2013 Season review of the self-destructive Roger Federer

Roger Federer

As all eyes were stuck on the great man, hoping for him to come good, his campaign at Madrid masters came to an abrupt end in the third round where he was beaten by Kei Nishikori of Japan. Following the shocking upset at Madrid, he was almost written off as a title contender when the ATP Masters 1000 moved to Rome. But redeeming himself as a champion player, Federer played his best tournament of the year till then. Conquering talented youngsters like Jerzy Janowicz and Benoit Paire, he was successful booking the final against his long time rival Rafael Nadal.

The final though, as it was expected, turned out to be a one-sided contest. As such Roger’s record against Rafa on clay was not something admirable and it was all set to go worse. Rafa broke the Swiss master’s service five times in the match, helped by the latter’s unforced errors. Federer went on to lose the match very submissively in straight sets, as a result. However, his performance in Rome was better than what was anticipated and so when he was pooled in a very friendly draw at Roland Garros, he looked almost certain to book his place in the final. Having sailed smoothly to reach his 36th consecutive quarter final, he locked horns with Jo Wilfred Tsonga, who was not known to be a great clay courter.

He had the experience on his side and so began his match as a clear-cut favourite. In fact, he broke Tsonga in the early going and took control of the first set immediately. But not only did he fail to hold on to the advantage but also surrendered meekly in the first set. The Frenchman hardly gave any room for Roger to make a comeback as he brutalized him in the next two sets. And that was the end of a very ordinary clay court season for Roger who was battered and bruised totally.

With half the season over, this was how Federer’s performance looked like:

Tournaments : 7

Titles : 0

Finals : 1

Players other than Nadal or Djokovic to whom he lost : 5 (Murray, Benneteau, Berdych, Nishikori and Tsonga).

His losses against low ranked players like Benneteau and Nishikori, in particular, looked inconceivable, given the fact that neither of those two had it in them any special skills which might bother him. Occasionally such types of mishaps do happen, but the way he went on losing to them by succumbing to reckless errors was annoying. Having played much below par in the first half of the season, he stood well within reach to fix things straight by cashing in on the opportunity that the then fast approaching Grass court season had to offer.

Being the seven time champion in Wimbledon and five time champion at Halle, he was dibbed to change his growing misfortunes on his most favourite surface. Federer, a runner up last here at Halle, bettered his performance this year by winning the title for the sixth time, not before surviving a scare in the final against Mikhail Youzhny. Although he did win the title which was his maiden one this year, his game did not look all that appealing to believe that he was getting back to his winning ways.

Though Wimbledon is just another grand slam in the 11-month long ATP calendar, for some reasons or the other, it is being reckoned as the most prestigious of all the events and more importantly, Federer earned his name and fame by having won this tournament the most, alongside Pete Sampras. Unlike French open, he was drawn in a tougher quarter with every possibility of a “Fedal” clash looming large.

Luckily for him, the Spaniard was ousted in the first round itself which meant he should be reaching the semifinal rather easily. However, on a black Wednesday, when most of the seeded players were ousted, he too was tamed and shown the door as early as in second round itself by a certain Ukranian called Sergiy Stakhovsky. The entire world was shocked seeing the great man getting vanquished in his most favourite grand slam where he had been in eight finals before, starting from 2003.

This exit by Federer also snapped his 36 successive quarter final appearances, putting an end to the nine year old streak. Thus the only title, which was expected to bring him a relief from the misery which he had been experiencing this year, also eventually eluded him, leaving him in tatters. With his only hope for the reversal of fortunes biting the dust, it was almost certain by then that this was going to be his worst year since 2002 unless he made the ensuing hard court season solely his.

Bamboozling everyone, instead of preparing for the hard courts, the Swiss chose to play in smaller tournaments in the clay courts of Hamburg and Gstaad to test his new racquet with the 98 inch dimension. Just when it looked as though he was feeling comfortable with the bigger racquet, he was drubbed in the semifinal of Hamburg by an Argentine called Federico Delbonis and in the very next match at Gstaad, he was crushed in the opening round by Daniel Brands. With such back to back defeats, his qualification in the tour finals also came under severe jeopardy.

With only three months of active tennis left, Federer, it had to be said, had fared better than the first six months, winning at least a title for him in Halle. He, after all, showed his intent to do something different in order to acquire more power by opting for a new racquet. Although he was being beaten by individuals who were ranked above hundred since 2005 Monte Carlo, it was very much evident that he was not there to give up. That was one of the positives to have emerged for the great man who, otherwise, had been having an ordinary year.