Lots of interesting stuff going on in this youtube clip of federer/gonzalez Madrid 2006. Reflecting on how opponents have played gonzalez thusfar in the 2007 AO, one thing that jumps out in the Madrid clip is how federer is perfectly happy to pull Gonzalez off his anchor on the backhand side by hitting to his forehand.
mary carillo has commented repeatedly re: how opponents have tried to "find" gonzalez' backhand with limited success. In Madrid 2006 it appears federer found the gonzalez backhand by happily hitting to the gonzalez forehand. If you give roger that much open court he will use it, he doesn't care if he's hitting to your strength.
I expect to see Federer use the same tactic in the 2007 AO final. It will be interesting to see how Gonzalez' newfound willingness to try and track down every shot will effect Federer's strategy.
Also, I imagine gonzalez will have learned not to drop shot federer on the hard surface. This tactic didn't seem to work very well in Madrid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcqqAAOe8Qo
mary carillo has commented repeatedly re: how opponents have tried to "find" gonzalez' backhand with limited success. In Madrid 2006 it appears federer found the gonzalez backhand by happily hitting to the gonzalez forehand. If you give roger that much open court he will use it, he doesn't care if he's hitting to your strength.
I expect to see Federer use the same tactic in the 2007 AO final. It will be interesting to see how Gonzalez' newfound willingness to try and track down every shot will effect Federer's strategy.
Also, I imagine gonzalez will have learned not to drop shot federer on the hard surface. This tactic didn't seem to work very well in Madrid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcqqAAOe8Qo
