KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – It had a “Fight Night” atmosphere, but Friday night’s Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal men’s semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Open was as suspenseful as a first-round knock-out.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
A dreadful Federer splattered unforced errors all over the stadium court at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park, falling 6-3, 6-2 to his Spanish rival.
Federer committed an incredible 31 unforced errors – greater the number of points it takes to win a set – in the loss. Nadal, by contrast, played a clean match committing only 10 unforced errors.
Nadal, the world No. 1, will face No. 2 Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final – a re-match of the final of last month’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., in a match-up that will likely determine Grand Slam tournament titles for the years to come.
Nadal took first control of the match with the No. 3-ranked Federer in the middle of the first set, breaking Federer in the third game of the match and rolling through five straight games from 4-2 up in the first set to 3-0 in the second set.
“It’s always a bit of an adjustment obviously for me coming out and playing Rafa – any lefty, I guess, but him in particular. That’s what made it hard tonight” said Federer, the 16-time major champion who will turn 30 this August. “In the first couple of game you get a break down, and then I felt like conditions weren’t really favoring me as well. It knew it was slow, but just makes it so hard to hit through on him on a surface like this. Then maybe you try to overhit a bit and then obviously I starting taking wrong decisions on big points.”
Said Nadal, “I think I played very, very good match, very solid and serious. First set especially I think I played very, very good. Second set, I think he played worse. He had more mistakes than usual. He tried to play shorter points, so I think second set, he didn’t play well.”
Many of the crowd of 14,638 fans chanted and cheered for Roger in the second-set, hoping to pump him up to get him into the match. However, Nadal continued to tighten his grip on his top rival, with whom he now holds a 15-8 head-to-head advantage in their all-time series.
The match marked the first time in six years that the two tennis icons have played in North America – the last meeting coming in the 2005 final here, Federer winning in five sets.
Federer’s time is up. He all of a sudden looks old with his head perpetually hanging down with a defeatist attitude. Although, I have always been a Federer fan, I hate to say that he almost does not have any hope beating Novak or Nadal anymore, as long as he continues to play with no confidence which translates into horrifying number of unforced errors. He does not look like he is having fun out there and is on the verge of humiliating himself and/or being humiliated by others. For a sixteen grand slam champ, I expect a lot more better performance. I understand that he is older in age and may have lost a step or two, but, with undeniable skill ( which is not so apparent these days), we his fans, believe he can still put up a greater fight with heart. If he lacks heart, grit and confidence, I’m afraid, skill can’t get him anywhere today, certainly not with the way guys are playing now. When Federer is about to hit the ball, I can most sadly predict that he is going to draw an error, rather than a winner. Breaks my heart. I respect both Nadal and Novak tremendously, but I feel Federer can still do better than he is doing now. He needs to go back to what made him great and quit playing like an over grown baby who is about to cry.
I am not sure if his time is up. So far he is only losing to Nadal and Djokovic mostly. Does that mean it’s the end? I doubt it. But he does need to change his game plan. Those two slams he is dreaming about. They dont come out of thin air you know.
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