ATP: Roger Federer plans with a proven “less is more strategy

After the knockout. Roger Federer took a long break in his opening match in Miami. As in 2017, the record Grand Slam winner will forego the clay court season – and will therefore also miss the French Open. For the 36-year-old, there was no alternative. In the late autumn of his career, Federer relies on the proven “less is more strategy”.

Not so long ago, the Masters tournament in Miami was once regarded by the industry as the “fifth Grand Slam”. It was the biggest, most important, most prestigious tournament next to the four majors and the professional world championship. But the fame and the importance have used up over the years, other competitions have long passed with a lot of money.

Indian Wells for example, the tournament in the California desert, a toy of software billionaire Larry Ellison. 2018 is also a farewell performance, it’s the final showdown on the island Key Biscayne, next year the Masters will guest on the mainland, in and around the Miami Dolphins’ hard rock stadium.

In the ideal world they would have wished for one last big exclamation mark, under the palm trees of Key Biscayne. Great names, great winners at this divide of the tournament, at this historic moment. Best are Serena Williams and Roger Federer, the two dominant players of that era. But what then happened was somehow more in keeping with the dreariness of recent years, the creeping loss of reputation, the crash in the hierarchy of the travelling circus.

Serena Williams, no wonder, lost to Naomi Osaka from Japan right from the start. After her baby break Williams struggled to get back to her old class. But Saturday evening was a shock moment for this tournament, for the last hurrah in Key Biscayne, for this traditional location.

It was the moment when, in short, this happened: Roger Federer, the hero of the whole tennis world, came, saw and left. On the one hand, not completely surprisingly, he lost 6:3, 3:6 and 6:7 (4:7) against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis after the exhausting 2018 season opener.

And yet it was, on the other hand, an astonishment because this defeat against a 21-year-old, who is still struggling after a tough comeback after eternal injury problems – in Miami Kokkinakis, number 175 in the world rankings, had to make his way into the main field by qualifying.

The fact that he now loses his number one position in the charts to the injured absent Rafael Nadal after the crash was confirmed by Federer: “After this match I deserve it, too” Federer’s verdict to put an end to his business trips and tournament guest performances was just as consistent.

As last year, the 36-year-old veteran will not take part in the tiring slide exercises in the red sand. Even before the defeat in Miami, after “a very short discussion with the coaching team,” he decided to skip the entire ash field series, including the French Open in Paris.

According to the current state of affairs, the official contractual situation, Federer would only return to the Gerry Weber Open from the 18th century onwards. Federer plans to return to Halle on June 6, where he will win a title for the tenth time for the first time in his career. So far there is no agreement with the previous Stuttgart ATP tournament (from 11. June), but it is not unlikely that the father of four will also serve there.

For some in the scene, Federer’s decision is seen as a risk, a risk that he puts too much of everything on the map of a successful return to Lawn. In reality, this decision is first and foremost one thing: without alternatives. Federer has to manage his now limited resources well, even in Indian Wells he felt the consequences of his new hussar ride at the start of the season.

In Miami, he was missing the last bite, the last consequence of the game. He never really got going, as he himself said, “Now it’s a matter, according to Federer, “to recover, to take it easy on your body and then to put in a large training block in order to be prepared for the rest of the season.

So especially for the grass court season with Wimbledon and then again for the hard court series with the US Open. The less is more strategy also follows an overriding goal of the maestro, which he formulated as follows: “I want to continue playing tennis as long as possible. That’s why you have to plan it all very carefully.”

Federer could also have referred to the actually precarious situation at the top of the world, to the injury misery that plagues and plagues other top cracks. Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are paying a bitter tribute to the efforts in the treadmill of the tour, when and how long they can return at all is uncertain.

In addition, there are the mysteries of comebacker Novak Djokovic, who failed in his first match in Key Biscayne, as he did in Indian Wells before. The tournament will now have to say goodbye to its old venue with a remarkable entry – with the fact that for the first time in almost twelve years (Hamburg 2006) none of the Big Four (Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic) even reached the third Masters round.