Roger Federer recovered from two sets down, and barely scraped through his first round match 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0, against unheralded Alejandro Falla. First rounder on grass, against the defending and six time champion, you’d think Falla had no chance.
Yet, here he was going toe to toe against Federer, possibly the greatest grass court player of all time, applying pressure on the defending champion, unlike any that he had seen other than from another left, a certain fella that goes by the name, Rafael Nadal.
So, what was Falla doing that Roger couldn’t quite deal with? Simple. Take a look at where Falla was serving almost the entire match, especially on the second serves – exclusively to the Federer backhand, so much so that you’d think Falla was either getting tips from Roger’s nemisis. This is exactly what Rafa does to Roger, time and time again.
Falla played strategically brilliant tennis for most of the match, but the great champion that Federer is, he hung in there knowing that he would get an opening, and capitalized when he got one.
If Roger and Rafa were to meet in the finals, as expected, Roger would need to come up with a smarter game plan to counter the “serve to the backhand” strategy, because Nadal, unlike Falla, will not let go of a stranglehold.