Roger Federer played a 2 day match that consisted of 4 sets. As a result, my schedule was thrown into the wind and so this post will be haphazard and might not make much sense. The Maestro faced off against Gael Monfils in R4 at Roland Garros. That whole day was impacted by rain and which meant hat ultimately the match started over 4 hours late.
It needn’t have gone to a second day though. Roger started the first set very well and extremely quickly. He clearly knew the importance of finishing the match in one day. Set 1 was done without problems. But Gael stepped it up in set 2 and Roger played badly at crucial stages. He got broken in one bad service game, and then broke back as Gael was about to serve for the set. But then inexplicably he missed an easy volley that led to Roger not being able to consolidate his break and Gael won the set anyway.
Roger was really the better player that night except for those few moments. So what should have been a 2 sets to love lead and possibly finishing the match that night in straight sets, turned out to be a 1-set all situation. Clearly now the match would need at least 4 sets to end and with the rain imminent, and darkness falling, the referee called it a night. And yes, Roland Garros has no lights or roofs, yet more reasons why it should be ashamed to call itself a Grand Slam in this day and age.
The next day Roger took to the court looking focused and sharp. He played a great first, no wait, third set. Gael tried to hang with him but Roger was always just a little bit better in everything; serving, shot selection and hitting winners. Roger was now 2 sets to 1 up. He needed one more. When he broke Gael to open the 4th set, Gael was mentally done. Roger went through the set like a hot knife through butter and all Gael could do was win one game in that set. And with that win Roger reached his 11th French Open QF, which is a record of course. More on that below.
For his QF today, he will have to face Stan Wawrinka. Unlike Roger, Stan was done with his R4 match in one day. He had all of yesterday to relax, practice and recover. He will come in fresh and ready for battle. Clay is a surface Stan excels on and Roger’s two defeats to Stan have come on clay. Roger is the only quarter-finalist who has not had a day off in between the QF and R4 matches. He also happens to be the oldest quarter-finalist as well, in case anyone is interested in that bit of trivia.
Now while I dislike the match-up with Gael, the match-up with Stan is no better. I have discussed my feelings about this in previous match posts so I won’t elaborate here. Roger said that even if he does not win, he would still be very happy since it will mean Stan will be in the SF. This is where Roger and I differ. I would be happy if Roger reached the SF. And Stan reaching the SF instead will not be the balm that will soothe my soul. No substitutions please.
I am definitely not looking forward to this angst filled match. But in the meantime, I am fine with celebrating the milestones Roger has reached with this win.
Roger has now reached a total of 44 Grand Slam QFs. The closest to him is Connors with 41. The closest active player is Djokovic with 32.
Roger has now reached his 11th French Open QF. The closest to him is Rafa with 10.
Roger has now won his 65th match at Roland Garros, second only to Rafa.
Roger has now won 285 Grand Slam matches. The closest to him is Connors with 231. The closest active player is Rafa with 195.
Roger has now played 1,257 career matches and this was his 1,025th career match win.
The QF will be at 3:30pm local time on Lenglen. The forecast says cloudy, no rain but it might be very windy which will of course make a mess of things. Hang in there Roger, you can do this! C’mon Maestro!
Roger Federer reached R4 of the French Open with relative ease, getting it done in 3 sets. Roger faced a new opponent, self-confessed Federer Fan, Damir Dzumhur. It took the Maestro a few games in the first set to figure out Damir’s style of play. But once he picked up on it, young Damir began to feel the impact of facing the FedExpress. Serving at 2 all, Damir was broken by Roger. From then on, despite hanging on in his own games, he never got a look into the Swiss’ serves meaning Roger faced no breakpoints in this set. Roger dutifully served it out to take the set 6-4.
The second set started with Roger breaking Damir right away but then quickly went down 15-40 on his own serve, trying to consolidate the break. It should be mentioned here that the conditions were very windy indeed which certainly disturbed the Maestro. Roger eventually held to go up 2-0* but Damir continued to frustrate him with exquisite dropshots which irritated the Swiss to no end, even making him howl in frustration at one point. Damir got on the board and then put the pressure back on Roger who had to save yet another breakpoint before ultimately holding to go up 3-1*. Roger continued to pressure Damir and lo and behold, got another break to go up 4*-1. An easy hold took the score to 5-1* for the Swiss with Damir having to serve to stay in the set.
Damir held and you would think Roger would be able to serve it out but suddenly the score became 30-40 with a breakpoint for Damir. That changed to deuce and then a set point for Roger which he missed and somehow Damir got yet another breakpoint chance. Finally the Bosnian took it and unexpectedly, instead of starting set 3, Damir was now serving to continue set 2 longer. But Roger had gotten annoyed enough at this turn of events and he quickly got 2 breakpoints on Damir’s serve which were also set points. An insane flicked backhand cross-court shot ensured we were done with this set for good, at 6-3.
Set 3 started with holds from both players. Serving to go up to 2 all, just like in the first set, Damir was broken again, this time with a wonderful forehand winner from our champ. But even though he was broken, Damir kept up his level of creative tennis. Both he and his idol gifted us some fun rallies to enjoy, featuring a large variety of shot-making. Roger consolidated the break to go up 4-1*, Damir then held to keep the break to just one. Roger held again to take the score to 5-2*, despite getting constantly pushed by Dzumhur. Damir had to serve to stay in the match but finally his nerves buckled and Roger had match point. Roger won the game, set and match, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Here are the stats.Damir had plenty to be proud of for his first outing on Chatrier and that too against his idol. It must have seemed a bit surreal, at least in the beginning. But then he got into the match quickly enough and we got to see his pretty dropshots and fantastic foot speed. Roger enjoyed the match and thought it was entertaining and even clapped at one of Damir’s amazing shots. He gave him a warm hug at the net and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear the Swiss bringing him over to Dubai in an off-season in the future to practice with. Here is a clip ofRoger’s presser, aninterviewhe did after the match (thanks toPikafor uploading it!) and atiny highlights clip.
Up next is where things start to get a whole lot tougher. In R4 our champ will face Gael Monfils. The past 4 matches they played (3 in 2014 and 1 in 2015) have split results with Roger winning both hardcourt matches and Gael winning both clay ones. Monfils has played two 5 setters back to back this French Open but he thrives on 5 setters. Given the athlete he is, I am sure he has recovered from them adequately enough. Plus if there was ever a player who loved the spotlight, it’s Gael. And what better spotlight could there be than facing off against Roger Federer at Roland Garros on Chatrier with the 14,000+ raucous French crowd cheering against the Maestro?
Well there was such an occasion last year, in the Davis Cup final. That match was also a best of 5 sets and on clay and one which Monfils won in straight sets. But as we know, Roger was injured then, though Gael played brilliantly regardless. However, the match at Monte Carlo this year when they faced off is a bit more concerning. Gael won in straight sets yet again and Roger looked completely lost. But the French Open is a different beast altogether. Plus since Monte Carlo, Roger has found more form on clay, reaching the final in Rome. And Roger has faced him before at Roland Garros as well, thrice. And the Swiss won on all three occasions.
In other words, I have no idea how this is going to go. Not only is Gael unpredictable, but this year Roger has been inconsistent as well. So the possibilities for how this match could turn out seem endless. All we can do is be prepared for a rude crowd, Monfils’ trick-shots and fake-outs and also Gael having to tie his shoelaces every time he feels the match is going too fast. Most of the time this will happen when Roger is about to serve and no matter how many times I’ve see him do it, it irritates me every single time. At least Roger knows what he’s getting into. Roger himself has been particularly shout-y and expressive this French Open but so far he has managed to channel his frustrations the right away. Hopefully today will be no different. The match is the 3rd of the day on Chatrier. C’mon Maestro! Let him have it!
Roger Federer is into the 3rd Round at Roland Garros. He defeated Marcel Granollers in straight sets to get there. However, the journey wasn’t as smooth as the scoreline indicates. The match started well enough with Roger immediately breaking Marcel and going up a 2-0* lead. Serving at 2*-4 down, Granollers got broken again leaving Roger to serve for the set at 5*-2, which the Maestro did with no problems. Set 1 was done in the blink of an eye.
Set 2 is where things started to get ‘fun’, the kind of fun that Roger likes… and we don’t. Annoyingly Marcel picked up his level and Roger lost a bit of focus. Then, out of nowhere, Roger got broken serving at 2*-3. But Roger put the pressure back on Marcel right away as the Spaniard tried to consolidate his break. After a hard fought game Roger finally got a breakpoint and he took it to level the set. After that, neither player blinked, although Roger started to play with more ease and confidence. The inevitable tie-break came and Marcel only got his first point. After that, Roger got the next 7 to take the set.
You would think with that momentum, holding the first game in the next set would be easy for our champ. But as we have found out, sometimes Roger takes the long, scenic route for no apparent reason. What followed was an awful service game from the Maestro and he got broken in his very first game in the 3rd set. Roger was so angry at himself that he yelled some choice words into his towel. But for once he channeled the anger in the right way and got on the board. Then in the next game, he pushed Marcel to the brink till he finally got the break to get back on serve at 2 all. A quick hold took him to 3-2*and then he continue to pressure Granollers by pushing him to breakpoints again. Marcel kept hanging on but eventually the Swiss broke and yelled ‘Come on!’ You could say he was fired up 😉
Roger consolidated the break with a love hold and suddenly, the set that started at *0-2 went to 5-2*with the Maestro winning 5 consecutive games. Marcel had to serve to stay in the match and he held after a long time, making Roger serve for the match at 5*-3. The Spaniard pushed him to 30 all but Roger was not in the mood for any more shenanigans. He got his first match point and that was all he needed to storm into the 3rd Round, 6-2, 7-6(7-1), 6-3. Here are the match stats. Here is a tiny highlights video clip and a clip of the crazy double-handed backhand lob he hit. This is what he had tosay in this presser:
“I think I was actually playing very well. I wasn’t nervous really. I think things went well for me for the first couple of sets. I think I was in control. Even though I was down a break in the second set, I still felt the match was in my racquet. And when you feel that way, obviously you’re always going to feel more confident, more comfortable, not nervous.
But the thing you don’t want to do is you want to start off badly sets, and that’s what happened in the beginning of the third. I played a horrible game. It was just very disappointing and frustrating. But after that, I must say, it was probably my best spell of the match right after that. The reaction was what I wanted. Maybe that’s also one of the reasons why I did get a bit angry with myself, because it was really just such a bad game. … I was able to play with variation today. I was offensive. I was successful at net. So overall, I was very, very pleased.”
“Why not? The goal was always to play for a long time regardless if I had kids or not. I’m happy I’m still going, and I’m happy that my kids occasionally come to watch me play. I would definitely think it had a positive effect on me as a person and my life, as a player. My relationship with my wife, it’s been wonderful.”
He was alsoasked about his next opponent, 23 year old Damir Dzumhur from Bosnia and Herzegovina, ranked 88th in the world. Like many of us, he has barely seen the youngster:
“I don’t know him very well. I might even go so far to say I have actually almost never seen him play maybe before. [It will be an] interesting match-up clearly, and [a] different approach to the match I played today.”
Dzumhur however, definitely knew abouthis opponent😉
“I watched [Federer] playing the semis of, I think, Wimbledon with [Andy] Roddick. That was the first time I was cheering for him. Since then he’s been my idol. I remember him since I was 10 or 11, and now I have this opportunity to play against him.”
He elaborates on his excitement even more in this interview clip. So the next match will be yet another Federer fan playing against his idol and obviously trying his best to show off his skills. For the sake of millions of us kid, if you could tone down the enthusiasm a bit and replace it with awe and reverence, that would be highly appreciated! 😉 The match will be the second match of the day again but this time, Roger is back on Chatrier. Good luck Maestro! Please try to have a ‘fun’ match that follows our definition of word please!
We are in the second Grand Slam of the year! This is when the tennis tour gets very busy with a long clay season leading straight into the short grass one. Roger Federer had a strange clay run with some unexpected lows and highs. He won only one match at Monte Carlo; he won none at Madrid. On the other hand, he reached the final in Rome and won the title in Istanbul.
If we go by his most recent form then Rome was good for him. He played a great first match against Pablo Cuevas and a strange match against Kevin Anderson when he had a mental relapse for 3 games. Then came the match vs. Tomas Berdych where he was very annoyed but managed to remain focused and play a good match. After that was the SFs against Stan Wawrinka where he got broken right at the beginning but then quickly turned the match around to score a comprehensive victory over his compatriot. His run ended with a disconcertingly one-sided loss to Novak where he couldn’t maintain his form from the previous matches and Novak was basically on fire.
So even in Rome, despite making it to the final, he had some strange moments on court. Nonetheless, he got some valuable hours on clay leading into Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam Roger has won just once. Perhaps that’s why I have an almost apathetic relationship with this Slam. It’s the one that I have cared the least for. In fact, usually the best thing for me about Roland Garros is Roger’s Nike kits. He’s had some truly gorgeous outfits for the French Open for the past 8 years. This year’s kit is unique, with the purple shirt and hot lava shorts with a shiny purple stripe of course 😉 But I digress. Back to tennis 😛
Roger faced Alejandro Falla for his first match in Paris. It was a good match to begin with and had just enough push by Falla to make Roger have to work for it but not so much that Falla might get other ideas. One break in sets 1 and 3 and two breaks in set 2 sealed the deal. Roger faced breakpoints himself but saved both. Meanwhile he had 16 breakpoint chances but converted only 4 of them so there were plenty of moments for us to facepalm but none that pushed us into panic mode. The match was made up of mostly good points, some even great like these. But there were also some shanks here and there. He got better as the match went on so that was good to see. Here is a link to a tiny highlights clip but one that has that amazing hook smash you need to see.
At the end of the match, there was a scary incident when an idiot “fan” ran out onto the court for a selfie with Roger and after what seemed like ages, security finally walked him away. Given that these types of occurrences have happened at Roland Garros before, 2009 and 2013 finals no less, you might wonder why they continue to be so lax about security. But rest assured the security officials are not wondering the same. They said it was a mental lapse and there is no need to change policies. I guess all we can do is hope no such episodes happen again. Meanwhile, I have wasted enough space about this stupid incident so I won’t add a clip of it here; it’s everywhere anyway. Instead I shall gift you with a link to his on-court interview,a link to his presser transcript, and last but not the least, an interview of a different sort 😉
Up next for Roger is Marcel Granollers, Roger has a 3-0 H2H with Marcel but all three matches have been on hardcourts. The Spaniard loves the clay (of course) and he’s been on the tour a while and will not be in awe of Roger. Today’s match will be at the same time as his previous one but this time Roger will be on Lenglen instead of Chatrier. I hope he gets used to the different court quickly.
A quick note before I end here. I don’t usually comment on draws. I used to, once upon a time, but 2013 taught me many lessons and one of them was draws can mean nothing. Easy draws can become difficult if a player gets on a hot streak. Tough draws can open up unexpectedly too. But this year’s French Open draw has been talked about a lot since Rafa, Novak and Andy are all in one half and Roger in the other. What can be easily forgotten by most (though never by the players) is that for Andy, Novak or Rafa to reach the QFs, they have to go through 4 other players first. Similarly, Roger has to go through 4 as well and while his quarter doesn’t include the other members of the Big 3, it has Wawrinka, Monfils, Gulbis, Simon, Stakhovsky, all players with wins over Roger in the past, some more than others.
Once you move beyond his quarter, Roger has his options from Berdych, Tsonga and Nishikori, players who have multiple wins over him and always give him trouble. So the Maestro has plenty of obstacles in his own half of the draw. I am not saying this to scare anyone. The only reason I mentioned it is because I’ve seen too many articles and tweets commenting on Roger’s easy draw and I just wanted to remind myself (and anyone who reads this) that it’s best if we take it one match at a time and let Roger’s racquet do the talking.
Now, it wouldn’t be right to end this post without a short list of yet more milestones our Champ reached with his first round win in Paris, so here they are:
By playing his first match at the 2015 French Open, Roger has now participated in a total of 64 Grand Slams trailing only Fabrice Santoro who participated in 70 of them.
By playing this match, Roger has now participated in 62 consecutive Grand Slams, from the 2000 Australian Open till 2015 French Open. This is a record for men’s tennis. He is now tied with Ai Sugiyama so if he participates in Wimbledon, he will overtake her record to set a new all-time record in both men’s and women’s tennis.
This R1 match was his 1,254th career match and 1,022nd career match win. He trails Lendl and Connors.
This R1 match was his 328th career Grand Slam match and 282nd career Grand Slam match win. Both are all-time records.
This R1 match was his 62nd French Open match win. He trails only Nadal.
Good luck for your next match Roger! Hope we get to see that outfit a few more times 😉
It took him over 3 hours but Roger Federer came through his R3 encounter against Dmitry Tursunov in 4 sets. It was tough from the get-go and didn’t really let up except in the 3rd set. Since I am already late with this write-up because I can’t stop watching Roland Garros and I am sleep deprived, I will do a shorter recap instead.
Set 1 was intense with both players holding serve all the way until 5-all. Till then both players offered only 1 break point to each other but saved them. Serving very well, Roger held to go up 6-5* and it was up to Dmitry to take the set to a tie-break. Right on cue the Maestro applied pressure on the Russian and soon had 2 break points. He didn’t waste any time and after an extended rally, Dmitry hit a backhand into the net, giving our champ the first set. Here are the stats.If Set 1 was intense, Set 2 was downright nerve-wracking. Neither player gave an inch. They pushed each other to 30 all and deuces but weren’t able to break. That is, until the 12th game again with Tursunov serving to take it to a tie-break. Roger had 3 set points but unlike Set 1, Dmitry saved them with some fantastic serving leading to an emphatic hold. In the tie-break Roger got a mini-break to go up 4-1* but that was soon vanquished by Dmitry who then had a set point at 6-5*. Roger saved it and then had a set point of his own at 7-6* but Dmitry turned the tables again and finally took the set at 8-6. It was 1 set all. Here are the stats for Set 2.The Swiss must have been annoyed after wasting so many chances and because he really increased the pressure on Dmitry right from the beginning in Set 3. He got 2 break point opportunities in Dmitry’s first service game but the Russian saved them to get to deuce. He got another one and again Dmitry saved it with a great serve. Finally Roger got a 4th break point courtesy of a double-fault from Dmitry. This time Roger took it with an amazing forehand winner. He quickly held to consolidate and go up 2-0*. Both players held the next 4 games with Roger becoming increasingly more clinical. He cut down his rate of errors and was finding the lines beautifully, creating winners from every part of the court. Dmitry meanwhile had taken an MTO and seemed to be in a complaining mood. But I’ve seen him be grumpy at other matches too so I’m not sure if he was more irritated than usual. Serving at 2*-4 down, he got pushed by the Maestro for another break point. This time Roger took it right away and got himself a double break. Roger wasted no time in taking the set by serving up a couple of aces in the process, 6-2. He won a staggering 92% of his first serve points. Here are the stats for Set 3.Dmitry didn’t let the loss of that set deter him and opened Set 4 with a fine hold of his serve. It continued in this manner for the first 4 games to reach 2 all. Serving to go up 3-2, Dmitry gave Roger the opportunity to break with 3 break points at 0-40 down. Alas, Tursunov saved them all and little did we know then how frustrating this one game would turn out to be. Roger got 4 more break point chances but Dmitry withstood all of them with some fantastic serving and a few errors from the Maestro to go up 3-2*. Even though he let all those chances slip away, Roger remained focused and held to love to get the scores level to 3 all. Roger had break points on Dmitry’s next service game again. He missed the first one but finally took the second to break and go up 4*-3. Another quick hold by Federer meant Dmitry had to serve to stay in the match at 3*-5. The Russian did his part and served well, ensuring that if the Maestro wanted to get the win, he needed to do it himself by serving it out at 5*-4. By then Roger was on a roll anyway, and served for the match with no difficulty finishing it with a wonderful forehand winner. Here are the match stats.This was a tough match for Roger and yes, he should have been able to close it out in straight sets, but I am very happy with his composure and focus in getting the job done despite dropping Set 2. He played at a higher standard than the R2 match. He cut down on the number of unforced errors and returned better too. His winners to unforced errors ratio was back in the positive as well. What he did especially well was serve. 68% first serves in and winning 80% of those points is fantastic. He also won 69% of his second serve points. His Set 3 and 4 performance was excellent across all the stats. All save one of course – he converted just 4 out of 21 break points. We died new deaths with each one he missed. But I won’t dwell on it. A win is a win, doesn’t matter how many break points it takes to get there as long as he gets there. Here is a tiny presser clip where he talks about his performance.
His next match will be against the Latvian player Ernests Gulbis. Federer has a slim lead on their H2H of 2:1 but they haven’t played each other in 4 years. Meanwhile Gulbis has been in tremendous form and seems to have managed his erratic temperament much better so far this Rolly G. He will be a very big test for Roger for sure. But from here on, the journey only gets harder anyway. Roger has said he is excited to play him. I don’t have Roger’s nerves of steel, nor do I get that man’s idea of “fun” and “excitement” at times, but as long as he feels good, that’s what counts 😉 For now I am happy our champ made it to the 2nd week of a Slam.
Oh also, before I end this, I should mention yet another record Roger achieved with this win. He has now reached R4 of the French Open for 12 years going past Vilas’ record of 11 years. This was also his 1,175th career match and 954th career match win. 😀
Roger Federer is through to R3 of Roland Garros. He won over the Argentine player, Diego Sebastian Schwartzman, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in 103 minutes.
Right from the beginning you could feel this would be a tough match. This was Roger’s first match on Lenglen and the conditions were heavy, with dark clouds and intermittent rain. Not only was Schwartzman someone he’s never faced before, but credit to the young player, he didn’t show any nerves at all in facing off against his idol. Apparently he used to have posters of Federer in his room 🙂 It took a bit of time for Roger to figure out this new opponent and honestly, despite winning the match I don’t think he solved the entire puzzle. Unlike his R1 match, this was a hard-fought, at-times-ugly, match win.
Set 1 started with both players holding serve at 1 all. Then inexplicably, Roger got broken to go down to 1-2*. Thankfully Roger quickly righted the ship by breaking back immediately to get to 2 all. He then held serve with the help of an ace and put the pressure back on Diego. The Argentine didn’t know what hit him and got broken to love, down 2-4*. By then Roger looked a bit more assured and held to love to consolidate the break, leaving Diego to serve to stay in the set at 2*-5. Diego was up for the challenge as he held, making the Maestro serve for the set. Roger got pushed to 30 all but ultimately held and took the set in 26 minutes. Here are the stats for the set.Set 2 started with Diego showing no signs of frustration at having lost the first set. He continued to play positive tennis from the baseline and held comfortably, aided by quite a few errors from Roger. Unfortunately the errors continued to flow from the Swiss as he offered Diego a break point on his own serve before saving it and holding to get to 1 all. For the next 4 games, both players held without facing any break points though it seemed that Diego had an easier time while Roger was making quite a few errors off both wings. Then at 4 all, as Schwartzman was about to serve, Roger did what champions do and applied more pressure at this crucial time. Roger got 2 break points only to wipe them out with two of his own errors. After 4 deuces, Roger finally had a 3rd break point. As Diego hit the final shot wide, Roger got the break. Despite this being an error-ridden set, when it came to serving for the set, he held to love, sealing the deal in 37 minutes. Here are the stats from Set 2.Undeterred at being 2 sets to love down, Diego started the set with a tough but strong hold. Roger played at a slightly higher level in this final set compared to Set 2. He quickly held to love and it was 1 all. At 30 all on Diego’s serve Roger got a break point with a forehand winner and for once he was able to take it right away. The Swiss got the break 2*-1 and held serve to consolidate and go up to 3-1*. Diego continued to play as if he wasn’t 2 sets and a break down and hit quite a few winners to hold at 2-3*. Roger got pushed to 30 all in his next service game when two great serves helped him to hold, 4-2*.
Diego’s next service game was a long one with Roger pushing for a double-break and the Argentine fighting for every point. Roger had 3 break points during that one game but despite being pushed to deuce 4 times, Diego held. I think Roger was so irritated at not being able to break Diego that he hit 4 ridiculously good serves in succession to quickly hold to 5-3* and get the match wrapped up as soon as possible. Diego wasn’t fazed however. He played well in his own service game and held without offering the Swiss a break point. This meant that our champ had to serve for the match. Roger lost one point but otherwise held comfortably to win the match. Here are the match stats.This was not a very pretty match from the Maestro. He struggled much more than his R1 match. He didn’t serve as well, especially with his 2nd serves. But really it was his return game that was off quite a bit. He didn’t have as many winners and had much more unforced errors compared to R1. His winners to unforced errors ratio was negative, which was not good. Some of it was understandable. Not only were the conditions heavy, taking some of the zip off the ball, but also Schwartzman was a much more worthy opponent than Lacko was. The Argentine played well from the baseline, mixing defense and offense nicely. Roger never looked comfortable in the match and there were periods of time in each set when Diego was clearly the better player. But right when he needed to, he exerted pressure on Diego to get the crucial breaks. In other words, he played the big moments well. This is much more in keeping with the Gritty Federer of 2014 – winning despite not playing his best. His experience and championship mentality gave him the edge.
Diego for his part played very well and should be proud of the way he performed facing his idol. Roger predicted he would rise through the ranks soon. I think a win like this was needed for the Swiss. Lacko didn’t provide enough of a test while this was a full workout. Though Roger was never in serious trouble he was under pressure throughout. I hope he’s gotten more information about what’s working and what he can focus on for his next match. Here is a tiny presser clip.
At least this time it won’t be an unknown opponent. He will face fellow 30-something Russian player, Dmitry Tursunov, ranked 32 in the world. Strangely enough, despite being from the same generation of players, they had faced off only twice in 2006 and once in 2008 before finally playing each other 6 years later at Indian Wells this year. And now all of a sudden, they will play again. The H2H is 4-0 in favor of the Swiss but Tursunov has had a very good start to RollyG, not dropping a set. He’s a dangerous player so Roger will need to be sharp and on point from the start. The match will be held on Friday, Roger will play 2nd on Chatrier. Here is the OOP.
Meanwhile, as our Champ was fighting the conditions, Schwartzman and himself on court, his box was full of his family and his team. Not only did the twins come again, but his parents, Robert and Lynette were there too, along with Mirka, Luthi, Vivier and Paganini. We also heard that his other coach, a certain Mr. Edberg, might join soon which bodes well for our champ 😀 Now before signing off, here again are some stats and records of our Maestro after this win.
This was Roger’s 30th match win of the year.
This was Roger’s 60th French Open win. He is one win behind Rafa.
With this 60th match win, Roger has now won 60 or more matches at every Grand Slam. No ATP player has ever achieved this feat. He has 60 wins at the French Open, 67 wins each at Wimbledon and the US Open and 73 wins at the Australian Open (which is a record for the Australian Open).
He has now reached R3 of the French Open for 11 consecutive years, since 2004.
Roger Federer is through to Round 2 at RollyG! Our champ wrapped up his opening match in 84 minutes with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 score line vs. the Slovak player Lukas Lacko.
Lacko started well enough. He had solid service holds for his first two games similar to the Maestro. Then, in his 3rd service game the errors started to creep in while Roger demonstrated great defense to get a break point which he converted right away. By then, Roger began to look very confident indeed and despite being pushed to 30, Roger held his own serve to consolidate the break and go up 4-2*. In Lacko’s next service game Roger mixed it up with a dropshot, a backhand volley and a cross-court forehand. Add an error from Lukas and boom, our champ got the double break. Serving for the set at 5*-2, Roger gave away only one point before sealing the set in 24 minutes. Here are the Set 1 stats.Credit to Lacko, he held his nerve and started Set 2 very well with a love hold. Roger countered with a love hold of his own. But poor Lacko got into trouble again right away in his next service game. An error gave Roger a break point but a counter error from the Maestro, brought it back to deuce. Lacko hit a backhand into the net to give Federer a second chance and after an intense rally the Swiss got the break. In a flash Roger quickly consolidated with a service game that included three service winners. Down 1*-3, Lacko had yet another tough service game where Roger had another break point opportunity. But subsequent errors from Roger ensured a hold for Lukas.
Serving at 3*-2, Roger thundered down 3 service winners in a row followed by a volley winner to hold to love. The same format repeated again in Lacko’s next game as Roger had yet another break point only to miss it and letting Lacko hang on at 3-4*. Roger then held with ease to push the score to 5-3*. Serving to stay in the set, Lacko got pushed again and Roger had a set point but an error from the Maestro wiped that away and Lacko ultimately held. Roger might have missed 4 out of 5 break points in this set with some uncharacteristic errors but his own serving had been impeccable and that continued when he served for the set, taking it in 34 minutes. Here are the Set 2 stats.Those errors must have annoyed the Maestro because he started Set 3 strongly putting pressure on the Lacko serve. A double fault from Lacko gave Roger a break point only to let it go with a forehand error. Back to deuce. But Roger kept up the onslaught, extracting another error out of Lacko for another break point. The nerves got to Lukas as he double faulted right then to hand the Swiss the break. Serving to consolidate, Roger hit his only double fault of the match but consolidated the break nonetheless. Serving to get on the board, Lacko held to love in large part due to sloppy play from the Maestro. Still, the Swiss was up a break at 2*-1. And he served to perfection in his next game to quickly hold to love and push the score to 3-1*.
The pressure was firmly back on Lacko’s serve as Roger fought for every point: 0-15, 15 all, 30-15, 30 all and then 30-40 and break point. This time the Swiss took it to go up a double break: 4*-1. Another super quick love hold meant Lacko had to serve to stay in the match at 1*-5 down. Federer had a break point again but lost it with his own error. Despite being pushed to deuce 2 more times, Lacko held and Roger had to serve for the match. A beautiful love hold finished off with a gorgeous inside-out forehand won Roger the match. Here are the stats for the match.This was a good match for Roger. He was never in trouble and didn’t face any break points. He served very well and while his return game was a bit sloppy, mostly in Set 2, he made sure he was in complete control at all times. I got the feeling he tried out a few different shots to get some practice in. He came to the net very well too; though to be honest, Lacko didn’t really make him play difficult volleys. For a first Grand Slam match, this was a good performance.
What made it more special was Mirka was court-side! This is the first time we’ve seen her since the twin boys were born and she looked lovely! The twin girls were there too, looking chic in their black and white polka dot dress, matching pink headbands and sunglasses 😀 Roger was very sweet in giving a shout-out to Mirka in his on-court interview and we learned from the presser later that the whole family, including the boys, is there with him in Paris. Here is a link to a tiny presser clip.Up next is a new opponent for Roger, the 21 year old Argentine qualifier Diego Sebastian Schwartzman, ranked 109 in the world. Neither Roger nor we know much about him so I expect it will take Roger a bit of time in the beginning to figure out his game. Hopefully, it won’t take too long! In the meantime, I leave you with these crazy stats our Maestro achieved with this win.
Roland Garros 2014 is now the 60th Grand Slam Roger has participated in. He shares this with Lleyton Hewitt who is also playing his 60th Grand Slam this week. They are both behind Andre Agassi at 61 and the record holder Fabrice Santoro with 70.
This French Open is also Roger’s 58th consecutive Grand Slam which is a record.
This match win was his 59th French Open win. He currently shares this with Rafa but of course Rafa hasn’t played his first match yet.
Roger is the only player to have over 50 match wins at all Grand Slams.
This was also his 266th Grand Slam match win which is wayyyyy ahead of Jimmy Connors who is at second place with 232 match wins. The next active player behind him is Rafa with 177 match wins.
Roger is 4th on the list of career matches played with 1,173 matches (behind Vilas, Lendl and Connors). The closest active player is Tommy Haas with 875 matches.
Roger is 3rd on the list of most career match wins with 952 wins (behind Lendl and Connors). The closest active player is Rafa with 692 match wins.
Well that’s it from me. The Maestro isn’t playing today and might not play till Wednesday so in the meantime, chillax! 😉 and enjoy the rest of the tournament!
After a hiatus, I’m back! Life outside tennis has kept me busy and to be honest, I just wasn’t finding the groove to write. I was pretty excited for Rome but that ended up being a 72 hour detour for Roger Federer. He came, he played, he left.
Rome is in my memory for his first interviews post the birth of his twin boys rather than the Chardy match. I don’t have much to say about it. He had a match point but Chardy ultimately won. Since it was only one match, everyone had their own interpretation of it. Some said it was worrisome that not only did he lose his first match, but also that he doesn’t have enough match practice before Roland Garros. Others said that since he only became a father 5 days prior, the fact that he played at all was a miracle. I myself fall somewhere in between. Would I have liked him to get a few more match wins? Yes. Did I think he was so distracted and unfocussed that he allowed Chardy to win? No. He might have been tired for sure but watch the 3rd set again; he fought tooth and nail till the end. He was upset when he lost and Chardy won fair and square, not because Roger ‘allowed’ him to.
He didn’t come to Rome to lose right away. Maybe not to win the tournament but if he didn’t think he would win a few matches he wouldn’t have left his family so I think he played the match fully intent on winning rather than just to hang out in Rome. There were so many variables at play in that match, he was tired, Chardy was amazing, the wind was ridiculous, and who knows what else. Basically I think of this match as an anomaly that tells me nothing about how his form is, going into Roland Garros. Speaking of which….
Roland Garros starts today! And our Maestro is up second on Chatrier. Here is the schedule. He has actually been in Paris since last Monday I believe, and judging from the various practice clips and photos, not only is he looking sharp, he is also enjoying himself immensely. Here is a clip of his practice with Wawrinka and here is another one with Hewitt. He looks fresh and eager and that’s how we want him heading into the second Grand Slam of the year. He just about managed to remain ranked at #4 at the end of the Rome tourney so he was able to have his own quarter in the French Open draw. He is in the same half as Novak Djokovic. I have long since given up on draw analysis because #1. 2013 taught me never to look beyond the first match and #2. Draws usually open up in the most random of ways that render predictions obsolete. So you won’t get any draw analysis from me. There are a zillion other sites and blogs out there dedicated to that anyway 😉 At most you will get a link to the draw from me so here you go.
What we do know is that his R1 opponent is 26 year old Slovakian player Lukas Lacko, ranked 88 in the world. They have met only once before, Australian Open 2011 R1 which Roger won in a quick straight sets match. However, Roger has said he’s practiced with Lacko a few times and knows his style of play and ability to take the ball early. This looks straightforward on paper but I will reserve any comments till the match is over. Not too long to go now! Meanwhile I’ll leave you with some videos. Here’s a media day video that features a bit of our champion. Here are two Moët & Chandon videos of Roger looking oh so divine! Video 1 and video 2. You might have to sign in to see these since there might be an age restriction for this video depending on which country you are in. Lastly, here’s a fun video of Stefan and Roger trying out google glass 😀
Just a quick post to say that Roger Federer pulled out of the Madrid Masters yesterday. Then, barely half a day after his withdrawal announcement, he tweeted that Mirka has given birth to twins AGAIN! 2 boys this time, Leo and Lenny! See? Even in life off-court he achieves perfection. First twin girls, then twin boys, perfect symmetry! Hats off to Mirka, the Queen that she is – 2 twin pregnancies! Here is Roger’s overjoyed tweet ❤
Mirka and I are so incredibly happy to share that Leo and Lenny were born this evening! #TwinsAgain#Miracle
Even the timing was perfect too. The twins were born right at the beginning of the Madrid tournament. While I do think this means he’ll probably skip Rome next week, I think there is a strong possibility he will participate in the French Open which is around 3 weeks away. According to his agent Tony Godsick, “Roger has plans to play the French Open, and he’ll take it step-by-step as to what he plays before that”.
Wishing all the best to the King, Queen Mirka, Princesses Myla and Charlene and the new Princes, Leo and Lenny! I wonder what their middle names will be; hoping for names starting with an ‘R’ 😛 Now we wait for what is sure to be an epic selfie! I’ll update this post with the picture when we get to see it 😉 Congratulations Maestro!
***The marvelous chocolate photo is from Lindt of course!@LindtAustraliato be precise 😀 ***
The summer is gone and the ATP tour is coming back to the hard courts. With the Rogers Cup only days away I thought we could take a look back to see how the top 5 of the ATP has performed since my last post with this theme. I will continue where I left off and comment on the year from May to July 2013. So without further ado, here’s my take on where things stand as of now.
Rank #1. Novak Djokovic – 10 tournaments (2 Davis Cup rounds), 39 wins, 6 losses, 3 titles
Believe it or not, the reigning world #1 has not won any tournament since Monte Carlo. He has played 4 tournaments after it and while his Grand Slam runs were great, SFs at Roland Garros and final at Wimbledon, he had a miserable tournament in Madrid and a mediocre one in Rome. Yet Novak is so far out in the front with his ranking points that Murray is nowhere close to taking over the coveted #1 spot. Despite not winning titles Novak is sitting at the top by going deep at the big tournaments, mainly the Grand Slams. Those runs counted for some valuable ranking points and Novak is assured of his ranking through at least October of this year.
The Serb’s goal this year was to win the French Open which was thwarted by Rafa for the 2nd year in row. He fought valiantly at Roland Garros but his Wimbledon final performance was surprisingly timid and his Madrid match was perplexing to say the least. It has not been a stellar quarter for Novak. He had better results same time last year and of course nothing compares to his amazing run of 2011. But I think we’ve already seen the worst of Novak’s year, it will only get better from now on. The tour is back on his beloved hard courts and look for him to try to win Cincinnati to become the only player to win all 9 (current) Masters tournaments. He will be a force to be reckoned with at the US Open and will definitely focus on defending the World Tour Finals at the end of the year. I see him as ending the year ranked #1 for the 3rd straight year unless some magic happens with Rafa to throw all those calculations to the wind.
Andy Murray is now ranked #2. He finally won Wimbledon and all the hysterical British mania that comes with it. Right now it seems like its Andy’s world and we’re all just visiting. But back up for a bit and look beyond June. Andy had an awful clay season that ended with him retiring from his R32 match in Rome and skipping the French Open altogether. His best clay court result was reaching the Madrid QFs where he lost in straight sets to Berdych. I understand the French Open withdrawal due to injury but his performances in Madrid and Monte Carlo left me underwhelmed. This is why despite winning 2 of the past 4 Grand Slams, he is nowhere close to catching up with Novak. And it’s only going to get tougher from now on since he has many points to defend including the US Open.
In my last post I said the following about Andy and the clay season: “It is a long season on this surface and he needs to master it if he ever wants to be at the top of the ATP.” I will reiterate this again; if Andy wants to be #1 he will have to improve his clay season. It is quite a feat that the #2 player in the world has never reached a clay court final let alone won any title on the red dirt. If he is to stop playing second fiddle to Djokovic he needs to develop his game for clay.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how handles the pressure of having to defend the US Open; of being the hunted for the first time instead of the hunter. A bit of trivia for you: No one has defended the US Open since Federer in 2008.
Ferrer continued his busy schedule all the way till Wimbledon. By the end of Wimbledon he seemed exhausted and I hope he has used his time off for some much needed relaxation. You wonder why he played so much more than the rest of the top 5 but with his results, why not? All that hard work led him to reach a career high ranking of #3 and cement his position as the Spanish #1. He reached his first ever Grand Slam final at Roland Garros and matched his 2012 Wimbledon result by reaching the QFs. He had decent runs in Madrid and Rome reaching the QFs but having the unfortunate luck of running into Rafa each time, including at the French Open.
He’s not defending as much as Andy or Novak heading into the hard court season and I can see him maintaining his consistency. But holding on to the #3 spot might be tricky and will also depend on Rafa or even Roger and how they change the game towards the end of the year. The other remaining question is whether he will be fresh enough to finish out the year as strongly as he started it. He had a busy 2012 and did not let up the pace this year so one wonders if it will catch up with him. Time will tell but unless a freak injury happens I don’t think there is any real reason for Ferrer fans to worry.
Rafa lost in the Monte Carlo final. After that he went on a streak of 21 wins across 4 tournaments. He won Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros capturing his 12th Grand Slam and becoming the only player in history to win 8 Slams at a single Grand Slam. This was also his 7th title of the year – 7 titles and we were only in June. And remember, he didn’t start the year till after the Australian Open. The summer seemed all about Rafa until Wimbledon when it came crashing down with a first round loss.
What to make of the sudden loss? Do Rafa fans have to start worrying? In the short term, absolutely not. He’s had the best year of the top 5 so far. He leads the points in the Race to London and is the only player to have qualified for the World Tour Finals. He could definitely give Novak a run for the #1 ranking, more so than Andy, since he has no points to defend for the rest of the year.
You could say his tactic of playing so many clay tournaments in such a short time has worked for him and the results would support your theory. But it also left him exhausted. Perhaps the strategy is to play to his strengths and let the rest of the year shape up as it may. As such I think in the long run, fans might see less of Rafa at non-clay tournaments. But back to the present, no one is sitting more pretty than Rafa right now. Any match he plays is a bonus since he has nothing to defend so he’ll be able to play as much or as little as he likes. Just sit back and enjoy the show.
Rank #5. Roger Federer – 11 tournaments, 30 wins, 10 losses, 1 title
“Roger’s situation will remain a mystery till we see whether this time off has helped him like it did last year. Either he will come back fresh and rejuvenated, or he will suffer from lack of match practice; or worse, the back issues could come back to ruin everything.”
That’s my own quote from my previous post and since then the mystery has been solved. Not only did he suffer from lack of match practice, the back issues did come back and ruin everything. Our champ has been having a bad year. His return back on tour quickly hit a roadblock when he crashed out of Madrid in R16. However, he then made a deep run in Rome reaching his first final there since 2006. At Roland Garros he reached his 36th consecutive Grand Slam QF but then lost that QF strangely without putting up much of a fight. Then came Halle and despite having an uneven performance in the later stages of the tournament he won his first title of the year. This was his 77th singles title tying him at 3rd place with McEnroe for most singles titles in history.
After Halle there was reason to be optimistic about Wimbledon but who knew it would be the source of such pain this year. Roger lost in the second round and dropped to 5th place in the rankings. Even with the media, his haters and pseudo fans calling for his retirement, he decided on his next course of action and entered 2 additional tournaments, Hamburg and Gstaad to get some much needed match practice. At the start of Hamburg we saw Roger also trying out a new racquet. With a new schedule and new racquet he seemed determined to make changes. It was going according to plan till the back flared up in his Hamburg QF match. He won that but lost the SF. He then headed back home to Gstaad where they had a special ceremony in his honour of returning to the tournament after 9 years. Perhaps this home pressure is what convinced him to participate with his bad back, even though his team advised against it. He played and lost his very first match.
Fast forward to the present and Roger’s back hasn’t healed enough to play in Montreal. On behalf of Roger I would like to scream at the tennis gods, they’ve been very cruel this year. After a decade of being able to avoid serious injury, this year his back issues have followed him like the plague: at Indian Wells, then Hamburg and Gstaad. His 7 week hiatus has backfired and he hasn’t been able to test his new racquet enough before the US Open. Roger keeps trying out new strategies and yet before he can get in a rhythm and gain some confidence he gets stopped each time by either a bad back or sudden inability to close out matches and is back to square one.
I don’t know where things go from here because a lot of it depends on his back. If his back allows him to play Cincy and he can get used to his new racquet, maybe he can go deep at the US Open. If his back allows him, he can add a tournament in between the US Open and Shanghai to get some extra points. If his back allows him, he will do everything in his power to make sure he qualifies for the World Tour Finals. He’s dangerously close to not qualifying and needs a pain free back, some luck, and a ton of confidence to turn things around.
But he’s Roger Federer, he’s been making the impossible possible for over a decade. When people thought he was done in 2008 he came back and produced 2009. When he entered Wimbledon 2012 it had been 2.5 years since he last won a Slam and then he walked away with his 17th one. This man loves to prove his doubters wrong when their voices are the loudest and I want to be there by his side to watch their faces when he does just that. So come on Roger! Finish the year strong! I still believe! Allez!
Roger Federer played a 2 day match that consisted of 4 sets. As a result, my schedule was thrown into the wind and so this post will be haphazard and might not make much sense. The Maestro faced off against Gael Monfils in R4 at Roland Garros. That whole day was impacted by rain and which meant hat ultimately the match started over 4 hours late.
Roger was really the better player that night except for those few moments. So what should have been a 2 sets to love lead and possibly finishing the match that night in straight sets, turned out to be a 1-set all situation. Clearly now the match would need at least 4 sets to end and with the rain imminent, and darkness falling, the referee called it a night. And yes, Roland Garros has no lights or roofs, yet more reasons why it should be ashamed to call itself a Grand Slam in this day and age.
Roger has now reached a total of 44 Grand Slam QFs. The closest to him is Connors with 41. The closest active player is Djokovic with 32.
I will do a shorter recap instead.
Others said that since he only became a father 5 days prior, the fact that he played at all was a miracle. I myself fall somewhere in between. Would I have liked him to get a few more match wins? Yes. Did I think he was so distracted and unfocussed that he allowed Chardy to win? No. He might have been tired for sure but watch the 3rd set again; he fought tooth and nail till the end. He was upset when he lost and Chardy won fair and square, not because Roger ‘allowed’ him to.
I have long since given up on draw analysis because #1. 2013 taught me never to look beyond the first match and #2. Draws usually open up in the most random of ways that render predictions obsolete. So you won’t get any draw analysis from me. There are a zillion other sites and blogs out there dedicated to that anyway 😉 At most you will get a 
rogerfedererfan 