The Fall of the Roger Federer Empire; After Defeat in Wimbledon, Federer Falls to World Number 3
Every rise has a fall … whatever goes up comes down. Similarly, the route to greatness that Roger Federer undertook more than half a decade back is coming to an end, and the champion player may not remain a champion for long if things don’t change.
For the first time since November 2003, Roger Federer has come down in the ATP rankings. It isn’t that he is out of the top ten or anything, but for Roger Federer, being number 3 is rather strange, for tennis fans all over the world are used to 'top seed Roger Federer’ or ‘World Number 1 Roger Federer’. But whatever the position, the warning signs were there for the 16-time Grand Slam winner, although he did win the Australian Open this year.
Federer’s downslide was always expected, but not this soon. The usually untroubled Swiss showed signs of distress during his last Grand Slam win, the Australian Open in January this year. Igor Andreev made him work hard for a win in the first round while Nikolay Davydenko gave him a scare in the quarterfinals, escaping which the then world number 1 cruised towards his record-extending 16th Grand Slam title.
Since then, Federer has been short of wins, short of titles, and has fallen short of expectations, losing tournaments to either his nemesis Rafael Nadal or those who he easily defeated once upon a time. Some termed his loss of form to the lung infection this year that made him miss a tournament in Dubai, but the fact is: he was no longer dominant in the matches he played.
In March, Federer returned with the Miami Masters, the tournament where he lost to a player who was to dethrone him in Wimbledon. Yes, he lost to Tomas Berdych, after holding the match point at one stage. The match went on for 3 hours, which is an epic considering it was played before the Isner-Mahut match in Wimbledon.
Federer then skipped tournaments while Rafael Nadal kept winning, and in Madrid, he returned as the defending champion. Madrid was the tournament where he won against Nadal last year, but history failed to repeat itself as Nadal had his revenge. Federer stuttered en route to the finals, where he was outclassed by Nadal who seemed fitter, played better and looked a winner; something the Swiss lacked.
Federer then lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open to Robin Soderling of Sweden, bringing curtains over his impressive tally of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals. He then went onto lose (in the Gerry Webber Open final) to the most unexpected of winners against him, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, who has been a shadow of the player he once was. The win gave Hewitt his first win against the former world number 1 in 16 attempts, and raised eyebrows on Federer’s form and technique.
He came to Wimbledon as the number 1 seed, despite being ranked number 2 in the world. But after escaping a scare in the first round against Alejandro Falla of Colombia and Ilija Bozoljac of Serbia in the second, he was a shadow of his former self. His serve deserted him, his footwork seemed to be anything but crisp, and he started complaining, something Roger Federer the champion never did in his entire career.
Federer turns 29 next month and only Andre Agassi has been able to come back and win Grand Slams after losing the touch in his late twenties. If Federer wins either the US Open later this year along with the Australian Open next year, he would be able to add to his impressive tally of 16 titles. If he fails, then Rafael Nadal might add to his 8 Grand Slams, and as we all know, breaking a record isn’t impossible in tennis. Roger Federer used to be the ones breaking them, once upon a time.
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