Roger Federer won his title no.101 at the Miami Open after using a lot his chip returns against John Isner. That was crucial for the Swiss Maestro to break the American giant 4 times and that is a great feat for everyone.
Roger Federer about using the chip return
Roger explained why he started to use his chip return to comment
“It definitely helped to be able to play against the “serve and volley generation,” more than the “big serve” per se. They would always make you feel the pain in some shape or form either by always coming into your weakness time and time again or by [using] variations. So, I think it comes from there [the serve and volley generation].
I just think the slice was always the most natural shot for me. The safe shot to some extent because when you are younger, you lack the power to come over. The slice is the go-to play which is easier to keep the ball lower for the next shot, and it is easier not to shank for me. So I think it comes from there.
Then whenever the surface is a little bit faster, it helps me a lot to keep balls in play. I think today it was an exceptionally good day for chipping, and I could feel it also with Anderson it was the same thing, a big server, and I was able to block it back nicely and get into neutral position quickly. Of course, if you could that against John, that’s great.
So today was a great day like this, but it doesn’t always work, and sometimes I get too passive.”
