Federer manages his performance pie…

Thanks to the BBC for this extract from an interview with Roger Federer which shows how great he is at considering the different elements of the performance pie – there’s great stuff in here about the physical and mental elements of the performance pie, as well as the emotional component of family support.

“When you have disappointing losses or a tournament ends early for you, you move on with your life. You don’t think ‘shouldn’t I be at Wimbledon in the finals?’, you kind of enjoy the mom

ent with your family, with your friends, just being away from it all,” he said.

“So, that was kind of nice [to be away]. Then again, I started to miss tennis as well so I was happy to get back on the practice courts, too.””That’s what I do very well. I switch off very quickly, I don’t think of tennis that much when I’m away from the courts, even though

subconsciously I have to because I’m a professional and I want to do really well in the long run in tennis.

After his Wimbledon defeat by Berdych, Federer complained of back and leg “issues”.

But rejuvenated by a holiday and refreshed by two weeks working with new coach Paul Annacone, he said he felt “perfect” ahead of his return to action in Toronto this week, as he starts his build up to trying to win a sixth US Open title.

And he said with age comes a better understanding of how to get the best out of his body.

“Being a teenager is different to being 23, and being 23 is very different to say being 28. Today,

I know my body better than ever,” he stated.

“Some things take a little bit longer [to recover from] with age but I can prevent more problems

by doing a lot more stretching, physical work, practice, massages. I’m doing everything much more professionally today than I ever have before.

“That’s the advantage [of being older], but then of course there’s no denying that I’ve played almost a thousand matches in my life and that obviously has a big wear and tear on your body, too, so you have to be a little bit more careful.”

Do you manage and exploit all the elements of performance as well as Roger does?