• Home
• /
• Tennis

Federer vows to refine game

DUBAI - Roger Federer has vowed to refine his game in training sessions following back-to-back defeats to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne and Dubai at the start of 2011.

The Swiss, 29, fell to a 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-4 loss to the eventual champion at the Australian Open semi-finals last month prior to succumbing to the Serbian once more 6-3, 6-3 in Saturday’s final here.

Those rapid reverses seemingly come as a result of insufficient time spent fine-tuning certain aspects of his play with coaching duo Paul Annacone and Severin Luethi and Federer fully intends to rectify any glitches prior to heading for Indian Wells and Miami.

“I feel like I need just a little bit more practice here and there,” said the 16-time Grand Slam champion, who uncharacteristically made numerous unforced errors off the backhand and forehand wings in this latest setback with Djokovic.

“I really feel like I need some good practice, with just a lot of hitting, exercises and then maybe some more points as well, even though I feel like I’ve played enough tennis here in terms of points.

“But, I do feel like my game needs a bit of practice. I haven’t had that much after all.

“The end of the season was short last year and then obviously I needed more of a thorough rest after the Australian Open, so I last until Wimbledon and so forth. So, hopefully, I’ll get some good practice in.”

Federer categorised Saturday as a “bad day all round” with his failure to claim a fifth Dubai crown coinciding with a bad hand dealt in a pre-match game of cards.

“It was really a missed opportunity for me,” the 2010 ATP World Tour Finals winner admitted. “I started badly and then kind of got into the match, but things are over in a hurry in best-of-three-set tennis.

“I must have felt like (Nikolay) Davydenko did in Doha in so much as you never really get into the match. If you do, you have no cushion. You just feel like, even though you might be in the lead or get yourself together, it’s still never safe.

“It was obviously a disappointing end to the match as well. I guess you cannot win them all. I played so well in Doha, London and Basel in the finals. I guess I had to mess one up. It’s a pity, but Novak played great”.

alex@khaleejtimes.com