[7] R. Federer b. A. Mannarino 6-4 6-7(3) 3-6 6-2 ret.
We were all ready to mark the beginning of the end to one of the most incredible tennis careers in the history of the game, by the Gods that were looking from above had different plans.
During his first-round match against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, a player he had beaten six times in six prior matches, Roger Federer was struggling to find his game, not even his best one, and he looked on the brink of the toughest defeat of his career at Wimbledon. The man who had triumphed eight times on that very same Centre Court looked incapable to give consistency to his serve and could not dictate the rallies from the baseline. He was trailing by 2 sets to 1 and defending a break’s advantage in the fourth set at 4-2, when Mannarino slipped on the grass and injured his left knee.
The doctor was called on court for a treatment, but Mannarino was walking gingerly and could barely move while attempting to return Federer’s serve. At 2-5 the Frenchman started his serving game testing his ability to put his weight on the injured knee, but was broken at 15 and then, after the changeover, decided there was no point in continuing and retired.
Before that fatal episode, Roger Federer had offered an uneven performance during which he won the first set by producing three great shots at 5-4, obtaining the first break of the match. But from that moment it was Mannarino who took over the rallies, mixing up his left-handed shots with great attention and making Federer doubt at every step. The two players reached the tie-break at 6-6 with Mannarino having lost only six points on his serve, and at that point the Swiss champion’s forehand disintegrated and Mannarino equalized at one set all.
“What I was doing in the third set clearly wasn’t working – said Federer during the press conference after the match – so I tried to mix it up in the fourth. He was definitely too comfortable from the baseline, my balls were ending up right into his strike zone, especially with his “shovel” backhand and I needed to change the way points were built. I wish I could have gotten into his service games more, but that didn’t happen tonight. In the fifth it was going to be down to the chess game between me shortening the point to change the way they were being played and him continuing with his baseline game. And then what happened happened”.
During the opening match on Monday between Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper, both players had slipped repeatedly on the pristine Centre Court grass. “The referee asked me how I felt on the court as I was walking on the court – explained Federer – and I thought it was normal, although it did feel a tad more slippery under the roof. I don’t know if it’s just a gut feeling. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down. I do feel it’s drier during the day. With the wind and all that stuff, it takes the moisture out of the grass. Under the circumstances, those first two matches are always extremely difficult. But it’s always been like this. I feel for a lot of players it’s super key to get through those first two rounds because the grass is more slippery, it is softer. As the tournament progresses, usually it gets harder and easier to move on”.
A real shame for Adrian Mannarino, who had suffered a similar injury on grass several years ago. “I knew exactly what kind of injury it was – he said after the match – I called the doctor let him take care of me, but when I tried to go back on court, I felt I had no more strength in the right leg”.
“Before the match the court looked slippery – he continued – I am not saying I was expecting it, but I had seen the players yesterday, I saw they were all slipping. Before the injury I was hitting the ball better and better, it was not a bad day for me: Wimbledon, first round against Roger. But unfortunately, this happened”.
Roger Federer has managed to survive this match, but the level of tennis he expressed is nowhere near his ambitions of second week at Wimbledon. His next opponent will be another French player: Richard Gasquet, whom Federer has faced 20 times in his career winning 18 of those matches and losing only twice, both times on clay. It will be an interesting test to see whether Federer can be a real contender for this Wimbledon title or these Championships 2021 will be just his final curtain call.
