Roger Federer’s Insight For Billiards Fellows And Gals

What does tennis super-pro Roger Federer have to do with pool and billiards? I agree with the sentiments a pool shooting fan wrote about Federer's and others' recent Wimbledon battles:

"Wimbledon was great. Andy Roddick's last two matches were the best of his career. Roger Federer is the greatest ever (and I agree although my fellow About.com Guide Jeff Cooper lists areas in which Federer can stand improvement, gotta love his moxie). Those who think Pete Sampras had tougher competition are not realistic.

I do think I think a tournament between Sampras, Lendl, Borg, McEnroe, Agassi, Connors, Becker, Laver, Roddick, Nadal, Murray, Djokovitch, Wilander, Vilas, Newcombe and Federer would be the ultimate. I'd have to bet on Roger Federer.

My only disappointment at Wimbledon was Serena beating Dementieva in the tennis semis. D played her best match ever and outplayed SW in every facet except serving. Williams sisters finals are always disappointing for me. They never play their best against each other. I always root for Venus. She has the better attitude. If Serena would lose 15-20 pounds she might never lose a match!"

I agree with most of these ideas. If you're a tennis fan and a Williams sisters, Roger Federer or Andy Roddick fan, you probably do also (if you don't, how about commenting right here beneath this blog entry)?

How does all this relate to pool? I'll tell you, gladly. First, the irony that Allison "The Duchess of Doom" Fisher dominates pool more than Roger Federer dominates tennis, but is rarely seen on TV outside ESPN, unlike Federer, and second, the Andy Roddick/Roger Federer showdown is notable in that both players made few, if any, tactical or strategy mistakes. And if you think they had, you would agree they certainly played the best games of their lives this week, and pool shooters can "take their cue" from these tennis stars.

Billiards players can learn as much from their mistakes as from their triumphs, and usually, more. A pro like Federer in tennis or Tommy Kennedy in pool is likely to replay a mistake shot in practice. If you want to be a pool pro, you should setup a wrongly played shot during your practice session, 200 times in a row, until you stamp the mistake out forever.

I want you to read today's article and learn from, and of course, eliminate (without needing to shoot 200 times)…

Pool Players' (But Not Roger Federer's) Ten Most Common Mistakes

Roger Federer photo courtesy of Julian Finney/Getty Images