Roger chips the backhand return, more so in his prime years. It was his go to move to chip it low to the server's backhand which worked great against people like Roddick but not so great against anyone who could hit a topspin backhand down low or is lefthanded.
Well, his chip return is one of the key reasons to his success against Novak, so it's kind of genius there. Might not work that well against everybody, but it's helped him to 3 majors, so can't really complain.
That sums it up.
A slam winner´s biggest weakness isn´t necessarily done in a weak way. If his returns were weak he´d never have won any slams.
I disagree with the notion that Stan only won AO14 due to Rafa’s injury. Stan was already up a set and a break before Rafa started hitting 80 mph first serves.
I noticed something was wrong with Rafa early in the 1st Set actually, because Rafa kept hitting balls far over the baseline continuously, very strange unforced errors that I've never seen before from him.
Chipping it back helps put the ball into play for a neutral rally. Not always but many times. It's not a bad tactic.
Wawrinka woud have loss if it wasn’t for the injury
Where is the evidence that Stan would have lost if not for the injury? As I mentioned, Rafa looked just fine until midway through the second set in which he was already down a set and a break.
Nadal would've beaten Stan. But he wasn't ever gonna beat the Stanimal 2.0
You can disagree all you want, but check out their H2H before the injury.
Check out the H2H between Stan and Novak heading into the QF that year, or between Fed and Dimi at USO this year. While H2H is a good indicator of who is likeliest to win, it doesn’t guarantee a victory for the player leading said H2H. Stan played at a high level in the final up until Rafa’s injury, and he should be given credit for outplaying his opponent during that time.
If Wawrinka's grip was really more western than Fed, he could have done the Almagro return where he really doesn't change his grip that much except for a slight adjustment that is not difficult for Almagro. He would be hitting returns with the same side of the racquet. However, Almagro's grip is more western than Wawrinka's. I actually think Fed's grip is more western than Wawrinka's but not as western as Almagro's, Almagro's is a regular full eastern grip while Fed's is less of a hammer hold.
Gimme a break. RF and Dimitrov?
Actually, I have tried playing with an injury before. Many times. The Fed/Dimi comparison was made because Fed looked fine for at least 3 sets, maybe 4. Obviously the 5th wasn’t a high level, but Dimi hung in there with Fed for the majority of the match. Another match where the winning player hadn’t previously beaten his opponent, but was at the same level on that day. Stan was ahead against Rafa before Rafa’s level dropped significantly, so I don’t see any reason why Rafa would have beaten him considering the scoreline before Rafa was hitting 80 mph first serves.
