The Swiss has been extremely solid in his first Roland Garros appearance since 2019.
Roger’s back at #RG and he’s marched through six sets without too much trouble in Paris. Next up the 2009 champion will face Casper Ruud of Norway.
Here are five takeaways from Federer’s performance through two rounds in Paris.
He’s Loose
From first ball on Day 1, Federer has played loose, confident tennis. Things were complicated today against Otte at times, but Federer saved all four break points he faced and was never really in any kind of big trouble. He looks fluid, his shot selection makes perfect sense and he’s connecting the dots extremely well in rallies.
He’s also firing on serve, connecting on 75 percent of his first offering and winning 80 percent of those points. You do the math—he’s not going to get broken very often with those numbers.
Federer is also loose in terms of his expectations here in Paris. This might be a more important contributing factor with regard to his potential success. Asked before the tournament if he felt he could win the title he didn’t seem to have an answer. In fact, it didn’t even seem to matter. He just wants to experience the tennis and play his best. As long as he doesn’t suffer some kind of injury ahead of Wimbledon his first trip to Roland Garros will be a major success for him.
He’s a very dangerous animal when he’s playing care-free like that and the more he can keep it up the more dangerous he will be for the top players he faces in week two.
Experience is Helping Him
Federer’s next opponent, 20-year-old Casper Ruud, is a talented clay-courter from Norway. He was also born about six months before Federer made his first main draw appearance at Roland Garros. This fact is not just a novelty, there’s an advantage to be gained from all of Federer’s vast experience, and he’ll use it in the next round and in all the rounds to come. With 344 Grand Slam wins under his belt, Federer knows a thing about dealing with the types of pressure that come with the Grand Slam stage.
Meanwhile, Ruud won his third match at a Grand Slam today. He’s got some catching up to do.
Maestro Mode
Let’s not forget that Federer is without a doubt one of the best clay-court tennis players of all time and this is because of his tremendous variety and tennis IQ. Behold some of the drop shots that Federer can hit on this surface, or the way that only five players still in the draw have come to the net more than him.
Federer can do it all on this surface, and he uses his serve on clay as a point-starter. It has enabled him to win 28 of his 29 service games while only hitting 10 aces through two rounds.
The Next Two Matches Are Key!
With Stefanos Tsitsipas looming as a potential quarter-final match, Federer will want to be aggressive, keep holding his serve and power through his next two matches as quickly as possible. He has spent just 3:17 on court thus far. With Ruud next and either Nicolas Mahut, Diego Schwartzman or Leonardo Mayer in the round of 16 he can really do himself a huge favor by winning with efficiency—he’s certainly playing well enough to do it.
So Far, So Good
The next round will likely be a tougher test, and it will surely be a wild ride in the second week, but for now Roger Federer’s clay court season has been an astounding success.
