A stitch in time for Swiss maestro Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Sport can heal; just ask Roger Federer. The ageing great has been scarred by the enervating experience of defeat for much of this year. Not that losing was alien to Federer, only that the great Swiss was suffering some ignominious losses to lowly ranked players at regular intervals. And for a man who lorded over the game with regal elegance for much of the past decade, the pain of being disrobed was singeing his soul. But the Swiss is finally showing signs that he may have some more fuel left in the tank to survive the siege and battle for the throne again. In Basel, Paris and now in London, Federer has displayed streaks of resilience to suggest that he is willing to work with the tools at his disposal to fight off the mounting insurgency for some more time.

In the past Federer teased perfection, making tennis look ridiculously easy, reigning over the game dressed in an imperial cloak of invincibility. But lately, it has seemed that the unforgiving Father Time is eager to extract the price of Federer’s impunity all at once. Federer’s straight-set loss to 31-year-old Tommy Robredo in the fourth round of the US Open only underlined the deepening crisis.

In the weeks leading up to New York, Federer compounded his pain that came from losing in the second round of Wimbledon to 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky. Struggling for answers, Federer sought shelter in a 98″ Wilson frame only to realise that even a bigger home wasn’t enough to keep him from getting wet. On his first stop at Hamburg, the 114th-ranked Federico Delbonis made Federer swallow the bitter pill of defeat.

A week later, Daniel Brands, ranked 55th, despatched Federer no sooner than he reached Gstaad – another straight set defeat, this time in the second round to rub salt into already exposed wounds of the great Swiss. There were problems aplenty for the beleaguered former champion and the luck of the draw landed a resurgent Rafael Nadal in his path at the Cincinnati Masters where he was a five-time champion.

Federer showed glimpses of his inner struggles, often riding a tide of brilliance only to sink into an avalanche of errors – playing with commitment and renewed aggression to take the first set before allowing Nadal to once again dictate terms, eventually succumbing to a three-set defeat. The loss against Robredo destroyed any hopes that his fans may have harboured after that effort against his nemesis at the Masters series event.

Amidst the misery was the suspense about Federer’s qualification for the year end ATP World Tour finals. Normally a lock on the event for much of his career, the Swiss was faced with the genuine prospect of missing the trip to London. It was beginning to feel as though his imperial costume was being shredded by a hungry pack of also-rans who had caught a scent of the great man’s increasing vulnerabilities.

Federer’s success was built on a rock solid first serve, an almost divinely inspired forehand and a fluidly elegant backhand – tools that complemented his ingenious court sense and a gift for creation. More importantly, Federer had this innate ability to call upon his tools to serve him when he most needed a weapon. Unfortunately though, of late, Federer has struggled to bring his trusted weapons to bear even under the smallest cloud of duress.

A brilliant forehand was undone by a wayward backhand; at other times, a perfectly struck backhand down the line was followed by a shanked forehand. It was as if even a modicum of consistency was too much to ask of a game that served its master with great distinction in the past. Meanwhile, there was some intrigue too. Paul Annacone, the coach for nearly three years, mutually decided to part ways with Federer, even if in the most amicable manner.

By the time Federer reached home in Basel, there was a clear sense of desperation among his large community of fans. Federer suffered a three-set loss to Gael Monfils to make a third round exit from the Shanghai Masters and was running out of time to seal his spot for London. But even in the familiar environs of Basel, Federer threatened to depart as early as the second round, only barely making it past Denis Istomin in three sets.

Hard-earned victories over Grigor Dimitrov and Vasek Pospisil set up a rematch of the 2012 final against Juan Martin Del Potro. Any hopes of a second title were quickly dashed, even though Federer stretched the Argentine to three sets. The one silver lining, it seemed at the time, was that Federer seemed to be moving much better than he had for much of the year.

There was also a noticeable zip in his serve, even if still in patches. As the circus reached Paris, he was yet to claim his ticket to the Finals, but there was certainly a hint of a returning calm that had long been missing for Federer. The Swiss man did his confidence a world of good when he finally put it past Del Potro after three straight losses against the Argentine.

The three-set quarterfinal victory over del Potro was among the better matches Federer has played this season. Probably, the first round victory at Paris that sealed Federer’s place among the eight elite warriors for the Tour Finals eased Federer’s nerves. He may have rediscovered his freedom, long missing this season, but the empire had already been usurped.

It is all about pride for Federer in London. It was half the mission accomplished when he avoided the embarrassment of missing the bus. In the context of his season, Federer showed tremendous heart to put aside a couple of tough losses to Djokovic (semis in Paris and RR match in London) and somehow keep his head together for his matches against Richard Gasquet and Del Potro.

Last night’s victory over the Argentine must have been a cathartic delight for Federer. The Swiss was down 1-5 in the first set before he won three in a row to ensure it was a respectable 4-6 loss. The match seemed all but over with Del Potro leading 3-1 in the second, but again Federer stayed tough to break back and push the set into a tie-breaker, which he won 7-2.

Even in the decisive third set, Federer was down in the dumps at 0-3. Federer had been missing his resilience in key moments throughout this season – last night though there was a suggestion that he may have rediscovered some of it, if not all. In a dramatic fifth game, Federer defended like a desperate youngster looking to break through and in prevailing to break serve from 15-30, gave himself a much needed makeover.

Perhaps the season has been salvaged to an extent by his reaching the last four of the Tour Finals. If Federer can believe that it does not matter that much what happens at this point, he might even be able to challenge Rafael Nadal in their semifinal later today.

But that isn’t the point of this story. In snatching an improbable victory from the jaws of defeat, Federer may have earned the right to keep his robes on. And that in itself is a major victory for a man in the throes of a severe drought.