The Only Thing You Should Copy From Roger Federer

In today's video, I explain why you should copy only one thing from Roger Federer.

Mentioned: Style vs Fundamentals

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[raresticks]

Nick, Recently Dani Medvedev told a story about a fellow junior in Russia that hit his forehand identically to Roger. It was so spot on that from a distance you could win a bar bet touting it was Roger himself on the court. As a cautionary tale to amateur players Dani mentioned that this junior could not put a single ball in the court. The style and shape of the shot were perfect but it did not translate for another player.

[negarsh]

Style vs Fundamentals is an extremely important point you raised. Fundamentals are coming from the 'play' itself, its rules, mechanics and how to execute the movements and strokes correctly. On the other hand, style is coming from the 'player'; it is specific to that player and his body, and obviously is not supposed to fit all. By copying, we force our body to act in opposition to its own normal movement and intuition, and that is why copying styles forcefully does not work.

[jbf-ev]

Nick, most of the problems you identify have relatively simple solutions. You can't just do half of a stroke correctly and expect it to work.

For example, Federer hits what may be called a "chop slice." He does this so the first part of it looks identical to how he hits a "knife slice." My kids and I have tried it and it's arguably easier than the conventional slice that I was used to hitting, and it also is very similar to how he hits a short approach shot and one variation of a backhand volley, and even similar to how he hits a drop shot. But there is one key point people need to understand: the point of contact is critical. If someone is consistently hitting a "chop slice" into the net, he or she should simply adjust the swing so the contact point is closer to the net, and the racket head will lay back more and that will bring the ball up. Easy. Works on approach shots, too. Federer does not swing vertical on all of his slices.

It may be true that the vast majority of players use a bent arm on their forehand, but that doesn't mean they should. Federer's forehand is amazingly simplified. He takes advantage of the biological fact that when you fully extend your arm, it tends to naturally pronate. So he straightens his arm down until the racket is level, and by just relaxing his wrist and arm, the arm will naturally pronate and put his wrist is in an inside-out position, which gives him consistent topspin. When he wants to hit more flat, he initiates the pronation a little sooner, further from the body, so the wrist is pointed more forward instead of inside out. What is nice about this technique (not "style") is that it makes his forehand incredibly short, and makes it easy to return extremely hard-hit balls with little effort.

I have taught my kids (and myself) Federer's forehand (all variations), backhand, slices, serves, regular (serve-like) overheads, and we are currently working on his backhand overhead and tweeners. I also taught them Djokovic's backhand, which my son prefers (my daughter prefers Federer), and our short game is patterned after McEnroe. But my point is, I don't really buy your assertions that what Federer does differently is all "stylistic." To me, it's very technical, based on how various joints work, and the solutions to all the "problems" you discuss are relatively simple - you have to do what Federer does, not some subset of what Federer does. Federer's strokes are minimized, and if you leave anything out, it's probably wrong.

Federer makes it look easy because if you use proper technique, it is easy. It's not style, it's bio-physics.

[rbrianharris]

Anyone who misconstrued your earlier comments as, “hating” is equally unlikely to comprehend a single point you’re making here.

[NORWAYORNOWAY]

"Grigor Dimitrov has entered the chat...." Am I crazy or does Grigor closely mirror RF's so beautiful style? Thanks fro this @ IT!

[lakersshoPSD]

Can you make separate videos for each top player:

- what you shouldn't copy from Djokovic
- what you shouldn't copy from Nadal

Etc etc. I think it would be insightful. Thanks!

[rimawihone]

Understand completely! I am more likely and more consistent with a regular style, to follow, as opposed to unorthodox. Easy as 1-2-3 not 2-1-3 or 3-1-2 or 1-3-2 does that make sense? When breaking down Fed and his word class technique you'll find he makes unique tweaks or will pause etc. and an average JOE or social player (like yours truely) has no show of repeating or reproducing. Thanks coach!

[zcz]

exactly why I miss him on court so much. ATP is much less interesting without Roger's game

[kykwan]

I am a big Federer fan, but I think you are correct that it could be a bad idea to copy him. Good video, coach. Thanks.

[newpurplerider]

You were born to understand and teach tennis, my man. Great content per usual.

[lostaf]

i'd say the most important thing is that the strokes suit your body, you should be comfortable hitting them, instead of trying to look exactly like the pros.

[annifridl]

So basically, what you are saying is no-one has Roger’s natural talent and we shouldn’t even try. And I 100% concur. He is a freak and that’s why we love him.

[Buddhi]

His athleticism in his prime years is unrivaled

[pumpkinman]

He's right. we all love Federer but your own style is the best style for you

[seanparker]

I watch this channel pretty regularly, and love how tennis is almost the only sport where coaches will urge players not to copy expert level players, because they aren’t athletic or flexible enough. I think that any analysis of the fundamental technique of Fed ballstriking would reveal that the hurdle most players would come up against is to fully understand those fundamentals in order to apply them….

[lordbyron]

I used to copy other players when I first started playing …. to my detriment! Find your own stroke, your own serve, your own way of playing from within. Be an island onto yourself and never rely on anyone out there.

[marktace]

I tend to have similar technique on high backhand volleys simply because it works better than my bad habit of letting the tip of the racquet go forward on high volleys and it is the lesser of two “evils”. I don’t see any problem with copying Federer’s backhand as long as you adapt it to your own physical limitations. Personally, since I take the racquet back with a straight arm and have a weak eastern backhand grip I tend to use Stan’s backhand as a template despite not being able to get as good of a turn or finish. Federer’s serve is a good idea for most people with a 30” or more vertical leap so that they can make contact a foot higher than other players the same height, in other words almost nobody. I don’t think the net is the problem with Federer slice backhand. The problem is depth. Federer gets so much backspin that a short slice can be quite effective. The rest of us are just setting up an approach shot for our opponent to attack with.

[victorliendo]

Resuming, Roger overall style of playing is unorthodox, what that means is he is unique: one of the best forehand of all time, one of the best backhand of all time, one of the best servers of all time, one of the best volleys of all time ... weaknesses ? probably in his prime no weaknesses. And what about Nadal ? Do you think it would be any easier to copy that killer forehand ?

[scrobertson]

I’m confused on why arm being straight on forehand contact is an issue? Rafa does this as well, even with his extreme grip. This is common amongst many players- Tsitsipas, Dimitrov, etc. And they both have similar forehands to Fed in terms of grip as well. Feds forehand is not unorthodox at all imo, and neither is any of his game. While everyone has their own technique, Feds is simply the best and unmatched. Unorthodox technique = Medvedev.

[nsa]

Iam little bit confused you said you shouldn't copy rogers backhand but you made a video how to play one handed backhand and told us how federer does it?