Roger Federer copies Pete Sampras game plan, says former No. 1

July 2, 2001. The new millennium had started a few months ago and the world was about to really change, but no one knew yet. We would all have noticed it a short time later, on a late summer day, glued to our televisions tuned to the same event around the world.

On July 2, however, summer had just begun and September was still far off. Like every year, the first weeks of summer bring tennis to its temple: in south-west London, on the lawn of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, better known as Wimbledon.

Roger Federer, who today has twenty Grand Slams in his collection and a few dozen records broken, was not yet twenty and had not yet entered the top 10 in the world, he was fifteenth.

He was already talked about as a gifted boy with a racket, of course, but he is still far away, far from being the universal symbol of tennis royalty and it does not seem so to us today. It was a promise, in short: a boy who was said very good things in circuit circles, with a stylistically not impeccable ponytail and the face of the teenager who has just ceased to be.

With shots not yet perfect and a character yet to form. The strongest of all, that July 2, 2001, was another. An introverted and taciturn Greek American with a good boy face and dark curls, as shy in life as he is disruptive on the tennis court: in the American registry office he is registered as Petros, for the rest of the world he is Pete, and the last name is Sampras.

The ruler of the 90s. Former world number one Andy Roddick has made a specific comparison between two modern tennis greats, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, in terms of their style of play.

Roddick on Roger Federer and Pete Sampras

“That changed even before this latest injury,” Andy Roddick said in a recent interview. “We all made a big problem with the bigger racket; Roger Federer is hitting slices on his backhand.

That was not a necessity. He didn’t want to play defensively so much. If the play didn’t end in the first two or three shots, I was going to make sure it was all over by the fourth shot, unless it was a deuce or an equal 30, “he continued.

“Similar to what we saw of Pete Sampras for much of his career” After a six-month break from surgery, Federer returned to the tour physically refreshed and mentally free without the weight of expectations.

Federer worked with his coach Ivan Lubiĉić on a flatter, harder and earlier backhand in the meantime. He returned to his initial technique, extending both arms behind him, rising on his power-charged right leg.

The “neo-backhand” is widely recognized for having won the 2017 Australian Open as he was able to play short points, hitting winners on return of serve and creating sharp angles early in rallies.

Most importantly, Federer was able to neutralize Nadal’s forehand in the final with such a powerful and flat shot. The setback helped him win more titles, including that year’s Wimbledon and the 2018 Australian Open.

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