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.
I’ve never seen a worse fifth set tie-breaker than the one played by James Blake against Tommy Haas in the fourth round of the US Open. Where did James think he was? He wasted a three hour job with a just crazy attitude, looking for the winner all the times, never waiting against a guy like Haas, who often misses when put under pressure.
Of course that outstanding point on the score of 3-3 made the difference, with Haas lobbing the American twice in the same rally. But Blake seemed to be already beaten before the whole thing even started. Maybe he’s not ready to inherit the responsibility of carrying the US flag in tennis and, at this point, I doubt that he will ever do it one day.
Could this be a turning point in Haas’ career? A player who has lost at the fifth set some of the most important opportunities in his career (an Australian Open semi agains Safin and an Olympic final against Kafelnikov) has already won two five set matches in this year’s Open. And now faces a much more relaxed Davydenko, that he beat in five sets in January in Australia.
Maybe the eternal promise of German tennis is finally becoming reality.
Now that the US Open draw is lined up to the fourth round, it’s maybe time to start wondering who this Ernests Gulbis is. 19 years old, from Latvia, he progressed to the last 16 without dropping a set and destroying n.8 seed Tommy Robredo.
Searching in his ATP profile I found out that he is not a complete unknown. In 2007 he is the winner of two challengers back-to-back in Besancon and Sarajevo. And he beat Tim Henman in straight sets at the French Open.
Here’s the last game of that match in a Youtube video
Some time has gone since Lleyton Hewitt was compared to Bjorn Borg for his foot movement, after raising US Open cup in 2001 over Pete Sampras. 20 years old, he already looked like a veteran on the Tour. The illusion was to continue: the Wimbledon triumph, two Masters Cups and two year-end n.1 spots in a row… Lleyton must have thought he could sit back and relax for a moment.
But he chose a bad year. 2003: the upcoming of the new generation. Federer, Roddick, Ferrero. One year later Nadal’s explosion, to end an era with no real leadership. That’s how Lleyton’s dream to become a tennis legend faded away. He let the momentum go, in a sport where you can never lose your grip on your opponents.
Yesterday, a claycourter like Agustin Calleri was enough to beat Hewitt in the second round of the US Open, his beloved tournament, where he had never gone out so early. A perfect match with 65 winners for the Argentine.
But would the Hewitt we all knew, the one who used to scream “C’mon” even after the first point of the match, ever lose on hardcourt to a player he had always beaten comfortably before, the last time even on clay earlier this year in Hamburg? There was a time when the Autralian seemed to have put his bad moment behind him.
In 2005 he had climbed back the rankings up to the third place in the world and he looked the only real threat to Roger Federer, along with Safin. But after his fatherhood, his fighting spirit has definitely gone.
Or maybe Lleyton has thought it’s no longer time to act as the bad boy.
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.
