Roger Federer is a name that will always be associated with greatness in the game. Despite the setbacks and the injuries that he suffered, he always managed to make his way to the top and silence the critics with his performance. The same thing happened in the year 2017 as well when the Swiss star, who was destined to make a comeback after injury silenced everyone and produced one of the greatest comebacks that the sport ever saw.
Reflecting on the same, the former hitting partner of the Swiss star reflects on a crucial moment of his return during the Miami Open in 2017. In a tournament that saw him lift the title after defeating Rafael Nadal in the finals, the Swiss star made a bold move and brought some major transitions into the latter stages of his career.
The former hitting partner of Roger Federer sheds light on the Swiss star’s greatest comeback
Eric Hechtman, in an exclusive interview, talked about the Swiss maestro’s remarkable return to the top of tennis in 2017. He talked about the Swiss legend’s journey in the Miami Open, where he managed to make his way into the finals and then win the title by defeating Rafael Nadal. Hechtman highlighted some changes that Federer made like transitioning to a new racket mid-career.
“Oh yeah, you know, that year Federer had was unreal. Switching to the new racket that he had and, you know, I mean to revamp his game at that stage in his career, right, was just, you know, that’s what champions do, right? So it was great,” said Hechtman in the interview.
https://x.com/MPTenisPodcast/status/1248784412033998848?s=20
https://x.com/MPTenisPodcast/status/1248784413896269825?s=20
While further talking about his backhand, he suggested that his backhand was the same but since there were some changes in the racket, it helped him perfect his backhand even more. However, he further added that making such a change so late in his career was a very audacious move which helped him change his game a lot.
“I mean, I would say he had the same backhand and I’d say, you know, his equipment change, adding power to the racket and, you know, then he made a commitment to hitting over his backhand more versus slicing it. So yeah, but you know, that’s what I’m saying. Those types of changes are not easy to make at that stage,” Hechtman further continued.
Thus, the comeback of Roger Federer back in 2017 was dealt with high anticipation from his fans and even the legends of the game. While he did make a late transition in the sport, it eventually helped him make the best for himself.
While talking about the year 2017, as already mentioned, it was possibly one of the greatest comebacks that one could have ever seen. Here are some of the major performances that the Swiss star displayed on his comeback.
Roger Federer and the year 2017, how did he perform that year?
Roger Federer had an exceptional 2017 year. In almost every tournament that he played, he managed to make his way into the finals of the tournament. It all started at the Indian Wells when he managed to make his way into the finals. Post that came the Miami Open where he managed to lay his hands on the title. Then came the Halle Open and another magnificent performance saw him lift the title by defeating Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-3 in the finals.
After title glory in Halle, it was time for Wimbledon to step in and nobody in the world could ignore the dominance that the Swiss star displayed on the grass courts. Another dominating display saw him lift the trophy as he managed to defeat Marin Cilic in straight sets in the finals.
Talking about the Canadian Open next, he managed to make his way into the finals. However, he suffered a defeat at the hands of Alexander Zverev. However, a sloppy performance at the US Open saw him bow out of the tournament in the quarter-finals. However, he repaid this by lifting another title. This time it was the Shanghai Masters where he defeated Nadal and lifted the title.
Playing in front of the home crowd next in the Swiss Indoors, he managed to bag another title win. This made this count to 5 titles for the year. Thus, the year 2017 will be written down as the year of a remarkable comeback for Roger Federer.
