MercedesCup: When the attacking ball is completely gaga: Roger Federer declares trembling victory

Roger Federer explained well after his victory over Mischa Zverev why first laps are critical even for a 20-time major winner.

By Florian Goosmann from Stuttgart

He had just shot the match, and then this mistake. Roger Federer knew pretty well what he had done. 3:6, 4:2 was from his point of view when he broke off the rally after a long shot by Mischa Zverev and tried the Hawk Eye – and the seconds between the challenge and the screen lasted forever.

Zverev’s ball was good, Federer had secretly known it all along, but now it was officially 0:30; shortly afterwards Zverev had made the re-break, everything was open again in set two and the crowd puller at the MercedesCup was again only a few points away from another early end in Stuttgart.

In the first movement Federer had already felt how close happiness and misfortune are. The Swiss started strongly, didn’t allow anything on his own serve, had four break chances – and failed by millimetres on the line, on the net or due to a great reaction from Zverev. In return, Zverev came out of nowhere to a 0:40, shortly afterwards the set was gone.

“It was difficult. I missed a few chances in the first set, played a bad service game and he was there at the right moment,” Federer also knew. “But I’m mega happy to be back on tour.” And to win? “Feels great. “I lost my last two games, it’s even nicer there.”

3:6, 6:4, 6:2 after an hour and a half, and the result is clearer than the match was. Federer played some nice points, but also met many forehands on the frame on this uncomfortable, cold and windy day, which had not invited to grass tennis, this art form of tennis.

He has jumped out of the early stalls after the two appearances in the past years, which – for Federer’s standards – ended too early. “Of course these thoughts come to mind. The third year in which things may not be going as well here…” Federer pondered at the press conference. “So I was happy to have the support of the audience. At the same time, printing creates. People think: If we cheer him on, he’ll come back, that’s Federer… It’s not that simple, Zverev had the sceptre in his hand.”

Federer described the difficulty in best-of-three mode, especially on grass, as “just staying calm”, the tip in tennis that he likes to talk about, doesn’t always fit. “On the best-of-five, it’s a marathon. Here it’s more of a sprint. It’s okay to get a little hectic. You can stay calm when you’re in front. But even then you have to keep playing forward. You always have to have energy, because on grass every rally counts.”

Federer did not want to hang his cold start too high after 81 days out of the tournament. “First laps are always different. You are not used to the Center Court yet, your opponent, the balls, today not even the cold, with wind. You have to find your way in.” It usually takes three rounds and six to eight sets until you start to feel good. “So we play our best tennis at the end of a tournament.”

The match against Zverev, especially the goddamn service game in set one: a good example of Federer’s theory. “You could lose a game and you don’t know why. Perhaps once the wrong decision on the second serve, served too slowly in the forehand… At 0:30, I can no longer play free, because I have played too little in the past, and put myself under too much pressure. And at 0:40, I get to the net through the middle with the forehand – I’ve never done that before in my life, but I didn’t know which way to play. I didn’t want to make a mistake, so I thought: attack through the middle. And then I make a stupid forehand volley mistake because I know the attacking ball was completely spassed. “That’s how you pay the price and you can lose the match.”

Often there are only five stupid points, “but that’s exactly what makes the difference”. In general, however, after the good training sessions of the past weeks, he has the feeling that he will quickly find his way back in again. “Maybe that’s a healthy confidence I have.” But also Federer sometimes works like all tennis players. “In the end, you’re never as relaxed as you want to be.”

News from the supplier? It doesn’t exist yet, by the way. Federer did not play in white, nor did he play Simona Halep in Melbourne in self-ordered material. “The contract with Nike expired in March,” Federer said. One is in conversations, “I have played through negotiations many times in my career, that is nothing new.

Nevertheless, he hopes that something will soon surrender. And as long as he’s without a contract, we’ll continue with the swoosh. “You’ve been a good partner for 20 years.”

Federer is now free until Friday, when he meets the winner between surprise man Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Guido Pella.