Pat Cash felt that Roger Federer’s ‘SABR’ technique was a ‘brilliant idea’ and did not agree with John McEnroe labeling it as ‘not sportsmanlike’.
SABR, which stands for Sneak Attack by Roger was first introduced by Federer in 2015. This was a move made by Federer, in which he would come a few meters inside the court to return the opponent’s second serve with a half volley.
After playing the half-volley shot, Federer’s strategy was to move up to the net and try to finish the point. This move was criticized by John McEnroe who called this move unsportsmanlike.
In a podcast with Dan Kiernan, Pet Cash gave the example of the underarm serve in light of John McEnroe’s thoughts on Federer’s SABR technique. He disagreed with McEnroe and called Federer’s shot a ‘fair’ one.
“Why not? Why not? It’s part of a serve. I’ve never heard a player go, “Oh my God, you served an underarm serve, I wanna complain about that!” It’s an underarm serve.”
I mean, I love the Federer thing that he used to come forward and take this half-volley. It’s kind of like what John McEnroe did in our day. Brilliant tactic. Even McEnroe said its not sportsmanlike. I said,” John, you have a look at some of your old videos.
– Pat Cash in a podcast
8 years ago, in Cincinnati, Roger Federer unveiled the SABR (sneak attack by Roger)! 💥
— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) August 14, 2023
His opponents were equally amazed and confused when he brought this out! 🪄 pic.twitter.com/QbxWwXEi1o
The 1987 Wimbledon Open winner countered John’s similar technique from his playing days and compared it to Roger’s.
“You are literally six feet inside the baseline, hitting returns. It’s almost the same thing where Roger was. What do you mean its not sportsmanlike? I thought it’s a brilliant idea. Federer was brilliant at that.”
– Pat Cash in a podcast
John McEnroe dreams of playing against Roger Federer at Wimbledon
John McEnroe recently stated that it is a dream for him to play against Roger Federer at the Wimbledon but at the same time, he’s afraid of playing against Rafael Nadal at the French Open.
McEnroe recently appeared in an episode of ‘SmartLess’ podcast and heaped praise on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s style of play.
He mentioned that he would love to play against Roger at the Wimbledon Championships which the Swiss has won 8 times and going against Nadal on clay at the French Open which the Spaniard has won 14 times would be a dreadful experience.
“The dream would be to play Roger at Wimbledon and the nightmare would be to play Rafa at Rolland Garros on clay even though I grew up on clay and that was my best surface until I turned pro. But what Rafa did was insane.”
– John McEnroe
