Roger Federer has put a spell on his opponents. No matter how good they are, no matter how experienced they are, they all come to a point when they start thinking they are playing in front of an unbeatable guy and they will never be able to win the match.

So did Novak Djokovic yesterday in the final of the US Open. He did everything right ’till the moment he had three set points in a row in the first set. Seeing him play you would say: «Look at this guy. He’s not scared». But then something happened also in this nice and easy-going Serbian’s mind.

He actually beat Federer last month in the final of the Canadian Open (not before giving his guts…) and has all the qualities to become a major winner and world n.1 in the future. But yesterday was not his night. Five set points missed in the first set, two in the second. The match could have easily gone the other way. How much can you blame it on Djokovic’s lack of experience and how much on Roger’s ability to get off of any situation?

The fact is that all those streaks of winning matches made Federer hate losing. When you start fighting against him, it becomes a mental struggle in which (for Roger) the fear of losing is even bigger than the desire of winning. You can see him never glancing at his opponent, always focused 100% on his shots and on his tactical choices, only keen to be the best once again at the end.

As the talks if he is better than Sampras or not continue, this guy has won twelve Slams in four years and made another step into tennis history. Soon he will chase not Sampras’ but Graf’s record (22 Slams…)

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A 225 kph serve, 2 meters and 6 tall, a big forehand. John Isner, the guy who came out of nowhere this summer to reach the final of the Legg Mason in Washington, could be a serious test for world n.1 Roger Federer in the US Open third round. He gives his opponent no rythm, has great support from the crowd. He could get fired up and play the match of his life in front of the three-time defending champion.

By his physical features and style of play, Isner reminds me of Marc-Kevin Goellner, a German player of the 90’s who claimed some good results against top-players. For example, he beat Stefan Edberg and Ivan Lendl back to back in Nice in 1993. He also won Davis Cup with Germany that same year.

Roger doesn’t seem to suffer big servers (given his outstanding record against Roddick), but that third round could be a match to see.