by No. 3 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Friday afternoon.
After winning the first set comfortably against an error-prone Djokovic in just 25 minutes, Roger unfortunately faded badly in the second. Under windy conditions, our Swiss won just 57 percent of first serve points in the second and it got worse in the third as Djokovic broke at the first attempt.
" I definitely struggled with my timing," Roger explained after the match. "You kind of try hard, and then it's just not
working. Today it is different just because there's so much wind. Once you start feeling bad, it's kind of tough to regroup."
In the third set, although Roger won two games in a row from 4-0 down, Djokovic finished the match and could capture his third win in 10 attempts against Roger.
The remains of one of the rackets with which Roger Federer had dominated the men’s game lay in bits at Crandon Park yesterday as an emblem of the sense of brokenness that has overcome the former world No 1.
All that could have gone wrong for the 27-year-old Swiss went wrong yesterday as he slumped to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open. As Federer faced the media afterwards, wiping away the tears with his collar, you wondered when he would look at the world with a clear vision again.
When Federer smacked his racket into the ground and the jeers of the Miami crowd rang in his ears — they are an uplifting lot in these parts — there was a feeling of emptiness, even though 8,000-odd people were in his com
pany. It is a sensation that he has felt before in a period of his career that has provided an awful lot of questions but very few answers.
He has been a great player for so long — 237 consecutive weeks as the No 1, 13 grand-slam titles and assorted other tournaments bear testimony to his brilliance — that to see him in such disarray comes as a bit of a shock. “You try hard and then it’s just not working,” Federer said, the tears sticking to his eyelid. “Today it is different just because there’s so much wind as well. Once you start feeling bad, it’s tough to regroup. Once one guy gets the upper hand, the other guy is a bit uncertain. He played so bad in the first set, I had a great effort by finishing even worse than him. It was good.”
All that could have gone wrong for the 27-year-old Swiss went wrong yesterday as he slumped to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open. As Federer faced the media afterwards, wiping away the tears with his collar, you wondered when he would look at the world with a clear vision again.
When Federer smacked his racket into the ground and the jeers of the Miami crowd rang in his ears — they are an uplifting lot in these parts — there was a feeling of emptiness, even though 8,000-odd people were in his com
pany. It is a sensation that he has felt before in a period of his career that has provided an awful lot of questions but very few answers.He has been a great player for so long — 237 consecutive weeks as the No 1, 13 grand-slam titles and assorted other tournaments bear testimony to his brilliance — that to see him in such disarray comes as a bit of a shock. “You try hard and then it’s just not working,” Federer said, the tears sticking to his eyelid. “Today it is different just because there’s so much wind as well. Once you start feeling bad, it’s tough to regroup. Once one guy gets the upper hand, the other guy is a bit uncertain. He played so bad in the first set, I had a great effort by finishing even worse than him. It was good.”
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