Roger Federer

In any sport truly great athletes, by definition, don’t come along that often – athletes who not only win but whose every performance mesmerises and exhilarates, no matter how often you watch them. We all know and appreciate them when we see them: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong…

But what makes them great? Two key qualities are longevity and consistency – which can only be achieved if an athlete is lucky enough to be injury-free for most of his/her career. Or is it luck? Why is it that great athletes seem to have careers barely hampered by injury? It’s my belief that luck has little to do with it.

Sports therapists tend to analyse how and why athletes get injured rather than trying to learn from what is going right for athletes functioning at an exceptional level. In this mini-series I am going to try turning the picture around and focus on what is special about the skills, training, techniques etc of some outstanding individual athletes.

Roger Federer is the undisputed No 1 on the men’s professional tennis circuit. In some ways he’s an odd choice for my first study of ‘the greats’ because he has not yet enjoyed the longevity of, for instance, Pete Sampras. But he will. The consensus among tennis experts is that Federer is the most complete and talented player to grace a tennis court – ever.

Federer plays an aggressive allcourt game. A well varied, accurate serve, penetrating ground strokes, sublime feel and athleticism at the net all leave opponents few options to exploit. In the past, he has been criticised for not having total competitiveness and mental toughness, but his performances of late have certainly quelled these doubts.

Tennis is a physically challenging sport. It has a high skill base, and requires a huge accumulation of practice hours working on stroke development and refinement. Tennis strokes, particularly the serve, impose large rotational forces on joints. Most of the actions are unilateral and very repetitive.

Then the sport demands that its top-level participants perform these actions for hours on end when they are fatigued: long games and long, packed professional seasons. Federer began his 2004 campaign on 8 January in Hong Kong and will finish at the Masters Cup in Houston, starting on 15 November. After 27 tournaments the off-season is barely six weeks. It is hardly surprising that there is an alarming injury rate among tour professionals.

Set to last

At 23 years old, Federer has been working this regime for five years and hopefully for the sport, will be on tour for at least another seven. And here’s why I believe he will have a long illustrious career, uninterrupted by major injuries. Standing at 1.85m (6ft 2in) and weighing 80kg (12st 8lb), he has the model tennis physique: tall enough to serve big and cover the net, but not too tall to move around the baseline; heavy enough for powerful stroke-making, but light enough to be agile and not put excessive strain on his lower limbs.

Physically Federer demonstrates qualities all athletes strive for. Most impressive is his ability to change direction and always seem balanced and composed, which then allows him to react and be explosive when moving and hitting. To do this, his core stability, body awareness and anticipation are no doubt optimal. Any athlete with these attributes is far less likely to suffer acute lower limb injuries.

Tennis players have to undergo tough training of their energy systems. They need a large aerobic base and a highly effective anaerobic system. Federer seems to have found the right balance for his game style. He may not have the largest endurance base compared with some of the top clay-court players, but he is definitely still functioning well at the end of a five-set match. And anaerobically he is outstanding.

Federer’s talent and game style allow him to avoid playing long tiring points from the baseline and his matches are usually shorter than most of his fellow professionals. This, combined with his movement skills, decreases the risk of overuse injuries.

Most important of all, though, is Federer’s technical competence. Across all sports, the best protection an athlete can have from injury is perfect technique plus adequate muscular strength and control. Not only does Federer possess nearperfect technique, there is also a remarkable fluency to his strokes.

In tennis, the serve is the top cause of injury. Players often suffer with ongoing and eventually careerending overuse injuries to the shoulder, elbow and back. Shoulder injuries relate to excessive rotational forces in elevation; the elbow to valgus stress throughout the acceleration and contact phases; and the back to instability and extension loading. Federer’s serve is flowing, and a picture of stability and posture throughout the stroke. His lumbopelvic stability allows him to maintain a neutral pelvis and upper trunk, avoiding over-extending his lumbar spine. He uses all his body segments fluently, beginning with leg drive. This avoids excessive load being placed on any one body part in particular. His ground strokes are of the same quality: always centred and balanced, no exaggerated grips or interrupted swing patterns, and he relies on timing and rhythm for power and spin.

All players reaching professional status in tennis are technically sound and in good condition. But slight technical glitches or physical imperfections can, over time, have a profound effect. Take for example Guillermo Canas. A promising young Argentinian pro, for the past couple of years he has been hampered by a wrist/forearm complaint. He is a very talented baseliner, but has short and less then smooth ground-strokes and a serve that would definitely cause increased shock and load through the injured area.

Mark Philippoussis, at 1.93m (6ft 5in) and 91kg (14st 4lb) moves considerably worse than most of the lighter players on the tour. He suffered an acute meniscus injury to his knee in 1999 during the Wimbledon quarter-finals which has troubled him ever since. Australia’s favourite son, Pat Rafter, was forced into early retirement after ongoing battles with shoulder and elbow injuries. Rafter mainly played a kick serve (top-spin which produces a high-bouncing delivery) to serve volley behind, a combination that placed his shoulder and elbow at extremes of external rotation and valgus stress respectively. Despite his serve being a weapon for his game, it took its toll on his body.

There are many factors that contribute to the physical well-being of an athlete. But one of the calibre of Federer reminds us how important it is to have a holistic approach to injury management. Physical conditioning, game-style, technique, training and playing schedule are all factors in designing injury prevention programmes and in managing specific injuries.