Roger Federer: Reflecting on the US Open loss and the first slam-less season since 2002

Roger Federer‘s dreams of ending the dry run this year at the Slams were busted in spectacular fashion as he could not convert 2 match points in the deciding 5th set. He even had a 2-0 set lead going into the 3rd set. Hopes of a similar result to that of the Roland Garros semifinals were definitely high. The New York crowd was fully behind the 5 time US Open champion

In the first 2 sets Federer was on an attacking spree as he attacked Djokovic’s backhand. The first set was sealed in the breaker 9-7 and the second set was pocketed 6-4.

Then an inexplicable drop in Federer’s level resulted in the next sets going Nole’s way in very easy fashion 6-3 and 6-2. Then the fifth set was really exciting as both the players upped the ante and produced the spectacle that was expected at the start.

A comeback act like none other

Federer broke Djokovic’s serve at 3-4 on Novak’s serve with a mixture of his brilliance and errors from Novak. Roger was now serving for the match at 5-3 and even had 2 match points. But Novak went for broke as he had nothing to lose and he promptly broke back, held serve comfortably, broke Federer again and finally served out the match for a place in his 3rd US Open final.

Even though Novak lost the 2nd set, he got back his rhythm to a certain extent in the 2nd set when a stoppage in play at 1-3 on the Djokovic serve due to some crowd related issue, broke Federer’s rhythm somewhat and helped Djokovic recover some poise and composure.

At the end of the match, Federer’s appalling number of unforced errors (59) compared to Novak’s 35 cost him the match. Both the players had almost identical number of winners, aces and first serve %s.

At the end of 3hrs and 15 mins of exhilarating tennis particularly the 5th set, Novak was the winner with a 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 verdict in his favor. This result was very similar to last year’s semifinal where Novak again denied Federer in-spite of facing a match point on that occasion too.

This has turned out to be the first season since 2002 when Federer hasn’t won a single Slam ever since his maiden Slam title in Wimbledon 2003. Sign of the times for sure. Though Federer is still a consistent threat at Slams, it’s just that the rest of the Top 3 is a notch or two higher than him in terms of hunger, motivation, speed and fitness. It’s obvious given his age and level of achievement that Federer doesn’t have the same drive that a Novak or Rafa has.

Djokovic was understandably elated at one of his best performances of the current dream season and also about one of those rare occasions that he has come back from 2 sets down to seal a high stakes match

Federer was understandably dejected at his poor performance in the business end of the match but, only a fool will rule him out completely as yet. “Picture abhi bakhi hai mere dost” as SRK says in the movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Federer still has plenty of gas left in the tank.