Good questions!

a) Yes, Federer could stand back and attempt a more neutralizing top spin backhand and then start the rally. But I really think he lost some confidence in his backhand although his backhand is fine, but probably Federer is just too critical about it. He eventually decided to trust it and go for it and it worked. The stroke if often fine, it’s just our PERCEPTION of it that’s negative…

b) He could mix a few serve & volleys but you must realize that these returns from a far are hit VERY hard are dipping down to the feet. Roger would probably volley most of them but he would be unable to volley offensively. So most of his volleys would be caught and the opponent would have another chance. But that’s assuming that the opponent wouldn’t panic or go for too much realizing that Roger Federer is coming to the net.

I have been a silent reader of your blog and love it.
I too observed that Federer started attacking more on his backhand service returns.

But still I had a couple of questions for you:

a) Is it better if Federer stands back (while returning) even on 2nd serves? 99% of Porto’s (and even Rafa’s) serves are towards his back hand side. If he is going to just slice/block it, wouldnt it make sense to stand back so that he can atleast run around for an inside-out forehand or maybe get more time to play an accurate and deep slice/drive?

b) We all noticed that Porto was himself standing way behind the base line while returning serves. Federer noticed that and was going for a lot of drop shots. Would it also have made sense to serve and volley or go for a forehand attack and volley after the service return? He didnt do much of that.

I think that the above two tactics might also be quite relevant against Soderling who is another big server.

Looking forward to reading your analysis on the final.