Roger Federer Clay Court issues, Is Federer ready for French Open
He is the best player in tennis but the spring clay court season is not off to a very good start for Roger Federer. The professional who last year captured an impressive victory on the red clay at the French Open is showing some signs of rust this season. His poor start has some questioning whether he will be able to maintain his number one ranking throughout this year.
Federer took on the 40th ranked player in the world at the ATP Rome Masters, April 27th and lost in three sets. While the Swiss native cruised to a 6-2 first set victory his opponent from Latvia battled back to capture the next two, 6-1 and 7-5. Ernests Gilbis now advances to the third round and Federer is left to work on his game and try to return to top form.
Federer did not appear to be himself in his second round match in Rome. He made a number of unforced errors which are very uncharacteristic for the man with 62 tour victories including 16 Grand Slam wins. At his website, rogerfederer.com, he promised to work on his game. He blames the loss on his poor play as well as the strong play of his opponent, “my game was definitely not up to speed.” He writes, “I hope I can come back from this which is usually what I do after a loss like this.” Federer praised his opponent who he says has a great future, “he has immense power on both sides and one of the fastest serves in the game.”
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Federer has four weeks to get ready for the French Open which is the biggest of all the tournaments played on clay and does not seem too concerned. This may be déjà vu for Federer who was being written off by many of the so called experts at this time last year who believed the king of the court was about to be dethroned by Rafael Nadal. All Federer did at Roland Garos was prove that he was still a champion to be reckoned with. Federer won the French Open and Wimbledon to beat Pete Sampras’s record for the most Grand Slam wins and lay claim to the title that he is the greatest tennis player of all time.
The only thing working against Federer right now is Father Time. He is 28 years old now and the father of young twins and may be finding it harder to deal with the daily grind of the world tour. He has losses already this season at Key Biscayne and Indian Wells and some are comparing him to Serena Williams, saying that he can only get pumped up for the Grand Slams. He did capture the Australian Open this year proving that he is far from washed up.
Federer plans to play in two more clay court tournaments before he competes in the French Open which is scheduled for the week of May 23. The week of May 3rd he will be in Portugal for the Estoril Open and then travel to Madrid the following week for the Mutua Madrilena Masters 2010 where he is the defending champion. Federer showed last year that he can adapt his game to play on the clay surface which slows down the ball and produces a very high bounce. Typically, players with a strong serve like Federer are not as effective on the clay as they are on other harder surfaces but as we have learned so many times in the past never underestimate the greatest tennis player of all time.usually what I do after a loss like this."
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