Why Federer’s Greatest Weakness is his Mental Strength

// Opinion

Many view Roger Federer to be the greatest player to ever play the game. He moves with unparalleled elegance, strikes with drone-like precision and wins with a genre-defining grace.

Despite his inherent GOATness, Federer does lose. He is human. He has weaknesses.

Many point to his one-handed backhand as his weakness. After all, that pesky one-hander cost him titles to his greatest rival, Rafael Nadal. I am not convinced that his backhand is truly that weak. He has one of the best topspin one-handed backhands on tour, certainly comparable to the the mighty Stan Wawrinka, and his backhand slice is arguably the most poisonous of all time.

Not only that, but we’ve seen Roger step in to the court and take Nadal’s heavy forehands for winners, earning his 2017 backhand the nickname, “neo-backhand.”

Federer Can’t Actually Defy Time

As Federer ages, one could argue that his speed has suffered, but he more than makes up for less explosive movement with telepathic anticipation. In his younger years, his speed was vastly underrated, as he used it to command the court aggressively, rather than for defensive purposes. Points against Andre Agassi in Dubai and tournament like Cincy 2015 prove how fast Federer actually is. To understand what Federer’s greatest weakness is, we have to look scenarios where something tangible cost him a victory, and we have to use fellow all-time greats as benchmarks. Comparing Federer’s game to any less than an All-Time great would be like comparing at 5.0 to a 4.0 player. Even a 5.0’s weakest shot can be well up to snuff against a 4.0.

Federer’s Greatest Rivals

We can’t talk about Federer’s legacy without mentioning the two men that have hurt it most, Nadal and Djokovic. Let’s start by looking at Federer’s big losses: Wimbledon 2008 (l. Nadal), the 2009 Australian Open (l. Nadal), the 2011 US Open (l. Djokovic), and 2019 Wimbledon (l. Djokovic). Federer had chances to win in each of these matches. He admits that a big factor in his 2008 Wimbledon loss to Nadal was the utter beat-down he suffered months earlier in Paris. Never before had Federer looked so helpless on a tennis court. I.e. his lack on confidence lost him the match, meaning his mental strength let him down. The same could be said about the 2009 AO final, a match Federer felt he could have won, where he completely fell apart in the 5th set, committing a double fault in the final game, conceding the tournament with a wildly long unforced error. In 2011, Djokovic hit one lucky shot to stay in the US Open semifinal, but the circumstances surrounding the shot seemed to instantly enrage Roger. In his post-match press conference, Federer was visibly angry, insisting that he would never “slap” at the ball the way Djokovic did on the 40-15 return winner. It was clear that Federer’s focus had dropped, once again his mental strength costing his a match. The 2019 Wimbledon final should speak for itself. Federer squandered 2 match points and failed to sustain a high level during important moment in the tiebreakers.

Federer Can Be Too Proud To Change His Strategy

There are also example of matches that Federer could have won, but he made an execution error. The 2012 Australian Open loss to Nadal and the 2009 US Open loss to Del Potro come to mind. In 2009, Delpo was tearing up the American Summer hard court swing, demolishing players left and right with his nuclear forehand. Federer decides the best way to beat Delpo in the US Open final is to use his low, knifing slice to Delpo’s backhand, keeping the ball out of the Argentinian’s strike zone, allowing Federer opportunities to command the court with his forehand. Oh wait, no, Federer actually just hit forehands cross-court the entire match, as if to say, with the stubborn arrogance of a goat, “you think you have a good forehand? Well mine’s better! Do you know how good my forehand is? They say it’s the best ever. EVER!” Of course, on that day, Delpo’s forehand was better and Federer told Vogue that there is no match he regrets losing more than this one (this happened before Wimbledon 2019). Against Nadal in 2012 in Melbourne, Federer won the opening set with sound strategy and aggressive play. However, he lost the next three, after reverting to the cross-court backhand tactic that worked on everyone at the time, except Nadal. Federer often lets his stubbornness and potential arrogance get in the way of finding the winning strategy. He is a great player, and he knows it. He wants to show he’s great by winning the way he wants to win, which does not always line up with the best strategy.

Federer’s Clutch Kryptonite

Compared to other players players of his caliber, his clutch factor comes in to question. The 4 players with the most slams are Federer (20), Nadal (19), Djokovc (17) and Sampras (14). Sampras had a dominant head-to-head against his main rival, Andre Agassi, leading 20-14. Djokovic currently leads his two mains rivals Nadal and Federer, 29-26 and 27-23 respectively. Nadal has a winning record against one of his main rivals, Federer, leading 24-16. Federer, despite having the most slams, seems to lose to his rivals more than comparable ATG’s. If Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time, which I believe he may be, then his game should be enough to get him the win. But when Federer plays these mental giants, his tennis game alone is not enough. His mental strength is the piece of his game that breaks first. Sometimes he chokes, sometimes he loses confidence and sometimes he’s too stubborn to change his game plan. All of these are forms of mental weakness, meaning that Federer’s greatest weakness is his mental strength.

by Beckett Chung, media wizard @theslicetennis