Fed used to serve blokes off the court - he hasn't done that for a very long time now.

He's also using a girls racquet now as well rather than a 90" Prostaff like he did in the past. He might get easier power from the bigger racquet but he doesn't seem to have the placement or variety in his serve anymore.

Federers longevity is all about his movement and balance - much like Ken Rosewall who was still world class in his late 30's .. even as a 40 year old.

Overall, I think the standard of men's tennis is pretty poor these days in some ways - but in others it's the best it has ever been and past players would have pretty much no chance dealing with the circus surrounding the game today.

The big problem is the rigorous scheduling and the unforgiving court surfaces. We rarely get to see these guys at their best anymore - so skill seems to play 2nd fiddle now to how well you can manage injuries.

Media commitments, endorsements / marketing for sponsors is so out of hand that I don't know how anyone on the tour manages to get through it.

In the past, you trained, you played, you recovered. Federer is probably the last of that group and he's at a massive advantage because his game was developed before he had to contend with all the bullshit.

The new guys on the block have never had it like that and their game development has suffered because of it.

I'm not a fan of Federer either on or off the court but his longevity and record pretty much speaks for itself. He's not the most talented / gifted player of all time - but he's definitely the most versatile and resilient.

I'd like to see more games on grass and clay/loam and much less on hard-courts - but it will never happen.

I guess the good news is that they aren't playing slams on that ridiculous synthetic grass shit - which is basically the worst thing to ever happen to tennis in Australia.