Roger Federer is a life-long fan of women’s tennis with unique insight on contrasting styles in ATP and WTA play.
The Grand Slam king’s life partner, wife Mirka, is a former WTA pro, and his stated dream doubles partner, Hall of Famer Martina Hingis, holds the world No. 5 ranking in doubles.
Watch: Vintage Federer Routs Berdych
Fresh off partnering Belinda Bencic at Hopman Cup earlier this month, Federer was asked to compare the serves of men and women following his straight-sets sweep of Tomas Berdych in the Australian Open third round.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion revealed Bencic was ripping returns off his second serve in practice and suggested wielding the return as a weapon distinguishes women’s tennis.
“I couldn't believe how good Bencic was on the return,” Federer said. “She would crush all my second serves. I told her where I was going to go. That was something I can do. I was impressed with that.”
When it comes to the serve, Federer asserts disguise and pace are the primary differences between elite men and women.
“I guess pace is the number one thing,” Federer said. “Then number two, I feel that probably they have a tougher time to disguise the serve. Even though there (are) some good servers there, they have a nice motion and all that, but the serve is tricky. It's like a golf shot. You have time to set it up. You learn a certain way as a kid. To change it is always kind of tricky after that.”
Federer, who cites rhythm, fluidity and accuracy as the keys to his own serve, suggested women spend more time refining their returns.
“I think that first coach that teaches you the serve is super important,” Federer said. “Maybe emphasis in the women's game is not the number one. They spend much more time returning, I feel, that we don't do at all. I don't anyway. I don't practice my return at all.”
While there are several strong servers in women's tennis—Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe, Samantha Stosur and Sabine Lisicki among them—Federer points to the height and strength disparity as contributing factor in differing serves.
"On the serve, I'm not sure how much they work, how much the shoulder allows them to do," Federer said. "It is a different body. Yeah, so I think the disguise is probably the other thing, then the size. They're not our height, which allows them not to find certain angles as it is for us."
Photo credit: ITF/Hopman Cup