Roger Federer and the Need for Change

Image by KLINX via Flickr

As a true tennis fan, I have been following enthusiastically past year’s battles at the top of the tennis world, marked by the rise of Nadal and the fall of “King” Roger. From a strategy and change management perspective, Roger’s struggle is an interesting case to look at. I find it a perfect example of just how difficult although critical, change is for market leading organisations.
Having outrageously dominated his “market” for about 4 years, RF, like so many other market leaders, hasn’t felt the need of making any significant changes to his strategy; after all, playing and training this way is what brought him and kept him at the top, so why should he change? The problem is that in the mean time, competition has gained strengths. In particular, one key player from Spain, originally labelled as a “niche” clay court specialist, has managed to widen and deepen his capabilities while still retaining his core competency. Nadal has managed to transform his game to become more offensive and gain more advantage on hard courts and grass. He has been able to lead change in such a way that Federer hasn’t. There’s more bad news for Roger: the unexpected rise of a new British competitor who seems to have taken a clear advantage on him.
Most tennis commentators have been saying it for a couple of years now since the early signs of his fall appeared: Roger will have to change the way he thinks and acts tennis; they’ve been saying that his training sessions lack a game plan, unlike Nadal’s; they’ve been detecting signs of complacency. Yet despite his brilliance, talent and intelligence, Federer hasn’t changed. This just shows how difficult it is, and Roger, it seems, is only at stage 1: establishing the need for change.
Getting through that first stage often requires the help of an external party that will act as a mirror and come up with a sharp, critical and objective view of the situation. That party, probably consultants for an organisation or a coach for a person, will have to be confronting in such a way that their client will not only understand but really feel the need for change. Interestingly Federer doesn’t have any coach at the moment and is said to be discussing opportunities with John McEnroe. But there are also other ways to start changing: an extraordinary event that can somehow make you look at things differently. Federer will be father in a few months…
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• Roger Federer could join forces with John McEnroe to salvage winning form (telegraph.co.uk)