The Federer Effect XI – “Feddy, Feddy, Feddy!!…..X, X, X!!”

Written by: Jason Whittington on 22nd January 2012

The Federer Effect XI - “Feddy, Feddy, Feddy!!.....X, X, X!!”

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns to Bernard Tomic of Australia in their fourth round match at Rod Laver Arena during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 22 January 2012. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

I think we can all agree that for the great Roger Federer the Australian Open really started with a potentially dangerous match against “Ivo The Giant”, capable of blowing anybody on the tour off the court with that mutant serve. Not only did Roger get the job done in three straight sets, he created some magnificent highlight footage with his unbelievable response to Ivo’s dropshot in the middle of the court, somehow Federer got a racket under the ball and lifted it underhanded straight up over a the giant’s outreached arms… sick. Then the defensive backhand SLICE lob over the backhand side of the mid court positioned Ivo… a thing of beauty.

Last night’s highly anticipated Federer match was with the Aussie teenager Bernard Tomic, a player with loads of natural creative ability and clearly apart of the next generation that will be leading the pack. The exciting part of Tomic’s game is the level of intangibles, the part of his game that isn’t taught to him, it’s just released by him and cause severe headaches for his opponents. Unfortunately for the Aussie teen, Roger Federer is THE king of the intangible and has the ability to make these highly creative shots look routine as if they were taught. Part of Federer’s brilliance is his ability…as Patrick McEnroe pointed out, to “Probe” his opponent until he gets a sense of the weapons and weaknesses, this seemed to be established right around the 7^th game of the first set. From that point on it was a schooling of what it’s like when a legacy player is creating that legacy in realtime enlisting Tomic as his witness. This was vintage Federer, relaxed and in control and now into the next round after another straight set victory. Job well done.

PS- What is Berdych thinking… what is his coach and advisors thinking? Berdych had a chance to make this go away… he should have called a press conference, confessed his shortsightedness in the heat of the moment, complimented Almagro on his wonderful play (great match) and apologized for not acting like a professional. He’s ruined, this will NEVER go away, it will be his new legacy. Good luck getting by Nadal and the 18,000 people that you’ll be battling.

Topics: Australian Open, Federer, Tomic