Is This Beginning Of End Of Federer?

Roger Federer lost to another player ranked outside top 100.  Recently he lost to Delbonis( Atp 114) and he also lost to Stakhvosky at Wimbledon 2nd round.  Is this beginning of  end of Federer? Or it is only loss of concentration from Federer?  The question is still unanswered.  Now I will try to get the answer with my experience and historical background.

Federer Reacting After Wimbledon Loss

Historical Truth:
This is undeniably fact that every thing which is at one time at its peak, will be at a decline at the other time.  Everyone who flourishes at one time will decline one day sooner or later.  Pete Sampras is greatest example, because he was most dominant player of his time especially on grass.  But once the age caught him, and he lost to a player outside top 100 at Wimbledon 2012, the tournament where he won 7 titles.  This was probably beginning of end of Sampras.  He dropped out of top ten and his dominance remains no more in tennis as it was in 90s.  But he was a true champion, he proved this by winning US open at age of 33, when he was seeded outside top 20.  That field in which Sampras won his 14th grand slam was not so competitive as it is this time.  So Sampras protected his legacy even before his retirement.  But his decline was surely due to age.  Once a tennis player is caught by age, it is very difficult for him to play at the same level at which one he was playing.

Current Fact:
The loss of Federer to players outside top 100 is surely shocking for tennis world.  But it is not only Federer who lost to a player ranked outside top 100.  Rafeal Nadal is biggest example in this regard.  He lost to Lukas Rosol at age of 25 at last year's Wimbledon 2nd round, and now he lost recently to Steve Darcis in 1st round of Wimbledon 2013.  Both of these guys were ranked out of top 100.  Now if we analyze the fact of Nadal, who is not so much aged as Federer, we can surely say the loss of concentration is biggest factor of their losses.

Federer's Losses:

Federer Shanking Hands With Delbonis After Loss

Now if we analyze the losses of Federer in Hamburg and Wimbledon 2nd round, we can see that Federer did not play bad.  He played well but not so well as he played before.  He lose both of these matches due to losses in tie breaks.  Tie break is deciding factory of a set or even a match.  Tie break contains most crucial points of the match.  There is no chance to lose concentration in Tie break.  But Federe lost two tie breaks at Wimbledon and two at Hamburg.  This indicates that Federer losses were due to lack of concentration, at which he should pay attention the most.

Future Expectations:
Now Federer after having a worst season of his career since 2003.  Despite so much disappointments, Federer is still hopeful that he will get his way back.  He is playing at Gstaad this week in front of home crowd.  He is playing this tournament since winning this in 2004.  He made his tour debut at this tournament in 1998.  So he has a lot of memories regarding this tournament.  He must win this tournament to get himself in the game before going to North America.  He has to defend almost 1500 points heading towards US open therefore winning at Gstaad can give him extra confidence and points, which he needs the most.  He will try to at least maintain his rankings.  His big racket will do the damage if he wins at least one bigger tournament before entering into US open.  He has to show himself strong at Gstaad as well as at Rogers Cup, where has nothing to lose.  This will give him an extra push up before defending title at Cincinnati.  And after all at 2013 last grand slam.


Future Doubts:
There are doubts around, that if Federer continue to lose against low ranked players as he did in his last two tournaments.  Then he will soon be out of top ten, which will be surely the beginning of end.  But Federer knows how to handle such a tough time.  If will come back strong at Gstaad and then in North America.  If he wins at US open, which I don't expect from him this time.  Then it will have much sweeter flavour as compared to 2012 Wimbledon.  But an early exit will prove this fact that he has done now.

Djokovic And Murray Are Building Historic Rivalry

The current world no 1 Serbian star Novak Djokovic and world no 2 Andy Murray of Great Britain are building a rivalry which will make history very soon.  Although this rivalry is not as much prominent as Federer-Nadal or Aggasi-Sampras rivalry, but if both stars continue their peak performance they will surely catch or even surpass these historic rivalries.  Both of these guys have met in 3 of last 4 grand slam finals.  Both men are without any doubt are elite players and at pinnacle of their careers.  In this article we will look back a complete detailed history of all meeting between both of these guys.  Lets enjoy:

Overall Statistics

Both of these men met each other 19 times in their careers with Djokovic leads by 11-8.  In these 19 meeting 9 were in the finals in which Murray leads by 5-4.  They met each other 5 times in grand slam tournament with Djokovic leads by 3-2. In grand slam finals they met 4 times with 2-2 apiece.  

Statistics By Courts Type:

1)      Grass Courts

 They met on grass twice in their career, with Murray winning both of these matches and continue his grass dominance on his fierce rival.

2)      Hard Courts

      They met 14 times on hard courts with Djokovic leading by 8:6 head to head.  These meeting include all master 1000, Atp 500 events as well as grand slams.  These stats show that Djokovic is dominant tennis world on hard courts and even Murray.

3)      Clay Courts

      Overall they met 4 times on clay with no meeting at French Open.  Here again Djokovic lead by 3:1.  Dirt is Murray’s worst surface and his stats against Djokovic are showing that fact.

Statistics At Grand Slams:

They met all three grand slams except French Open in their career.  The detailed history of their meetings in grand slams is shown below,

1)      Wimbledon

      They met only once at wimbledon final and this is their very recent meeting at 2013 in which Murray won in straight sets by 6-4 7-5 6-4.  After winning this match Murray became the only British man in 72 years to win at All England Club.

2)      Australian Open

      They met at Australian Open three times with Djokovic continue his dominance at Melbourne by winning all   three meetings. In 2011 Djokovic beat him in final of Australian open in straight sets by 6-4 6-2 6-3.  In 2012 Djokovic again beat Murray in semi finals in 5 hours thriller by 6-3 3-6 7-6 6-1 7-5. that was a historic semi final in grand slam history.  In 2013 for third consecutive year this time again in final Djokvic beat him in four sets by 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2 and continue his dominance in Australia.

3)      US Open

      They met only once at US Open final in 2012, where Andy Murray won first grand slam of his career by beating Djokovic in five sets by 7-6 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 .  This victory of Murray was first one after losing four grand slam finals i-e 3 to Federer and 1 to Djokovic.  So that was a huge boos up for Murray in his career under coaching of Ivan Lendl.

Statistics By Masters 1000 Events:

The detailed analyses of their meetings in Masters 1000 events is given below

1)      Indian Wells Masters

      They met only once at Indian Wells only once in 2008 semis, where Djokovic won easily in straight sets by 6-2 6-3.

2)      Miami Masters

      They met at Miami three times in his career with Djokovic leading by 2:1.  First they meet in 2007 semi finals, where Djokovic crashed Murray by 6-1 6-0.  Secondly they meet in 2009 final, where Murray dominated in straight sets by 6-2 7-5.  They met here in 2012 final for the third time where Djokovic beat Murray by 6-1 7-6. 

3)      Madrid Masters

They met only once at this tournament in 2006 3^rd round, where Djokovic got victory by 1-6 7-5 6-3 in three tight sets.

4)      Monte Carlo Masters

      They met at this tournament one time at 2008 3^rd round where Djokovic dismantle Murray by 6-0 6-4.

5)      Rome Masters

 Both men meet at Rome in 2011 semi finals where tennis world saw a great clay court fight between these players.  Although Djokovic won by 6-1 3-6 7-6 but Murray proved himself a great fighter.

6)      Rogers Cup Masters

      They met at Rogers Cup only one time in 2008 quarterfinals where Murray won in straight sets by 6-3 7-6.

7)      Cincinnati Masters

      Both guys met at this tournament twice with Murray winning both of these meeting.  First in 2008 final Murray beat him by 7-6 7-6.  Secondly in 2011 final Murray beat Djokovic by 6-4 3-0 (Retired).  Djokovic was forced to retire due to shoulder injury.  This was first defeat of Djokovic at Masters 1000 event in 2011.

8)      Shanghai Masters

      They met just one time here and it was last year in 2012 final.  This match was dramatic one, with Murray had plenty of match points but Djokovic ended as victorious by 5-7 7-6 6-3.  This match showed again mental toughness of Nole inside the court.

Statistics At ATP 500 Events:

            They met at only one 500 event, and that was Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship 2012, where Murray won in straight sets by 6-2 7-5.

Statistics At World Tour Finals:

            They met at year ending championship only once in 2012 round robin, in which Djokovic came back from a set down to win that match by 4-6 6-3 7-5. 

Statistics At Olympic Games:

            They met at London Olympics in 2012 semi finals, in which Andy Murray dominated by 7-5 7-5.  After getting this victory Murray won gold medal by beating Roger Federer for the first time in a five set match.

Federer Advances Into Hamburg Semi Finals Haas Ousted

Top seed Roger Federer had to face a fierce test against home favourite Florian Mayer.  He beat Mayer under just two hours of thrilling tennis by 7-6(4) 3-6 7-5.  Federer never lost a set against Mayer in last four meetings, but this time Mayer was at his best.  He pushed Federer to the limits, because Federer had to use all of his abilities to come through this match.

Federer Is welcomed By Crowd

In the opening set all went on serve, none of the player gave any chance to other to even see some break points.  Only Federer had only one break point opportunity in 6th game, which Mayer saved by huge serve. At last this set had to be decided in the tie-break.  In this tie-break Federer played his best tennis got got this breaker by 7-4 to take one set lead in 48 minutes.  In the second set, Mayer started to take control of the match and thrilled the whole crowd by breaking Federer.  This was the only break which was necessary to level the match by 6-3 in 37 minutes.

Federer Hitting Defensive Backhand

This was the only set that Mayer took from Swiss master in his career.  Now Federer tried his best to break Mayer at any cost.  He broke Mayer in 3rd game, but Mayer immediately got the break back.  This was another thrilling moment for crowd.  Federer continue his try and broke him again in 5th game.  Mayer again broke back by support of home crowd.  If Mayer could not get the breaks back then match would be finished earlier.  But that did not happened.  After that Federer played best games of the match to level at 5-5 and again broke Mayer in the very next game, which proved to be decisive.  And time Federer served the match out by playing beautiful service game to love.

Fognini Against Tommy Haas

In another match Fobio Fognini of Italy beat second seed Tve and won 71% of these points.  He also saved 5 of 6 break points that he faced.  He broke Tommy Haas four times which was prove to be decisive statistics.  Haas could not get advantage of opportunities, which Fognini did.  This cost him lose this match.  He could only win 44% points on his first serve.  So overall Tommy Haas could not convert most important points of the match, and tennis is game of opportunities conversionommy Haas in straight sets by 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour 22 minutes.  Fognini showed great defence on his second ser.  This thing cause him an unexpected defeat.

Federer Cruises Into Hamburg Quarters

Roger Federer create a huge improvement in his performance as compared to the previous match, where he had to come back from a set down against Daniel Brands.  In 3rd round match against Czech J Hajek, he was looking more committed.  He displayed a good performance to reach quarterfinals.   He got the victory by 6-4 6-3.

Federer Is Serving Against Hajek

In the opening set, first few games were very tricky one, because both of guys exchange breaks of serves.  Until the score was 3-3.  Now it was on serve.  Federer was serving to get 4-3 lead, but that was not easy because he was 15-40 down in this game and had to face two break points.  He saved those break points by blasting winner and a huge serve.  That was huge boost up for Federer.  In the very next game, Federer tried to break Hajek and was at 30-40 up.  But Hajek served a good one down the tea which Federer only managed to touch.  He hold that serve to get himself into even terms 4-4.  In the next game Federer hold his serve to 30 and forced Hajek to serve to stay in the set.  Federer considered it a huge opportunity and tried his best to break Hajek and take the set.  He produced and couple of set points on Hajek serve but Hajek saved initially all those set points.  But Federer continued his try and produce another set point, and it was moment when Federer converted the set point to take the set by 6-4 in 39 minutes.

Federer Thanking Crowd After Victory

In the second set, Federer quickly hold serve to love in the opening game of the second set.  Hajek also remained firm on his serve and set goes on serve until 3-2.  Now Hajek was serving to level the set, but Federer did not let him to do that and broke him to 15 to take 4-2 lead.  He confirmed that break by holding the very next game to get 5-2 lead.  Now Hajek was serving to stay in the match.  Federer again tried to seal the match there and produced a couple of match points, but all those match points were saved by Hajek due to his huge serve.  Now Federer had to serve it out, and he did that in style.  He fired a huge ace at match point to get his place in the quarterfinals in 72 minutes.  He will face florian Mayer of Germany in quraterfinals.  Federer is 4-0 head to head against him.


In other matches Tommy Haas beat Carlos Berlocq by 6-2 6-4.  In another match Fernando Verdasco beat no 4 seed Jerzy Janowicz, when he was forced to retire.  

Federer And Tommy Haas Survived At Hamburg Openers

Former world no 1 and currently world no 5 Roger Federer and German hope Tommy Haas survived at Hamburg second rounds.  They moved into third rounds but they had to concede one set each.  Federer beat home favourite and big serving Daniel Brands by 3-6 6-3 and 6-2.  On the other hand Tommy Haas beat Kavcic of Slovakia by 6-1 4-6 and 6-4.  Both of these matches were interesting to watch, because in both of matches there will a lot of twists and turns especially in Haas match.

Roger Federer was playing for the first time after shocking second round exit at Wimbledon.  He needed victory to boost himself up.  But his opponent was none other than Daniel Brands, the man who teased Nadal a lot at French open and took a set against him.  And it was expected that he will give Swiss master the same challenge and he did that.  In the opening set Federer served a good one in first three service games and continued to tease Brands on his serve.  He took a couple of games to deuce on Brands serve but Brands always came back with huge serve.  At 3-3 Federer was 15-40 up on Brands serve but this time Brands again saved these two break points by cross court forehand winner and a huge serve, which Federer only managed to touch.  And he hold that serve also to get 4-3 lead.  In the very next game Federer was looking bit upset due to missing opportunities in last game.  His first serve did not find its mark and soon he was 0-40 down and was broken.  Brands serve for the set in style by firing a couple of aces and sealed the set at 6-3.  This was the time when there was roaring of crowd all around.

Now fans were looking Federer to come back and he did that.  He increased his first serve %age and won all 17 points on his first serve and gave no chance to brands on his serve.  He needed only one break to serve the set to level the match at 6-3.  In the deciding set there was Federer all around.  He broke Brands twice in the deciding set to seal the match at 6-2.  This was much needed victory with his larger frame racket.  In the whole match Federer fired 9 aces and won 83% of points on his first serve.  In the third round he will face J Hajek of Czech Republic.  And this will be their first meeting.

In another match earlier, Tommy Haas beat Kavcic despite a come back form him.  In the opening set Tommy Haas served well and show beautiful return game and took the set quickly by 6-1.  In the second set Kavcic made a come back and hold his serve firmly.  He broke Haas once to take the set 6-4 to level the match.  In the deciding set Haas again got early break to get 4-1 lead.  In the very next game Haas was on the brink of double break, but Kavcic hold his nerves to hold serve to reduce the Haas lead at 4-2.  Surprisingly in the next game Kavcic got the break back and hold his serve to level the set at 4-4.  Under pressure Haas hold his serve to get 5-4 important lead.  Now Kavcic was serving to stay in the match, but this time he could not hold his nerves and he lost his serve and hence the match despite huge come back.