculated that could have been one of the reasons that Federer felt the Annacone relationship had come to an end.  Federer has said that he didn't change racquets partly because he was continuing to have so much success (makes sense- don't rock the boat) but I wonder if once things went bad-  did it creep into his mind that he was also given some bad advice from Annacone... 

Wilson is definilty ending the current ProStaff Federer series-you can find them half price on tennis sites- kind of have to when he has thrown the racquet to the trash--   I would expect to see the new Racquet get a proper paint job and come out with a big splash fairly soon-  certainly before Wimbledon.   Wilson prob wants to run through some stock of the old racquets first.    Wilson was prob ready for this change as much as Federer.  I had read his racquet had fallen to #22 in sales- purely because it is much too difficult of the masses to play with and no junior coach or club pro was going to push that racquet for someone starting out-- the masses simply couldn't play with it.

In terms of contract- I believe he signed a "lifetime" contract in 2006 or 7 with Wilson..  I don't think there is any hold up from that angle.. I just think Wilson wanted to get the racquet specs locked in to Federers liking before pushing it to the public.

truffin1 wrote:I've posted before that Annacone and even Luthi have both talked about being either against or at best - ambivalent about Federer changing racquets- which frankly shocked me- and I speculated that could have been one of the reasons that Federer felt the Annacone relationship had come to an end.  Federer has said that he didn't change racquets partly because he was continuing to have so much success (makes sense- don't rock the boat) but I wonder if once things went bad-  did it creep into his mind that he was also given some bad advice from Annacone... 

yes I remember. It looks like he thought about it before Annacone. And yes it may have been one reason why they parted but also maybe because Annacone had nothing else to bring to the table .

Wilson is definilty ending the current ProStaff Federer series-you can find them half price on tennis sites- kind of have to when he has thrown the racquet to the trash-- I would expect to see the new Racquet get a proper paint job and come out with a big splash fairly soon- certainly before Wimbledon. Wilson prob wants to run through some stock of the old racquets first. Wilson was prob ready for this change as much as Federer. I had read his racquet had fallen to #22 in sales- purely because it is much too difficult of the masses to play with and no junior coach or club pro was going to push that racquet for someone starting out-- the masses simply couldn't play with it.

In terms of contract- I believe he signed a "lifetime" contract in 2006 or 7 with Wilson..  I don't think there is any hold up from that angle.. I just think Wilson wanted to get the racquet specs locked in to Federers liking before pushing it to the public.[/quote]
I would have thought before IW.....or is it too short notice? I would have thought the old racquet is a dead business now and they need to fill the vacuum asap. The problem is a mkg campaign would take time and IW is probably too late unless they had prepared everything in case.

The first sign will be once Fed's racquet gets a proper paint job..  We should start seeing some practice pics at IW in the next day or so- if still prototype black- then I don't think the marketing will start yet.      I do think it will happen during clay and before French..  that's what I really meant to say.

The tennisexpress and wharehouse sites have the whole line of racquets on big clearance which tells us that they have been told a new line is coming and to move the old stock out...   Some good deals too :-) I was thinking of picking up a couple of Prostaffs 95's.

Yes I checked yesterday to see what kind if racquet he using and tennis wharehouse doesn't show any affiliated to Federer (bar the junior ones).

I believe a paint job for IW and Miami and then the campaign during the clay season...unless they want to make it big for Wimbledon...depending on how successful he is on clay of course.

Tenez: I just got a text from a friend at Indian wells- he is watching fed shoot a Wilson commercial for the racquet as I type! So the new marketing is starting. Interestingly though- fed is using the all black racquet!! No paint job.

Surely they won't stick with all black? They can easily add in the paint job post production on the film- but I find it curious they just didn't give him one already painted-

truffin1 wrote:Tenez: I just got a text from a friend at Indian wells- he is watching fed shoot a Wilson commercial for the racquet as I type!  So the new marketing is starting. Interestingly though- fed is using the all black racquet!!  No paint job.  

Surely they won't stick with all black?   They can easily add in the paint job post production on the film- but I find it curious they just didn't give him one already painted-

Told you! You (Americans) are quick to make the most profit of any opportunity. Bizarre indeed that the choose to leave the racquet Black....though I m sure they'll photoshop when needed.

So maybe not IW but Miami could be the introduction of the new paint job.

Interesting photo....



No Rog, that's MY racquet...when are they going to give you a proper nice-looking painted one?

noleisthebest wrote:Interesting photo....



No Rog, that's MY racquet...when are they going to give you a proper nice-looking painted one?

some good videos of them practicing together.  on a court next to highway with cars whizzing by.. I wonder if any of those drivers knew who the headband tennis player to their left was!!?

Intersting- in every video I am seeing of Fed's practices this week with Edberg- there is little net play, no serve and volley being worked on.

Not surprised with no serve, I believe it is the shot that hurts his back. It was Stan who served first in each set today.....to save Federer's back I guess.