TENNIS ATP CINCINNATI – Federer is not just anybody. He is considered by many to be the greatest of all time and by his estimates, his record in finals for the year has been abysmal at 2-5. At one point in the match, it looked like it would be a 4th straight loss in a Masters final for the Swiss but he soon got his A-game back on track to end the drought of big titles. Federer took out Ferrer 6-3 1-6 6-2. Cordell Hackshaw
Roger Federer (2) is having a great 2014 season by anyone’s standard. He has made it to eight finals including his 9th Wimbledon final. However, Federer is not just anybody. He is considered by many to be the greatest of all time and by his estimates, his record in finals for the year has been abysmal at 2-5 so far, (Dubai and Halle). He has not won a major title since 2012, which coincidentally was the last time he won a Masters title. Despite this Cincinnati final being his 4th Masters final for the year, Federer has failed to capture any of the titles even though he was the pre-match favourite in each of the previous three. Therefore, Federer having a 15-0 lifetime record against Ferrer did not seem an advantage as the other three opponents who Federer faced in Masters finals, Novak Djokovic (Indian Wells), Stan Wawrinka (Monte Carlo) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Toronto), all trail Federer in their head-to-head. At one point in the match, it looked like it would be a 4th straight loss in a Masters final for the Swiss but he soon got his A-game back on track to end the drought of big titles. Federer took out Ferrer 6-3 1-6 6-2.
Federer started the match at a comfortable pace. He sent earlier signs to Ferrer that he intended to break him as soon as possible. However, Ferrer shook off early signs of nerves to hold through to 3-3. Federer had another easy service game for 4-3 and began piling the pressure on the Spaniard. Ferrer buckled after digging himself out of a 0-30 hole. At 30-30, he sent his forehand long and then double faulted to give Federer the break to serve for the set 5-3. Federer serving out the set proved to be anything but easy as he was soon down triple break points. He held it together and served his way out of trouble to close it out 6-3 in just over half an hour.
One expected Federer to go on a tear in the 2nd set as he had a couple of break points in Ferrer’s opening service game. Ferrer fought them off valiantly to hold and quickly turned the table around on Federer by gaining three more break points on his serve. Federer too came up with some good stuff to save all three but on Ferrer’s 8th break point, he could not come up with something special. Ferrer lead 2-0. What happened next seems inexplicable as Federer became a mere shadow of himself. He completely went offline on court. Whereas in the 1st set Federer was winning 78% behind his 1st serve, in the 2nd set, he could only garner 54%. In the opening set, Federer had 5 errors total but in the 2nd, he had 16. Ferrer capitalized on this poor performance and raced out to an insurmountable 5-0 lead. “[L]et’s not talk about the second set … I just think he played a pretty good game to break, and then he played a great game to break again. Then it was 40, quickly 50,” Federer later noted. Federer was able to hold serve once in the set but only after saving two set points to avoid the bagel. Ferrer served it out for 6-1.
Many viewers were not sure what to make of this match. There appeared to be nothing physically wrong with Federer and he was hardly one to choke in big matches. However, it was clear that he could not continue with this level of play if he expected to win. Ferrer’s level and intensity was not likely to drop thus Federer had to re-charge and so he did. After a quick bathroom break between the final two sets, Federer game out a new man. He served first in the 3rd set, opening with an ace and continued this fine serving till the end of the match, dropping only 3 points on serve in the set. Ferrer said, “The third set he serve unbelievable.” Ferrer was now on the back foot and struggling to hold serve. Federer broke in the 4th game for a 3-1 lead. Up 4-1, he saw more break points for the double break but Ferrer was able to hold for 2-4. Federer held for 5-2 and then continued to pounce on the Ferrer serve. The 5-time champion in Cincinnati soon had triple match points. On the final point, Ferrer’s groundstroke was ruled good but Federer challenged and the call was overturned. Federer won 6-3 1-6 6-2.
Ferrer had some good numbers for the match. He won 70% of his 1st serve points and 41% behind his 2nd serve with 29 winners and 24 errors. Ordinarily, these stats would have garnered him a win against most players but then again, Federer is not most players. If Ferrer is to beat Federer and stop a 17 straight win, he could not be average. He had to be phenomenal. Federer spoke of his one-sided affair, “I never lost against him. I don’t feel like that at all because I know how tough he is and how close sometimes winning and losing is.” This win gives Federer his 22nd Masters title and 80th career title. The 17-time major champion is confident about his game going into the US Open, “[N]ow I come in with great confidence. I can really rest now, rather than having to work on stuff. So it’s just about maintaining. That’s also really good for the mind.”
