Roger Federer Wins in Bercy Friday by Richard Evans

Written by: Staff on 1st November 2013

BNP Paribas 2013 Masters Tennis Tournament

Roger Federer Wins in Bercy Friday by Richard Evans

epa03932628 Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts after winning his quarter final match against Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina at the BNP Paribas 2013 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 01 November 2013. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

Roger Federer had a succinct phrase to describe the fact that all eight players who have qualified for the ATP World Finals in London next week made it through to the quarter finals of this BNP Paribas Masters here at Bercy.

“Super professional”.

Federer was talking soon after he had produced one of his best performances of a frustrating year, defeating Juan Martin del Potro, the Argentine who had beaten him in Basel last Sunday, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Federer went on to compare the attitude of today’s top players with those who were highly ranked in his early days on the tour. “I don’t get the sense that many players are extremely tired. I remember 10, 15 years ago we would come here like ‘Oh God, I just want to go on vacation’ you know? This year I don’t feel like this. When I speak to players everyone is eager to do well and play well. It’s become super professional. It’s less up and down with the mood swings. Back in the day it was much more extreme. It seems like we are recovering quicker and take every tournament extremely serious. It’s a good day overall for tennis.”

It was also a very good day for Federer. He turned back the clock in the first set against del Potro, swinging freely off both flanks with top-spin dominating as he pushed his tall opponent to the far corners of the court. The crowd were with him right from the start and their fervor really impacts on their favorites here.

“I think it was unbelievable support,” he said. “To get that kind of support so early in the match, when I was 3-1, 4-1 up in the first set really lifted my spirits and pushed me to keep on going.”

He missed a break point opportunity at the start of the second and then found the going tougher as del Potro fought his way back into the match and grabbed his opportunity at 5-4 when Federer’s forehand, so smooth early on, slipped out of gear and cost him a crucial break.

Too often in the past few months that has been a signal for Federer to slide out of matches as he loses his timing off the ground. But not today.

“I think I did well to start stronger this time around in the third set,” he said. “It was something I couldn’t quite do in Basel. I think I was hitting a better ball today and moving well and taking good decisions time and time again. So I was happy with my level of play today.”

Federer will have to maintain that level on Saturday when he faces Novak Djokovic who produced a brilliant display of near faultless tennis in his first set against Federer’s Swiss Davis Cup colleague Stan Wawrinka. The Serb won 6-1, 6-4 and, not surprisingly, felt he had played ‘a great match’.

But Djokovic was quick to point out that the recent improvements in his game didn’t just happen and, as Federer had been saying, pointed out that it requires a high level of professionalism to produce tennis of this standard.

“I had to work many, many hours on the practice court that you guys don’t see,” he said, smiling. “It’s all work and it’s a constructive approach towards an improvement. Coming to the net is one of the improvements I had recently.”

All players have a hit for 20 to 30 minutes before their matches and then do loosening exercises in the locker room. Some people might think that was sufficient. But minutes before going on court, Djokovic could be spotted in the corridor outside the players’ lounge swinging through forehands and backhands and flexing his leg muscles. This is what the champions do – leave nothing to chance; do the maximum no matter how repetitive and boring it might be. It is what has made this generation of players – and especially the Top Four that has dominated the men’s game since 2005 – so special and so seemingly unbeatable.

Richard Gasquet had a lot of things going for him when he walked out to play Rafael Nadal. The raucous crowd of some 15,000 was going to cheer him to the rafters. The medium-fast court and fast balls would suit his game — he had, after all reached a Wimbledon semi-final and won two ATP titles at Nottingham on grass. And he had been playing some of the best tennis of his career. Add the fact that Nadal has never really enjoyed playing indoors and it was not unreasonable for French hopes to be high.

But tennis doesn’t work out like that. Gasquet lost 6-4, 6-1 in I hour 7 minutes.

The crowd got to cheer a few typical Gasquet winners off his beautiful one handed backhand but it was never enough to trouble Nadal who is playing further forward in the court now and simply hit the ball too hard, with too much top-spin and far too much accuracy for the Frenchman. All the world’s top eight are great players. But some are simply greater than others. Which is sort of born out by a stat I omitted in the previous paragraph. Nadal had played Gasquet eleven times before tonight and the score was 11-0.

Topics: ATP World Tour Finals, Juan Martin Del Potro, Paris tennis news, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Sports

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10sBalls_com says:

November 1, 2013 at 3:20 pm

Roger Federer Wins in Bercy Friday by @Ringham7 – http://t.co/8jPFIoiyrS @rogerfederer @bnppmasters @BleacherReport @TMZ_Sports @FedererNews