In his last tournament at Indian Wells, Fed felt he never be in a tiebreaker, as he's more comfortable winning the set outright. To be sure, against Bags, he had a 4-1 lead before he went into a breaker. Against Big Berdy (4-6 7-6 [3] 6-7 [6]), the Greatest Shanker of All Time decides to get tiebreak practice and comes out on the wrong side of tennis karma. With a close match like this, the stats indeed showed it was a crapshoot with the total points won evenly split.
Federer Berdych Aces 5 6 DF 2 3 1st Serve % 55 56 1st Serve % Pts Won 42/57 (74%) 51/76 (67%) 2nd Serve % Pts Won 25/46 (54%) 32/59 (54%) Break Points Won 2/10 (20%) 3/4 (75%) Winners 40 26 UFEs 61 45 Total Service Points Won 67/103 (65%) 83/135 (61%) Total Points Won 119/238 (50%) 119/238 (50%)
The most revealing stats were the failure to convert break point opportunities (a theme in Fed losses) and the ghastly number of unforced errors. Time and time again, Fed's forehand would sail past the line, or his backhand slice would clip the netcord. The errors were so horrendous, that it stunned spectators like Boom Boom.
Fed looked totally frustrated out there and I was almost expecting him to give Bozo the satisfaction of a racquet smash. In his post-match presser, Fed was acknowledged that he was in a slump.
Q. Obviously backhand was off tonight. A lot of errors. Unusual for you. What was the problem out there? He was playing well, obviously.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it was a tough match. Look, it's no secret I've struggled the last, what is it, five matches I've played here in the States. It's disappointing, I think, my performance overall, if I've got to analyze right now after the match.
But I fought as much as I could under the understood circumstances with my game having issues at the moment. Definitely lack timing. I don't know where that comes from because I played so nicely in Australia. So it's disappointing to not be able to back it up.
Maybe the sickness did take it out of me more than I thought. Maybe the break was quite long. I'm kind of used to those things, and I still, you know, think I could have done much better.
I was a couple points away this week and then also in Indian Wells had my chances. It's disappointing having had a chance to move on. Maybe I had a chance to sort of turn around my game.
But, you know, we'll see how it goes forward.
Given that his timing was off, Fed knew he had to hang in there and tough it out.
Look, I never felt great the whole night. I just fought with what I had. I knew it was gonna be a tough third set, because thank God he wasn't in too many of my service games in the second set, which made it a bit easier for me to relax and concentrate on the return games.
But, look, I had tons of chances at the end. Match point was my serve, I mean, what more can I do? I tried everything I could. It's just not happening for me at the moment.
It's admirable how he stays in the moment and focuses on doing what he can to win when he's playing like crap. So to the rumor among FedKads that Fed doesn't care about Master's, that's bollocks! He's a competitor like anyone who has dragged his ass out on court. He wants to win and hates losing, especially when he has a chance to close it out.
Even when Fed plays like crap, he does hang in there by hitting one more ball to give himself a chance to win the point.
Definitely not one of his best points ever, but fun to watch how both players kept their composure.
Still it's hard not to believe that at some level Fed's mental focus at a Masters is less than at a Slam. Whatever the case may be, he's not beating himself up over this loss and using his practice time to get his game back on gear.
UPDATE: even though he didn't say so, Roger is ready to move away from the hard court season and to begin defending his Roland Garros title. He posted this picture of his practicing on the clay courts the day after his loss.
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