Roger Federer's $13 Million Backhand Transformation
In the summer of 2016, Roger Federer lost in the semi-finals at Wimbledon to Milos Raonic and missed the remainder of the season due to a knee injury.
In December 2016, Federer did a live q and a and answering a fans question Federer said “I’ll try to fix my backhand of course, I’ve been trying to fix that thing for 25 years, so I’ll keep trying”
When Federer showed up in Melbourne for the 2017 Australian Open, he showed us his NEO backhand.
Federer’s backhand has always been the thorn in his side against his main rivals Nadal and Djokovic.
Nadal famously bullied Federer’s backhand on clay, but also used the same strategy on other surfaces.
Whilst it’s never been a weakness, it was always the side that pros favoured on the clutch points.
Think about how often we’ve seen Nadal hit heavy topspin forehands into Federer’s backhand until he got the shorter ball which allowed Rafa to punish Roger. In the 2017 Australian open final however, Nadal faced a new challenge...
So what exactly did Federer change?
Was it a technical change or a tactical one?
In my opinion, it was a tactical change that lead to slight technical change, but it wasn’t anything major technically. It’s not like he completed changed his swing. The mindset heading into the 2017 played a major role in his new found weapon.
Federer himself said his expectations were very low and that he had hoped that by mid 2017, he’d be inside the top 10. By having such low expectations, he was able to play freely, as if he had nothing to lose.
This allowed him to be much more aggressive with his backhand.
Federer stepped up the court much more and started taking his backhands earlier, often on the rise, which allowed him to hit the ball before it got too high up in the strike zone.
Because of this more aggressive court positioning, and the more ideal contact zone, Federer was able to hit through the ball more and hit flatter shots. When you’re six feet behind the baseline, it’s very hard to flatten out the ball, as you’re in a much more defensive position and the margins don’t allow you to hit flatter.
Federer also changed his game plan when starting points, he would often start with the slice backhand and then look to drive but changed this to driving the first backhand and looking to take control of points earlier in the rally.
Federer ended up the season 2017 with 54-5 win loss record and won both the Aussie open and Wimbledon and amazed $13,054,856 in prize money alone.
Video Timeline:
00:00 - Disaster strikes Federer in 2016
00:55 - The NEO backhand debuts at the 2017 Australian Open
01:52 - Federer's transformation won him $13,054,856 in 2017
02:50 - Low expectations helped Roger win
04:30 - Federer's tactical change in 2017
05:40 - Roger's incredible 2017 season in numbers
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