Roger Federer will be saying goodbye to Paris and heading to London after a mostly successful and encouraging week. The last couple weeks have shown great hope that his struggles over the last months have truly been as a result of injury, not due to fading form or age catching up to him. His win against Del Potro in the quarter finals, especially in the first set, was reminiscent of the Maestro of old who has been AWOL for a lot of this year. And in his match against Djokovic in the semis we also saw what he is still capable of - the amazing variety, great movement around the court, killer forehands, supremely disguised drop shots.
Now that he is feeling so much better after the months of having to play in a fragile way to protect his injuries, his challenge against the top players is to be able to hang onto his top form for a full two sets. That was the problem against Djokovic. Though he was able to get up a quick break in the 2nd set, he quickly gave it up again, and as Novak was finally finding his form, Roger was suddenly losing some of his service rhythm and more errors were creeping in. Letting the level drop even for a moment against a top player can be hazardous, as he found out today. And that is what he will be facing all next week, as he will immediately play Djokovic again on Tuesday, followed by Del Potro and Gasquet (in no particular order). Not an easy task. A couple months ago this would have been a recipe for disaster, but as he is gaining confidence and finding his way again, he most certainly has a shot.
I didn't feel particularly disappointed by his loss in Paris. Sure, being that he would have been playing Ferrer in the final - who, by the way, was very impressive in his straight sets win over Nadal - it would have been great to have a chance for a Masters 1000 title this year. But knowing what he faces next week, and also sounding like he may have picked up a bit of a cold, I think it's important for him to have the extra day off after two physical three set matches in a row. It would have been particularly difficult to only have one day off and then have to play at least three top 10 matches. So we will take the positives we have seen and look forward to hopefully a great week of tennis in London with the best players in the world.
First of all, congratulations to Novak Djokovic who, through gritty determination was able to win the World Tour Finals, coming from behind in both sets to defeat Roger Federer. It was a high intensity match with twists and turns in the plot from start to finish. Though it seemed certain to go three sets when Roger was up 40-15 at 5-4, all of a sudden it seemed to be championship point at 5-6.
For Federer fans it was a disappointing end to be sure. It took me a while to come to terms with it. However, to be honest, I hadn't really expected him to win this tournament from the start. The fact that he was able to pull out a win in the semifinal against Murray and get to the final was incredibly exciting. This match against Djokovic was played at the highest level. Sure there were some errors that gave points away, but there were an awful lot of jaw dropping points also and not a boring moment of the match. Novak did what he does so often - hang in there when he's not playing as well and then through sheer determination snatch the match back. But the fact that he had to fight so hard, bloodying up his elbow in the process, against a guy six years his senior, shows the level that Roger Federer is still at, and anyone who is still asking if he is going to retire soon should be ashamed of themselves!
While maybe at this point I should be showing interviews and media blitzes from Novak, this is primarily a Fedfan blog, so while I definitely give much credit to those who do well, my heart is always with Roger. So those who are in the same boat should take much comfort and enjoyment in the fact that he had more wins this year than he has had in quite a few years, he won six titles this year (including 1 GS and 3 Masters 1000s), got #1 back for a record 302 weeks, and overall simply was amazing, making his fans proud. He is very deserving of some beach time, which he loves, with his three girls and hopefully feeling rejuvenated and ready for a new season to set more amazing records.
Here is a video of some behind the scenes stuff after his match. Love his laugh! I think he is doing just fine after his loss:
Though the 2012 season is mostly over there is still Davis Cup this weekend, plus quite a few exhibitions that maybe we will get to see some of. I will still continue to give updates whenever I find some fun or interesting tennis tidbits. Tennis is never truly over!
