How Federer's kind gesture for Millman backfired brutally

Roger Federer has been criticised for a classy gesture towards John Millman before their US Open clash.

Millman sent shockwaves through the tennis world when he upset the Swiss legend in one of the biggest boilovers in US Open history on Tuesday (AEST).

And in the aftermath, American great Jim Courier says Federer made a huge mistake with a seemingly classy act of respect for Millman a few weeks ago.

Prior to their match, Federer revealed how he invited Millman to train with him in Switzerland earlier this year.

“He’s just come to Switzerland to train with me before the grass-court season so we know each other quite well, a super friendly guy, and I’m very happy for him that he’s gotten so far,” Federer said.

“I’m a big fan of John. Maybe not that many people know him but he’s a real hard-working guy out there and those are the guys who have all the respect from us top players in the locker room.

“But now I’ll try to stop him, so we’ll see how it goes.”

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As we know, it didn’t go well, and Courier reckons Federer may have willingly handed Millman the secret to beating him.

“When you get three, four, five reps with a guy you start to see their patterns, you start to get used to the spins,” Courier told Tennis Channel.

“The argument I made to John Isner years ago when we first started on Davis Cup is that he should never allow anyone to ever see his serve in practice.

“He should hire someone else to practice with.

“You don’t want to get comfortable with something that good.”

Millman said he was grateful for the invite.

“Any opportunity to hit with the great man, I would take. I would pick up balls for him back then,” the 29-year-old said.

“I hit with him also a couple of times between days at the Australian Open. He has always been someone I look up to.”

Courier also suggested Federer erred with his tactics against Millman.

“Federer got a little stubborn with his serve direction trying to hit spot after spot and he wasn’t finding his rhythm,” he said.

“His first serve percentage was about 13 points lower than his career average.

“That’s because he felt the pressure of what Millman was doing.

“Let’s not lose sight that there was a big player on the other side of the net.

“Not a big name that you would know but he played a huge part in Federer eventually beating himself at the end of this match.”

with AAP