Roger and Out?

Written by: Staff on 21st October 2010

Roger and Out?

Roger Federer (SUI) |

Roger Federer does not take kindly to losing, but he reacts even less favourably when he is written off after doing so.

Federer took a beating at the weekend at the hands of Andy Murray, who is finishing the year almost as strongly as he began it and though he was fulsome in the praise of his younger rival afterwards, losing to a man six years his junior in an important final would not have sent him home to the wife and kids with much of a smile on his face.

There was a time when Federer seldom lost in finals of any kind, but then there was a time when he himself was 23 and had years of domination ahead of him. Now tennis’s most celebrated husband and father is 29 and – whether he likes it or not – is starting to tread closer and closer to the twilight of his career.

Federer won this year’s Australian Open title, beating Murray in the final, so I am not suggesting that we start collecting for his retirement present just yet, but even Federer is not immune to age and he is certainly not immune to younger opponents stopping him for winning grand slam titles. He has long grown used to Nadal (who is still only 24) doing that to him, but it is no longer just Nadal who can stand between him and the trophies he has become so practised at lifting.

At the French Open he slumped to a still shocking defeat against Robin Soderling, who had previously never come close to beating him. That was followed by a sobering quarter-final loss to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, which prompted him to give a sour-faced press conference performance afterwards which was long on excuses and short on credit for his opponent. The US Open, meanwhile, for five years his exclusive domain, has become another source of pain. This year he went out to Djokovic in a long and compelling semi-final which, with due to respect to the Serbian, Federer would probably not have lost two or three years ago and especially not after having match-points.

Federer has made it clear that he regards Masters Series and certainly ATP Tour events as something of an afterthought but they have always served a purpose in the pursuit of grand slam titles. Even a player as extravagantly gifted as Federer cannot turn form on and off at will and it would defy logic to suggest that there was no connection between his poor form on the Tour and his relative failure at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Federer may yet add to his tally of 16 grand slam titles and that could well happen at Melbourne Park in January, but equally would we really be all that surprised if he lost to, say, Murray in the semi-finals or, worse, a seasoned spoiler like Janko Tipsarevic in the third or fourth round? Anyone who watched Federer flap and flouder for two sets against Alejandro Falla in the first round of Wimbledon this year would have to accept that the Swiss is vulnerable in a way that he never used to be.

How long will it be before Federer has what might be called his “George Bastl moment”? For those with short memories, Bastl was a Swiss player of minimal reputation who played and beat Pete Sampras on Court Two at Wimbledon in 2002. By the end of that year Sampras had retired, though not before winning a final US Open trophy with the help and support of his then coach Paul Annacone. The good news for Federer is that this is the same Paul Annacone who is now on his payroll.

If Annacone can bring about a Federer renaissance, then it would take a churlish soul (or a very big Nadal fan) not to celebrate. The Swiss has graced this era of tennis in a way that nobody would have predicted when he first began playing on the Tour as a petulant 19-year-old. He has won one or more grand slam titles every year since 2003 and, as he showed during his run to the final in Shanghai, he is still capable of playing tennis in a way that makes even the most seasoned watcher gasp.

The largest gasps will come, though, if he proves the doubters wrong and arrests a decline which appears to be already well underway.

Click here for details of Federer’s year and career on the ATP World Tour website.

Topics: Andy Murray, Australian Open, Australian Open Title, Celebrated Husband, Conference Performance, Domination, French Open, Grand Slam Titles, Masters Series, Match Points, Opponent, Opponents, Robin Soderling, Roger Federer, Shocking Defeat, Six Years, Source Of Pain, Tomas Berdych, Trophies, Wimbledon