Roger Federer rues a missed chance of winning a doubles gold medal at Olympics – Tennis News
World number one, Roger Federer, was seen in action in the doubles category as well in the London Olympics for a successful gold medal title defence. He won the previous edition of Games at Beijing in 2008 along with the star Swiss
performer, Stanislas Wawrinka, and was bidding to defend that successfully at London but his hopes were shattered away in the pre-quarterfinal clash where the Israeli duo, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, posted an upset.
The Swiss Maestro and his partner were winning the match at end of the first set. They registered an emphatic score line of 6-1 to begin with but the Israeli veterans bounced back to oust the defending champions in the following
two sets 7-6 (5), 6-3. It was a terrible loss for the top ranked singles player in the world and that too at the grass courts of Wimbledon where he won his 17th Grand Slam trophy just few weeks earlier.
However, Federer wasn’t playing on the Centre Court rather on the 18th Court that proved to be a disaster for the 30-year-old Swiss and his partner. After losing the match, he commented, "Conditions were tough. They
were breezy, a lot of shadow on the courts. But that didn't disrupt our play. Honestly, I thought they struggled a lot with that (the shadows). I thought they had virtually no chance on our service games and on the returns we were making all the play. They
definitely played better once the shadows went, all the flags, all the spectator shadows were gone. It was more clean tennis. Overall I thought we played a good tournament. It just wasn't meant to be today."
So, it turns out to be that the first set win wasn’t all about the mastery of singles best player. It was about the help they received from the shadows of the sun and some flags as well in the arena. The Swiss was definitely hurt
by this loss and wanted to repeat the heroics of Beijing at London as well. It was difficult for sure but they were expected to beat the Israeli duo and meet the Bryan brothers in the quarters at least.
However keeping everything aside, Federer still has some unfinished business to do in the singles category when he takes on the Argentine superstar, Juan Martin Del Potro, in the semi-final showdown at Wimbledon to inch a step
closer from a childhood long dream of winning a singles gold medal and completing a Career Gold Slam.
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