You can see this as luck, fate, or the Aura of the Powerful. How are you supposed to call the Improbable, to the great liberation Roger Federer , to the beginning of a fantastic story? On Sunday, May 4. In February 2001, he awarded a match ball. After a miraculous backhand pass blow Julien Boutter to win the Tiebreak of the 2. Set in PalaLido, in the high atmosphere.
Federer, and everyone sees it as a “new Sampras”, returns to the chair and to his Doubt. For almost two hours, he chases after this first title, he was never so close. But now he is in front of a set full of uncertainty. He would be with the serve of the series, but umpire Lars Graf says into the microphone: “Terzo Set, Servizio Boutter.”
Federer’s Ball to 100. Title. (Video: SRF)
“to Me, it quickly became clear that I was with the serve of the series,” says Boutter, at that time, the number 67, and for the first time in a Final. “I hesitated to tell it to the referee and decided to concentrate on the game. But I screwed up this Game completely, gebreakt and ran until the end of this residue. It was a crazy and rare Situation. And I’m to deal with her really bad.”
Nine Games after the misfire count of the 19-year-old Federer, the number 27, the arms lift. He wins 6:4, 6:7, 6:4 and, in the third Final (after Marseille and Basel, 2000) his first trophy, what freed him from a large load. From now on, he knows how to win.
Federer now on, this mistake will be liable? “We talked last fall in Paris. He had not noticed it,” says Boutter, today Director of the ATP tournament in Metz. “But even before I told him, he asked: “Julien, guess what me and Ivan (Ljubicic) looked at yesterday. The Final of Milan!” As a 37-Year-old he looks in front of a second-round match in Paris-Bercy for a Match from 2001!”
“He could still quickly get upset”
What Boutter, winner in 2003, in Casablanca, his only title remained, of this Final? Regret? The Proud to be the first supporting actor of the “Federer-Saga”? “The hymns,” smiles the Frenchman. “You have played before the game the national anthems. But Pride I feel. I would have been the opponent for his second title, had all forgotten me. What remained to me, are some of the calls from journalists and people approach me from time to time.” Milan, however, is for him a beautiful memory. “I had only played two years on the professional tour. To play in the Final and in the Top 50 venture, came quite unexpectedly.”
Boutter had gone with a positive record against Federer into the match, he had defeated him in a Challenger tournament in Grenoble in 1999. “He could get upset quickly, which opened up a few opportunities. But he had already come this far. In Milan, he was calm and self-confident.” And playful? “His attacking play was impressive, he was already flashing that spirit is capable of, which should characterize his career. And he relied on his undercut backhand. The majority of the players used the Slice, in order to gain time or to break the opponents rhythm. But Roger took on this Initiative, he played it aggressively, and always with a purpose.”
This technical description fits also 18 years later, to Federer, in the twilight of his career. We must conclude, then, that the game of the master remained during his epic? “Rogers’ great strength is the way he takes on the opponents time. He had this ability already in his beginnings, before he found them once again in 2017, with the arrival of Ljubicic”, Boutter. “In the meantime, him changing pads, and opponents had urged to be robust and to manage his game more. Today, he is very aggressive and accepted it, you make mistakes.”
And what Boutter Federer confident? “For him, it is impossible to make forecasts. For ten years he surprised us,” says the 46-year-old Frenchman. “Roger is for me one of the five greatest athletes of all time. He has kicked four generations of players, and I’m still not tired of watching him perform.” Then he ventured a prediction: “he Can title one last Wimbledon and in Tokyo, but Olympic gold? I think he has the on the racket.”
to do This in accordance with Boutter, even with the new generation of gaming. “She has made herself into a comfortable System convenient to have without the Hunger of Federer’s, Nadal’s and Djokovic’s. As long as the new Generation does not pick up, will Roger stay in the game.” Maybe up to the 20-year anniversary of its Milan’s coronation, to would you well to invite Lars Graf, the on Saturday as a Supervisor at Federer’s 100. The award ceremony took part.
(tages-Anzeiger.ch/Newsnet)
Created: 03.03.2019, 12:04 PM
