How to deal with Federers Net play-Lob

Just a neutral one here, I often find myself screaming this when watching Federer matches since it seems soo obvious.

Feds coming to the net a lot more... with good success this year. I notice particularly that hes cutting off the cross court pass really well, getting at it really early and catching people off guard.

What ive also noticed though is that hes often soo tight to the net to be able to cut those off, and im wondering...

Why on earth are people not employing the lob more against Federer?

Doing soo would deter from Federer getting soo tight to the net, which in turn makes the pass more effective, it also makes him less assured at the end, makes him guess more. The number of times Ive scream "LOOOB" when I see it...

What does everyone think?

Cilic did that in the USO SF. Just watch the Cilic v Federer and see how well he pushes Federer back at the baseline or passes/lobs Federer.

It should be a lesson for both Federer and Edberg for HC. The Cilic approach will NOT work on Grass.

BTW, do you care switching to your non-temporary21 moniker?

It doesnt exist anymore, this is the only one I have, its gonna end up a somewhat ironic name im afraid

temporary21 wrote:It doesnt exist anymore, this is the only one I have, its gonna end up a somewhat ironic name im afraid

You could change it to Forever21

I can change it?

Well I do not really know; it was more a hypothetical statement from me.  That said, Amri has been here with all kinds of names, so presumably it is doable.

temporary21 wrote:I can change it?

If you PM an Admin, they can change it for you.

Go on "T"...do it

The lob is an almost forgotten art. I've been 'shouting' at players to do it for the last 10 years. There are times when it seems such an obvious shot.

JuliusHMarx wrote:The lob is an almost forgotten art. I've been 'shouting' at players to do it for the last 10 years. There are times when it seems such an obvious shot.

Absolutely right. You hardly ever see the lob these days. It may be going out of fashion cos so few players come up to the net. Murray uses it to good effect occasionally but it's become a rarity.

I think the reason we see it less is probably due to the fact most players are relatively poor volleyers but decent smashers. If you have time to set up an aggressive lob then you probably have time to get the ball low to the feet. The latter is a higher percentage shot and still may give you a shot in the rally if it goes slightly wrong.

Federer has a fantastic smash and plays tight to the net so it has to be a really good lob to get the height out of his reach. He's also pretty darn good of reading the lob and getting back whether it be a tweener or over the shoulder.

The main factor is the timing and the rush the other player feels. It's not that easyto have time, to change grip and hit a great lob with the quality of Fed's shot coming at them and Fed's positioning.

That is the big thing, I feel. Federer may be taking risks earlier than at any point in his career, but unless he's facing Nadal, he isn't going to be making ill fated trips to the net a regularity. He plays the percentages, and goes in on High odds shots.

You make it seem as if he is of the murray-nadal-djoko persuasion with lots of margin for error.
He certainly takes way more risks than the aforesaid do.

LuvSports! wrote:You make it seem as if he is of the murray-nadal-djoko persuasion with lots of margin for error.
He certainly takes way more risks than the aforesaid do.

I "make it seem" like he goes in when the odds are in his favour. It's as simple as that. I've never seen Federer approach from four metres behind the baseline. Or approach having rolled one down the middle. The guy was world #1 for 300 weeks... do you really expect me to believe he treats his net approaches as a game of Russian roulette?

Perhaps I miss construed your point, which to me appeared to be along the lines of "put-away volleys" similar to the way Nadal rarely comes in to cut off shots with that short angled backhand volley.

Feds may approach the net after being in a good position to hit a shot that would give hi the upper hand in the rally but so many times he goes into the net off a fairly average approach shot but quite a lot of the time his reactions and timing allow him to make a great first volley and then a put away second.

I think you inferred incorrectly to surmise the "russian roulette" example. Yes his Russian roulette style got him to 300 weeks, nothing to do with one in a million talent and pulling off shots others cannot dream of.

An approach shot is a little gamble in the sense that youre commited to the net, regardless of its quality. Ive seen Fed come in on rubbish quite a bit too, especially against Rafa, its not panic or gambling, hes meaning to hit a good approach, but it doesnt come off and hes commited, then he thinks "uh oh..."

Yup, so true and exactly what i meant.

What I don't get these days is not following in lobs to the net, used to be standard practice, now players hit lobs and stay back, enabling the opponent to just loop it back and get into the rally. I cannot get that at all.