Roger Federer breezed past Denis Istomin in the opening round of the French Open in just 93 minutes. The 2009 champion was playing his first Grand Slam match in 487 days (loss to Novak Djokovic at the 2020 Australian Open). Federer defeated the qualifier 6-2 6-4 6-3.
After an opening-round loss to Pablo Andujar in Geneva, coupled with just three matches under his belt this season, Federer’s disposition in Paris was a big question mark. Just before the French Open, he trained with Gael Monfils, who praised his movement and stated that “In one day, he had really picked up the pace“.
From the very beginning of the match against Istomin, Federer’s footwork was clearly a lot better than in his previous starts this year. In a high-level opening set, the Swiss was hitting his spots on serve incredibly well, only missing one first serve out of twenty. Great performance on his own delivery was a standard throughout Federer’s career and once again, the 20-time Grand Slam champion was untroubled in his games. In total, he won 80% of points on serve and never faced a breakpoint.
Definitely not among the strongest of the qualifiers, Istomin never really seemed to have a gameplan for this match, looking lost from the get-go. While his winners to unforced errors ratio stayed positive, much more was required to defeat Federer, who finished 48 points, while missing through his own mistake only 20 times.
The Swiss looked very comfortable on the court, trying out different ideas and tactics. He was fabulous at the net, winning 19 out of 24 points in the forecourt. A fair few of them were serve-and-volley approaches, he was also seen successfully chip-and-charging. The relaxation led to a couple of shots that would make the highlight reel, including a tweener pass that went just long.
Awaiting Roger Federer in the second round is Marin Cilic. Cilic also belongs to the very small group of former Grand Slam champions left in the draw (Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Cilic). The Croat owns just one head-to-head victory over Federer (2014 US Open semifinals), losing on nine occasions. Their only clay-court meeting was a 6-4 6-3 victory for the Swiss at Monte Carlo. This match should give the public a better indication of where Federer’s game is at, especially in terms of movement and agility on defense. While often lacking consistency, Cilic remains among the most powerful players in the game. His one-two punch could be very dangerous if Federer turns out half a step too slow.
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