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Video: Federer Makes Impossibly Difficult Forehand Look Easy



Don’t let the 6-0, 6-1 scoreline fool you: Roger Federer’s victory over Andy Murray on Thursday in London was a command performance of absolute beauty. In it, Federer displayed some of the most free-flowing form we’ve seen from him in years. He hit the backhand to perfection, driving it consistently deep crosscourt, and when he got the chance to put away his forehand he was quick to strike.

Also See: Federer Explains His Theory on ATP World Tour Finals Blowouts

That was never more apparent than on this wicked down the line drive that Federer lashed in the fourth game of the first set against Murray. At the time, nobody knew the kind of whooping that the Scot had in store for him. Federer was feeling his oats from the start, but when he backpedaled and walloped this inside-in forehand it was clear that he was in an elevated state, even by his own lofty standards.

After his split step, Federer takes one giant crossover step backwards and leaps high into the air, striking the ball with stinging power, while moving backwards.

The footwork is so precise and graceful that the shot actually looks easy to pull off. But when the camera angle shows the trajectory and spin of Federer’s shot, it’s clear that this is some wicked, voodoo tennis being employed by a true Jedi master of the racquet.

The ball divebombs after it crosses the net, egging and dropping altitude as if whipped out of some scientific spinning machine, and lands just inside the line before its topspin takes it out and away from a mystified Murray.

Murray was a goner the minute Federer struck this shot, because the sheer implausibility of Federer's shot selection had to be unfathomable to Murray. Who attempts that shot, let alone makes it? Now we know...

This was a day where Federer had all is faculties at his disposal. He played to near perfection, his racquet an extension of his arm, his arm an extension of his free will…

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