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Federer - Perfect athlete, perfect player

Tennis commentator Barry Millns tells us about the importance of Federer's fitness in his success and who are the other supreme athletes on the ATP Tour

If you are old enough to remember or have ever watched archive footage of tennis played at the start of the Open Era, almost 40 years ago, you will know how much slower the game was back then. Even in the 1970's you did not have to be a supreme athlete to succeed because the game was much more defensive, but now you have to be finely tuned physically as well as mentally to stay at the top of the game.

So much has improved in the development of equipment over the past couple of decades - lighter, more powerful rackets with larger sweet spots strike bigger balls off better strings - everyone these days from park player to professional comes armed with a far more 'lethal' weapon than was available in the 'wooden' era. Combine that with the gradual reduction in surface-speed differential between the slowest and quickest courts, modern tennis is much more of an all-court game requiring greater versatility than speciality.

No-one has greater versatility to go with an incredible talent than Roger Federer (currently trading at 1.69 to win the Paris Masters Series) and there is no doubt that having now topped the rankings for four successive seasons the world No.1 could not have achieved what he has done without terrific speed, stamina and agility. Take a bow Federer's fitness trainer Pierre Paganini who has done for the Swiss what Gil Reyes did for years for Andre Agassi - all those drills and hard work in the gym paying huge dividends.

Since the start of 2004, when Federer really stamped his authority on the sport, the Swiss has played a staggering 332 singles matches prior to this week's tournament in the French capital. Factor in all the days of travel and time-changes, it is exhausting just thinking about what he has put himself through!

More than 100 of those matches have been best-of-five-sets but interestingly Federer has only been taken the distance on seven occasions. That ability to win with something to spare, plus scheduling his season sensibly with some decent breaks (like the one he took after the US Open) clearly help to reduce the wear and tear and keep him fresh - a lesson that his closest rivals Rafael Nadal (7.2 in Paris) and Novak Djokovic could certainly learn from.

When it comes to natural athleticism James Blake (60) is right up there, the American's offensive approach often producing some dynamic points that pass in a blur. And if your not the tallest of competitors it certainly helps to have a great set of wheels like former French Open champion Michael Chang or current Top 10 players Nikolay Davydenko (15)and David Ferrer (85).

But if you let your fitness slip then it soon becomes much harder to stay at the highest level. For various reasons David Nalbandian (14) was not at his best at the start of 2007 and with injuries preventing the former world No.3 from working off the few extra pounds he was carrying, he had slipped out of the top 20 by the time he made an early exit from Wimbledon.

Fine player that he is, though, the Argentine then halted his decline, making himself fighting fit again, refocusing his efforts with the help of new coach Martin Jaite and bouncing back into the big-time with his world-beating week in the Madrid Masters Series where he beat Nadal, Djokovic and Federer back to back to claim the title.

Of course players come in all shapes and sizes, too, in women's tennis - just look at the contrasting physiques of Venus and Serena Williams (currently trading at 12.5 and 6.6 respectively to win next January's Australian Open). But just because one is taller than the other does not necessarily determine who is the better athlete and whatever the natural ability, hard work off court is they key these days to giving players that extra edge on it.

When Justine Henin (2.8 for Melbourne) first emerged on the main tour stronger players, such as the Williams sisters, knew they could overpower the petite Belgian. But after extensive strength and conditioning sessions with fitness guru Pat Etcheberry she has transformed herself into a multiple winner of Grand Slams and a formidable world No.1.