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Just about a year ago, I wrote an article bemoaning the stubbornness of Kim Clisters and Roger Federer in losing their French Open finals matches.

Things have changed since then. Well at least one thing has changed. Kim Clisters, after suffering through two years of constant nagging injury, has retired from the game.

What hasn’t changed is that the champions are once again Justine Hardenne and Rafael Nadal and the stunningly inept game plan employed by Roger Federer.

I’m guilty of putting Federer on a very high pedestal because of his shot making ability and his, except against Nadal it appears, ability to adapt his strategies and tactics in the context of a match.

Under the heavy artillery employed by Nadal, Federer was stunned into inaction and, it appeared to me the, the inertia of very serious self doubt.

He was interviewed before the final and spoke very thoughtfully about his game plan which was to attack and play a more tactically aggressive game than he had the previous year.

Well that game plan failed to materialize at any point in the match. Nadal’s plan was to play very heavily topspun high balls to the one handed back hand of his opponent until he broke down and wilted.

Federer was aware of the plan of his opponent and was willingly, by the act of staying in the backcourt and trying to out rally Nadal, cooperating in his own most certain demise.

The lesson to be learned from this is to keep cool under fire ,be ready to asses your performance on the fly, and have more than one way to win a point.

Federers unwillingness and/or inability to adapt to succeed is very disappointing to me.

You may not be able to hit shots like Roger but maybe you can be a little more aware of the tactical traps you may have fallen into and learn to crawl back to the surface and adapt a winning ploy.

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Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.