Roger Federer Magic -- Court Explorer

Often times when you watch Roger Federer play, you get the sense that there is a desire on his part to satisfy the latent ability he has to access almost every part of the court with his shots by playing, naturally, points of extremely high difficulty with great ease. It is not uncommon to see Federer mix in combinations of individually unique and difficult shots and, in doing so, disarm an opponent whose arsenal simply cannot sustain such an intense rally. To paraphrase David Foster Wallace from his landmark article "Roger Federer as Religious Experience": "It's a spectacular winner...but watching it live, you can see that it's also a winner that Federer started setting up four or even five shots earlier." Precisely the feeling one gets when watching the following clip. In it you will see the following: + a cat-and-mouse running down the line defensive backhand slice to draw a cross-court forehand from the opponent + a quick defense-to-offense transition by way of a running down-the-line forehand over the high part of the net from outside the doubles alley + sneaking in by way of a wrong-footing delicate chip approach into the opponent's backhand + an authoritative, acutely angled high backhand, over-the-shoulder semi-overhead winner Again, in the words of D.F. Wallace: "Everything after that first down-the-line slice was designed by the Swiss to maneuver and lull and then disrupt [his opponent's] rhythm and balance and open up that last, unimaginable angle." And so it goes: just another typical point from Roger Federer.

YouTube | May 15, 2008

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