Roger Federer: How the Swiss Maestro Can Win a 17th Grand Slam

Prior to Grand Slams, those tennis fans who fancy their chances as oracles often draw up their own predictions for the bracket of that major.

A large percentage of those brackets previewing this year's Australian Open saw 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer fall in the semifinals at the hands of none other than his biggest rival, Rafael Nadal.

And they were right.

Tennis fans are growing accustomed to Federer losing to Rafa. This rivalry—which is arguably the greatest of all time—is fairly one-sided. Though the stats all point towards Nadal being dominant, winning a sizable amount of matches against the Spaniard isn't beyond reach.

You see, a good amount of the encounters between the two greats follow a pattern: Federer is the first one out of the gate, and it takes Nadal a while to wake up. In the first few games, Federer is superior and often wins the first set.

Next, Rafa rises out of the slump, and it's basically all downhill from there for Federer. Whatever break points he does have, Federer fails to convert; as a result his belief is diminished and more often than not, he ends up losing the match.

The question is, what can he do about it?

Over the years, Federer fanatics have been drawing up tactics for their beloved hero, as his losses to Nadal have been accumulating.

A shortage of game plans against Nadal was a major factor in Federer's hiring of Paul Annacone, Pete Sampras' former coach.

This much-anticipated move, however, hasn't yielded many results against Rafa, mostly because Federer has hardly changed his strategy against his rival.

The few times that Federer has hit hard balls with lots of topspin to Nadal's backhand—which is like giving Rafa a taste of his own medicine—it has worked. Another thing in which Federer has found success but doesn't do on a regular basis is the serve to Nadal's backhand on the deuce court.

These are some examples of the strategies that Federer doesn't persist with; he normally sticks to mixing his shots up, rather than hitting mostly to Nadal's backhand.

For argument's sake, let's say that Federer were to beat Nadal in the semifinals of a tournament, and advance to the final, where he would most likely meet Novak Djokovic (Andy Murray is the other option, but Federer has always seemed to have his number).

The last few major meetings between Federer and Djokovic have been extremely interesting. Federer infamously lost two consecutive US Open semifinals in five sets to the Serb after holding two match points in each encounter.

Djokovic has won four out of the last five matches between the two, but the one in which Federer came out on top was at Roland Garros in 2011. He was fantastic, and as a result prevailed in four sets—only to lose to Nadal in the final.

That all the matches in this rivalry are closer than those in either the Federer-Nadal or the Nadal-Djokovic rivalry makes the whole "Big 3" situation more interesting. 

Federer has shown that he can beat the world No. 1—or at least match the quality of his game.

In order to beat Djokovic, Federer can absolutely not let him dictate play, even though Federer can afford to do so against other opponents.

And how can he do that?

In general, Federer's key to playing on his own terms is to serve big, but even more so against Djokovic, because he is the kind of player who will pounce on any bad serve. In addition to pace, he has to keep Djokovic guessing on the return, so that he can't find his comfort zone.

When Federer returns serve against Djokovic, he will also have to stand closer to the baseline, if not inside. Federer has found success in that strategy not only against Djokovic, but even against people like Nadal and Murray.

And finally, maybe the biggest key against Djokovic, he must remain patient, and make the Serb run. Like Nadal, Djokovic hardly misses, and the only times that Federer beat Nadal soundly, he didn't let anything get to him. He started off so well in the 2011 US Open semifinal, because he was running Djokovic, and keeping out of his rhythm.

That's what he must do in a potential final or semifinal encounter with Nole.

Apart from these two, no one causes Federer too many problems. Granted, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat him last time, and Tomas Berdych came out on top a while ago, but the two highest-ranked players have proven the biggest obstacles for the Swiss Maestro.

Were he to meet them, they would be the same keys as against Djokovic.

If Federer differs his strategy against Nadal and does the same against Djokovic, except for holding his nerve, a 17th Grand Slam isn't out of reach.

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