French Open 2021: Federer in Fine Form over Istomin
It was a momentous day for the tennis world on Monday when Roger Federer took to the court against Denis Istomin in the first round of the 2021 French Open.
Federer last saw grand slam action on January 30, 2020, in the Australian Open semifinals against Novak Djokovic.
Three slams, one pandemic and 487 days later, Federer was back in action.
From the opening game of the match, which saw Federer break serve, the Swiss was in complete control. Federer won 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 33 minutes, hitting 48 winners, to just 20 unforced errors. A resounding stat line, particularly on a surface where winners are typically harder to come by.
Istomin, who had come through qualifying to reach the French Open main draw, was certainly not 100 percent physically, but on this day, it would not have made a difference, as Federer pulled out all the stops on his way to victory.
Federer hit 8 drop shots.
He made all 8 of these shots and all 8 ended up as winners.
Istomin was frozen on many of these drop shots. A classic Federer special.
Federer was persistent moving forward. He came to the net 24 times, winning 19 of those points, with a blend of serve and volley, chip and charge and aggressive forays forward on the back of big groundstrokes. Surely a tactic that Federer will need to keep applying at Roland Garros and later this summer at Wimbledon. As he gets older, it will be easier for the top guys to beat him from the baseline. Getting to the net, particularly with the serve and volley, much like it was earlier in his career, will be instrumental to his success in 2021.
I was particularly impressed by Federer’s kick serve which was really leaping off the court, allowing him to set up 1-2 punches off the ground and to serve and volley from a close proximity to the net while also hitting the ball above the level of the net. Federer also made strong use of the slider on the deuce side, where he was particularly dominant throughout the match, winning 27/31 points on the deuce court.
Federer was aggressive from the baseline and did a fine job ensuring rallies were of a short length. 100 of the 152 points in the match were 4 shots and under and of those 100 points, Federer won 59. There were only 15 points in the match that went over 9 shots. This is definitely the recipe for success for Federer at this stage of his career, regardless of what surface he is playing on.
The major critique of Federer in this match was how often he used the chip return. It worked to some effect in certain points, but there were other points were Istomin was able to take Federer’s floating return and take immediate command of the point. Against top players, Federer is going to have to either be more aggressive with the chip return or take it earlier and hit it with topspin. It’s a pattern of play that Djokovic and Nadal in particular have absolutely dominated Federer with in the past.
Overall, this was the perfect opening match for Federer, who lost his only other clay court match of the season against Pablo Andujar in Geneva. Federer will likely face a much stiffer challenge in Marin Cilic in Round 2, who is up two sets and a break as I write this. Let’s all enjoy Federer while we can…
***All Stats Via the French Open Website*** :
https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/matches/2021/SM079#TAB-CourtVision