How did Federer become a much better returner in 2003?

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
I was shifting a bit through old data and was surprised by the big jump between 2002 and 2003. Does anybody have a clue how that happened?

Note also the impact on his overall win percentage, from 72.6% to 82.8%. One year later he would be transform his overall in improvement into his >90 win percentage streak.


Mouse over column headers (on all tables) for stat definitions. Click on years for results from that season.
Year​
M​
W​
L​
Win%​
Set W-L​
Set%​
Game W-L​
Game%​
TB W-L​
TB%​
MS​
Hld%​
Brk%​
A%​
DF%​
1stIn​
1st%​
2nd%​
SPW​
RPW​
TPW​
DR​
Best​
2006
97​
92​
5​
94.8%​
221-40​
84.7%​
1552-962​
61.7%​
37-14​
72.5%​
95​
90.2%​
31.6%​
8.8%​
1.6%​
62.7%​
76.7%​
58.9%​
70.1%​
42.0%​
55.6%​
1.40​
W (12x)
2005
85​
81​
4​
95.3%​
194-31​
86.2%​
1340-859​
60.9%​
28-11​
71.8%​
84​
89.2%​
30.7%​
9.1%​
2.3%​
62.9%​
76.3%​
58.6%​
69.8%​
41.7%​
55.2%​
1.38​
W (11x)
2004
81​
75​
6​
92.6%​
179-33​
84.4%​
1245-769​
61.8%​
21-5​
80.8%​
74​
91.6%​
30.5%​
10.1%​
2.8%​
61.6%​
78.2%​
57.6%​
70.3%​
41.5%​
55.5%​
1.40​
W (11x)
2003
93​
77​
16​
82.8%​
181-54​
77.0%​
1356-934​
59.2%​
28-17​
62.2%​
82​
87.1%​
30.2%​
10.3%​
3.9%​
59.5%​
76.8%​
56.1%​
68.4%
41.8%
54.6%
1.32​
W (7x)
2002
84​
61​
23​
72.6%​
142-63​
69.3%​
1130-873​
56.4%​
18-12​
60.0%​
78​
86.0%​
24.9%​
9.0%​
3.5%​
59.9%​
75.8%​
53.5%​
66.9%​
38.7%​
52.6%​
1.17​
W (3x)
2001
70​
49​
21​
70.0%​
123-73​
62.8%​
1069-927​
53.6%​
27-17​
61.4%​
66​
83.4%​
23.3%​
9.1%​
3.5%​
59.6%​
74.4%​
52.6%​
65.6%​
38.5%​
51.9%​
1.12​
W (Milan)
2000
66​
36​
30​
54.5%​
93-80​
53.8%​
886-850​
51.0%​
18-16​
52.9%​
57​
82.1%​
19.3%​
8.3%​
4.2%​
58.5%​
72.2%​
52.4%​
64.0%​
36.2%​
50.4%​
1.01​
F (2x)
1999
30​
13​
17​
43.3%​
36-44​
45.0%​
389-414​
48.4%​
6-11​
35.3%​
25​
75.7%​
20.1%​
6.1%​
4.5%​
57.6%​
70.4%​
48.9%​
61.3%​
36.3%​
49.0%​
0.94​
SF (Vienna)
1998
5​
2​
3​
40.0%​
4-6​
40.0%​
46-48​
48.9%​
1-1​
50.0%​
5​
76.1%​
21.7%​
7.8%​
4.5%​
55.5%​
70.8%​
50.4%​
61.7%​
37.5%​
49.4%​
0.98​
QF (Toulouse)
Career
1545​
1265​
280​
81.9%​
3072-978​
75.9%​
23142-16637​
58.2%​
466-248​
65.3%​
1458​
88.8%​
26.6%​
10.0%​
2.4%​
62.1%​
77.3%​
56.8%​
69.5%​
39.7%​
54.1%​
1.30
 
It was around 2002 Hamburg that he switched.

OT: Fed was always a good returner, it was the physical developments he made in that 2002-2004 period that made the difference in return games.

This seems to be the most likely explanation.
 
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