Thursday, July 1, 2010

Champion no More?

Arguably the greatest tennis player in the history of the game, Roger Federer will drop to number 3 in the ATP rankings for the first time since 2003. That's seven years of being either 1 or 2 in the world. Unfortunately for all his fans, the classy, crowd pleasing Federer is by far having his worst year in the 'dominating' part of his career. Yes he won the Australian Open, but he hasn't won any other title this year. He lost his epic 23 in a row Grand Slam semi-finals streak and lost in quarter finals in both the French Open and Wimbledon. Federer did have a lung infection before the French Open, and claimed he had a leg and back injury during Wimbledon. Though the infection can't be avoided, this is one of Federer's first injury that he's ever complained about.
Does this mean Federer's age is catching up with him? The Swiss star is going to turn 29 this August, while most of the other top players are still in their early twenties. If Federer is to ever become a major threat in tennis again, he'll have to seriously reflect on this year and improve what's wrong. Since 2008, there are two parts to Roger's game that have critically worsened. First, his consistency has been horrible (to be fair, that's just compared to his old self) as of late, especially on his backhand side. Opponents are just pounding it to Fed's backhand, and he often just slices the ball back. A weak slice often ends up with a setup approach shot from the other player. More importantly though, Federer has seemingly lost his ability to get himself out of any situation. He used to be able to come back from incredible deficits and hit the huge shot or serve when it mattered most. Even last year against Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon final he managed to come back from 6-2 down in a tiebreaker to save himself. This year against Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, Federer went up 0-40 (on Berdych's serve) but failed to win that game, so then Berdych evened the 4th set at 3-3. Once Federer was broken that set, Berdych served for the match at 5-4. Federer had an opportunity with another break point AND a second serve, but he dumped the return right into the net. He went on to lose in 4 sets. This match was completely uncharacteristic of the old, dominating Federer.
So what will happen in Federer's future? Having dropped to number 3, he will no longer be able to become 1 again this year. He is only a week behind Sampras for most total weeks at number 1 (Federer's 285 weeks to Sampras' 286). Personally, I am rooting for him to overtake Sampras in that category, but it will take a lot of work for him after this year's disappointments and the incredibly talented players he'll face in tournaments. Federer should definitely get a coach or some other sort of help if he wants to win more Grand Slams. He has 16 now, but I think he only has 1 or 2 left in him, if he composes himself back to better form. As of now, the Swiss Maestro's reign of controlling tennis is over from what it used to be. However, Roger Federer is still a threat and will continue to be so for the rest of his career, and it'll be interesting to see if he can return to form and put his name further in the record books.

6 comments:

  1. I agree that he will always be a threat because there is no dominating player right now. Nadal can be dominating in the French, but everywhere else seems to struggle or be injured. Djokovic is a good player, but not a dominating force. I think he will have to be almost gifted his next major by early losses by those two.

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  2. Yes, Nadal is the only dominating player, but not on hard court yet because of his knees. And neither Djokovic nor Murray dominate consistently. Due to Federer's age, he only has a few years left in his career unfortunately.

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  3. Federer will have less pressure next year because he only earned 720 points from both Wimbledon and the French, so next year it'll be easier to gain points if he does better.

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  4. Good point. Do you think the injury is real? Or do you think he exagerated it to give himself an excuse?

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  5. since he's never had a major injury before, it's hard to believe. im especially skeptical since he said it bothered him the last 2 or 3 matches, but he won in 3 sets both matches before he lost. i think it was pressure more so than an injury causing the loss.

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  6. I think how he plays in the US Open will be very important because it will be a confidence changer.

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