KRISTEN’S KOURT: FEDERER WINS DESPITE AILING BACK

Written by: Staff on 2nd July 2012

KRISTEN'S KOURT: FEDERER WINS DESPITE AILING BACK

epa03292644 Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates his win over Xavier Malisse of Belgium in their fourth round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 02 July 2012. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY |

By Kristen Tracy

Whew, that was a close call!

Though you’d never know it by looking solely at the score, today’s match at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships between Roger Federer and Xavier Malisse (a longtime friend of 10sballs.com) was a nail-biter…or maybe more appropriately, a back breaker. From the first point, something just seemed off with Roger. He didn’t seem to be chasing down every shot like he always does. And he just didn’t seem like the Roger everyone knows and loves. Seven games into the match we found out why. It appeared he was suffering from a back problem – something I don’t know that I personally have ever seen from him. In fact, Roger Federer isn’t the “call a trainer and request an injury timeout” type of player. He’s the kind of player that you usually didn’t even know was struggling with an injury until he mentioned it in passing during a post-match press conference. But this was different. He called a trainer and left Xavier Malisse on court (and in the cold, might I add) for the next six minutes while he and his team tried to figure out what was wrong.

“I apologized to him after,” Federer said. “Not that I had anything to do with it, but it is hard to play somebody who is injured, so obviously it was hard to get any sort of rhythm.”

Turns out he was right. Once he came back on court he began to look a little more like the player we are used to seeing, though still noticeably a little wary of making too many strenuous movements. Whatever hindrance he was feeling from his back didn’t seem to slow him down too much as he took the first set in a tiebreak, and claimed the second set 6-1 in only 24 minutes. It appeared that whatever ailment had brought Roger down in the beginning was no longer a concern. But Malisse wasn’t able to give up that easily. He broke Federer’s serve in the first game of the third set, and went on to win it 6-4.

Federer’s determination to get off court as quickly as possible was evident though, and he took only 26 minutes to with the fourth set (and the match). All in all, a score of 7-6(1), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 doesn’t seem to fairly indicate the struggle both players faced. Between the injury timeouts (Malisse also called for one at the end of the first set for treatment on his knee), the rain delays, and the cold weather, I’d say both players fought as hard as they absolutely could, given the circumstances.

Roger Federer next faces Mikhail Youzhny. And although Youzhny is a tough competitor, Roger holds a staggering 13-0 record against him. As for the back, he says there is no reason to worry: “Now it feels better…but I’m not too worried. I’ve had bad backs over the years. They go as quick as they come” he said. That’s good to hear, considering the world number one ranking is up for grabs.
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Topics: 10sballs.com, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis News, Wimbledon, Xavier Malisse