June 8, 2009 
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Joel Drucker Executed properly, the drop shot is a tennis connoisseur’s delight. Predicated on the effectiveness and fear created by sustained depth and pace, exquisite in its ability to befuddle opponents and either win the point outright or create an engaging opening, until recently no less a tennis genius than Roger Federer thought the drop shot a poor refuge, a choice of last resort deployed simply to bail out of a point rather than put in the hard work necessary to actually earn it. At some level, of course, Federer is right. In certain hands the drop shot is as seductive, addictive, and dangerous as crack cocaine. But perhaps it was his embrace of this shot during Roland Garros that helped Federer win his first French Open – and in the process, complete the career Grand Slam, tie Pete Sampras’ mark of 14 singles majors and, quite likely, emphatically make the case for himself as the greatest tennis player in history (7-13 record versus Rafael Nadal be damned).
Working at Roland Garros for Tennis Channel, I have the opportunity to gain tons of insights from a variety of analysts. As I watched highlights of Federer using his drop shot in several matches, I asked my colleague, Justin Gimelstob why it was harder to execute a forehand drop shot than one off the backhand. “Grip change,” said Gimelstob. “The grip change is harder.” And of course, without pushing a pun, it seemed as Roland Garros commenced that Federer was the one who had lost his grip. A thorough physical and mental breakdown in the fifth set of the Australian Open final, odd walkabouts throughout the spring – including a shattered racket – and even a win over a weary Rafael Nadal in the Madrid final did little to make me think that Federer would have the goods to snap up the one Slam that had eluded him. To call Nadal the odds-on favorite at this year’s French Open was an understatement. But then – and this is the reason why sports can be so alluring – an odd thing happened.
His name was Robin Soderling, that rare creature: an unlikable Swede. Not only is Soderling generally despised by his peers, he has a specifically hostile connection to Nadal, going back to a rain-delayed match the two played at Wimbledon two years ago that culminated in Soderling mimicking Nadal. And though Nadal won that match and in Rome earlier this spring blitzed Soderling 6-1, 6-0, an odd form of passivity overtook Nadal in their round of 16 match. The Spaniard at heart is a happy warrior, a man who lives for the fight but can then embrace an opponent. But Soderling is a different beast, a man Nadal doesn’t like – which then turns the business of tennis into something far more personal. Armchair psychology aside, my feeling as this match unfolded and Soderling cracked winners was that Nadal was waiting more for Soderling to start missing rather than push the issue. Instead, it was Soderling who kept pressing, Nadal resorting to his old-style defense too much for his own good. And of course, the benefactor was Federer. As Federer said at his post-finals press conference, “I knew the day Rafa won't be in the finals, I will be there and I will win. I always knew and that I believed in it. That's exactly what happened. It's funny. I didn't hope for it, but I believed in it.”
But for significant patches of this Slam win, Federer’s belief wasn’t apparent in his play. Jose Acasuso served at 5-1 to go up two sets to love. Federer served down two sets to love and 3-4, 15-40 versus Tommy Haas, at 30-40 striking a clutch inside-out forehand he’ll never forget. In the semis Juan Martin Del Potro muscled his way to a two sets to one lead before Federer took charge. What was clear in these matches – for better or worse – was that Federer is one of the world’s best claycourt players because of his sound defensive skills such as movement, balance, and ability to alter pace, spin and, with delight through this year’s French, deploy the drop shot. Never more than on clay is the contrast between Federer and Sampras more vivid. If the upside is that Federer now holds that precious trophy, the downside is the kind of passivity that can be attacked – easier said than done, of course. To Soderling’s credit, he stayed right on course after beating Nadal. In a surprising result, he annihilated Nikolay Davydenko, the Russian looking more like a man from the ‘90s than someone who as recently as March had been ranked number five in the world. In the semis he blew a two sets to love lead versus Fernando Gonzalez only to get down 1-4, 15-30 in the fifth before making a superb comeback.
But by the time Soderling took the court for the finals, all was different. There was his fellow Swede, six-time French champ Bjorn Borg, peering at him like some retired CEO of a multi-national. There was Andre Agassi, waiting to give out the trophy to the winner ten years after he’d completed the career Slam. And finally, of course, there was Federer, the cobwebs largely gone. For Federer, it was business as usual, his 18th Slam final – and the only one he’d lost had come versus Nadal. It was Soderling’s first, and hard to say even given this fine run if it would be his last. Subtly, Federer did indeed make his share of changes, altering his tactics, looking for new ways to win points – methods that hopefully will surface at Wimbledon and beyond over the next five years of his career. He intends to compete at the 2012 London Olympics – an effort that by then will hardly make a dent one way on another on his remarkable resume. In the short term, it’s a shame this wasn’t a final between Federer and Nadal. That surely was the dream matchup Federer dreamed of, where at last he could take vengeance and earn the one jewel missing in his massive crown. But in the long term – as in a month from now – it will scarcely matter. Tennis history is filled with cases of champions who benefited from the exit of a significant rival. Having each won one Slam this year, Federer and Nadal will hopefully chase each other all the way through to the US Open. As always, we would love to hear from you! Questions, comments, personal experiences all create helpful dialogue for everyone! Please click here to send us your email.
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