Another year, another tweener. Roger Federer hit his latest hotdog on Tuesday in Doha, during his surprisingly tough opening match vs. world No. 168 Thomas Schoorel, a lefty from the Netherlands. (Hello, practice partner!) Roger saved three consecutive set points in the first set and earned style points in the second:
Amazing, yes. But in the grand scheme of tweeners, this one’s pretty quotidian – the lazy man’s tweener. Roger hits them all the time in practice:
Roger’s been on a tweener tear lately. So what the heck, why not do a Roger Federer Tweener Compendium?
Here’s a dribbly one vs. Isner last fall in Shanghai:
The one vs. Dabul during last year’s US Open may be my favorite, in terms of pure style and crowd reaction. That’s a roar of “tweenticipation”:
Roger called this tweener, from his 2009 US Open semi vs. Novak Djokovic, the best shot of his career. Who’s gonna argue? Not Nole:
I call this one, hit vs. Nalbandian in the 2006 French Open, a side-saddle tweener. So genteel:
For those convinced of The Tweener Curse, Federer did go on to win the 2006 US Open after this “tweenie” vs. Tim Henman.
And he hit a pretty great one vs. David Bracciali on his way to winning the 2007 Dubai Tennis Championships:
It’s not just a phase – Roger’s always loved to show off! Here’s Baby Fed at the 2001 Swiss Open:
Schiavone teaches Fed a tween or two:
Any excuse for some Francesca love!
*UPDATE* Thanks to reader Rohan for adding these gems. . .
Not everyone loves a Tweener. Here’s Roger getting on Roddick’s nerves at the 2009 Madrid Open:
But Tweeners can bring warring nations together. Here, the Italians acknowledge Fed’s tweentastic play during an ’09 DC tie in Italy.
*Thanks you Jon Wertheim for the kudos.
Loading ...
