Roger Federer answered some tough questions after he lost the French Open final to Rafael Nadal last year. Let\u2019s take a look at his answers.<\/b><\/p>\n
This will be a short post because I\u2019m off to New Mexico tomorrow and I have to get ready. I\u2019m going to The Lightning Field<\/a> and The Very Large Array<\/a> just south of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n The Lightning Field is a \u201cLand Art\u201d installation comprised of 400 stainless steel poles arranged in a grid that measures one mile by one kilometer. Apparently the best time to experience it is at sunrise so I\u2019ll have to drag my butt out of bed at an ungodly hour once I arrive. The Very Large Array is also a grid. It consists of 27 dishes that each measure 82 feet in diameter arranged in a Y shaped grid. Each arm of the Y is 13 miles long.<\/p>\n The Very Large Array is used to detect evidence of extra-terrestrial life, among other things, and you probably saw it in Jodie Foster\u2019s 1997 film Contact<\/i>. If I don\u2019t get fried by lighting or carted away by extra-terrestrials, I\u2019ll be back for the early rounds of the French Open next week.<\/p>\n I thought about doing a boring French Open preview but luckily I\u2019m prevented from doing that because the draw doesn\u2019t go up until Friday. While I was rooting around the French Open website, I happened upon Roger Federer<\/b>\u2019s post match media session after he was walloped by Rafael Nadal<\/b> in last year\u2019s final, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, and I was very impressed with the tough questions journalists threw at him. Here\u2019s a short example:<\/p>\n Q. Has he improved since this day one year ago, and have you gone off?<\/p>\n ROGER FEDERER: \u2026When you really cannot play your game and he can play exactly what he wants from the baseline, well, you end up with scores like this sometimes.<\/i><\/p>\n Which begs the question: Roger, why don\u2019t you attack more at the net against Rafa? Because, Roger might say, the French Open is not the Madrid Masters where the air is thin and the clay is fast. There I had an advantage. In Paris I might get passed all day long.<\/p>\n Q. Rafa’s offensive skills are obviously improving, but do you believe that still on this surface great defense beats great offense?<\/p>\n ROGER FEDERER: Look, I don’t know if it’s got that much to do with great offense or great defense, it’s just his movement on clay. It’s just better than the rest.<\/p>\n I’ve always said it three years ago already: He plays like two forehands from the baseline because he has an open stance on both sides. I can’t do that, so I lose a meter or two here and there from the baseline. So he’s got a huge advantage in this aspect.<\/i><\/p>\n Two interesting points here: offense vs. defense on clay and open stances and the one handed backhand. Clearly defense means a lot more on clay because you can\u2019t overpower your opponent as you can on a faster surface, but Roger correctly restates the question in terms of movement. Movement might be slightly less important on offense but if you\u2019ve ever seen Rafa run around his backhand, scoop up a low ball then hit an inside out forehand that skitters off the court closer to the service line than the baseline, you can see why movement is the relevant skill.<\/p>\n As for Rafa\u2019s open stance backhand, you can see what Roger means here:<\/p>\n