The defending champion Roger Federer was sensationally knocked out of the Miami Open by young Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis, ranked 175, in the second round of the Miami Open here in Key Biscayne, 3-6 6-3 7-6(4) This loss means that Rafael Nadal will regain the World no.1 position when the rankings are released the day after the tournament finishes.
This will come as a bitter blow to the Swiss maestro who having raced to a career best 17-0 unbeaten record this year, has now lost two matches in a row in a final set tie break after losing the nail biting final to Juan martin Del Potro on sunday. This loss puts his career record for final set tie break matches at 1-9. An appalling record for such an outstanding champion.
The first two sets were split with a single break each way, and the match was eventually settled in the final set breaker with neither player able to secure a break of serve.
Federer got off to a bad start after netting a routine forehand to fall behind a mini break. He rallied back to 3-3 only to fall behind again when he netted a backhand slice on the stretch and Kokkinakis sensing blood, pummelled a forehand cross-court winner to set up two match points. Federer’s tame backhand slice return into the bottom of the net to collective groans of disbelief, saw the young Australian secure the biggest upset of the year so far as the world no.1 lost the match, 1000 points and his position at the top of the world rankings.
“I feel like I wasn’t feeling good”, Federer said. “The ball. I wasn’t feeling. With my movement, things weren’t absolutely working. I felt like the third set could be a tricky one, of course. I feel like every time I had chances, something bad happened for me; wrong decision making by me, good decision making by him. Who knows what happened. It just felt like I could be paying the price for opportunities missed.”
“It’s disappointing”, Federer continued. “Don’t know why I could never get to any level that I was happy with today. Sometimes you have these matches. Sometimes you find a way through. I just couldn’t get it done today.”
Speaking about Kokkinanis, Federer had warm words of encouragement for the young Australian whose short career has thus far been plagued by injury: “Look, he’s a cool guy, with a cool demeanour. I know him well. He’s been to Dubai to practice with me a couple of times I know him very well. We have worked very hard together. I’ve always liked his game. I’m happy for him that on the big stage he was able to show it, centre court, Miami. People watching, beating me. It’s a big result for him in his career. I hope it’s going to launch him, really get his ranking up.”
On the question of whether he would have played Miami after his loss in Indian Wells, if the no.1 ranking was not on the line, Federer was unequivocal: “It was always on the schedule, regardless”, he said.
Federer also confirmed that he would once again skip the clay court season which effectively puts him out of the game for the next 10 weeks.