Federer to give rivals a good licking

Ever since his early exit from the Miami ATP Masters Series, Federer has apparently been deep in preparation for the European clay season which begins with the Monte Carlo AMS. His part-time coach, Tony Roche, will be joining him there and will in fact be staying on to mentor him until the French Open, the one Grand Slam that Federer has not won. But that will mean that Roche won't be around to coach him through this year's Wimbledon. Nevertheless, Federer is happy with his preparations and has even sent out a warning to his rivals.

It seems Federer is really bent on grabbing a few clay titles from his closest rival, Raphael Nadal, to whom he lost the Monte Carlo and Rome AMS finals. Besides, there's the Hamburg AMS title to get back too. Personally, I don't blame him considering that he has yet to win a Masters Series shield this year; he must be hungry for one. The long break he got due to his early round loss at Miami can work both ways though. While it did give him lots more time to prepare I'm just a little apprehensive about his lack of match time which was the case when he lost the 2005 Masters Cup to David Nalbandian. But I suppose he really didn't get to practice much at that time in the first place because he was injured.

And many also have been implying that not having Roche around during Wimbledon will be a disadvantage. But I don't think that's true. I suppose Federer--and Roche for that matter--is very confident about his chances of winning a fifth straight Wimbledon crown. The tournament is after all played on his favorite surface, grass.

So here's hoping for a great clay season for Federer, the next king of clay and the reigning king of grass!