Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Not Quite Roger's Cup in Montreal


Immediately after his loss in the Rogers Masters Final to Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, told in a Press Conference that the defeat was "insignificant" when compared to the big picture of his goals for the year. Federer expressed that his goal for the year was to retain the Wimbledon crown and try to stay number one in the ATP Rankings. So, he has achieved much more than what he had set out to achieve at the start of the season. And now, the aim is to defend his US Open crown, starting in a fortnight's time, and the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

To be fair to Federer, he was not at his best throughout the week-long event, just coming back from a 5-week rest after Wimbledon. And, we all know that Federer beats most players in the world even when he is playing only at 50%. In the final, he did show glimpses of his genius but they were just that, glimpses. There were two aspects in the match which could worry a Federer fan, though. One was the way Federer played the big points in the match. Rarely have we seen Federer missing on so many big points as he did today. And the other aspect is the way he played in the Tie-breaks. Its almost shocking when Federer loses a Tie-Break. Even if he is not able to close out a set with breaks of serve, he changes gears, almost effortlessly in the Tie-break. Rarely do we see him lose a tie-break and it was astonishing to see him lose two tie-breaks in the same match.

Credit to Djokovic, who looked really composed almost throughout the match. With the win against Federer, Djokovic beat the worlds top three players in the same tournament, Roddick & Nadal being his scalps in the Quarter-final & Semi-final. He does look the player capable of causing a lot of headaches to Federer & Nadal. Federer, still thinks that Nadal is the main threat to his throne, though he feels that Djokovic maybe closing in on a Grand Slam title. These are exciting times in men's tennis with a number of young players queueing up to be the number one contender to Federer's reign. Nadal, Djokovic,Murray & Gasquet could be the ones to challenge Federer. I for one, am waiting in anticipation of a 12th Grand Slam title for the great Federer in the City that never sleeps, New York.

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