John McEnroe famously criticised
Roger Federer many years ago for his tennis tactics but
Pat Cash pointed out that he used to do the same thing when he played.
In 2016 Federer opted to use a new tactic in his matches coming forward whenever his opponent had a second serve. It was something that was criticized by John McEnroe who said that it was unfair but Pat Cash disagrees. Speaking in a recent podcast he reflected on the underarm serve and Federer's tactics:
"Why not? Why not? It's part of a serve. I've never heard a player go, "Oh my God, you served an underarm serve, I wanna complain about that!" It's an underarm serve. I mean, I love the Federer thing that he used to come forward and take this half-volley. It's kind of like what John McEnroe did in our day. Brilliant tactic."
Cash continued:
“Even McEnroe said it's not sportsmanlike. I said, "John, you have a look at some of your old videos. You are literally six feet inside the baseline, hitting returns. It's almost the same thing where Roger was. What do you mean it's not sportsmanlike?" I thought it's a brilliant idea. Federer was brilliant at that!"