Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Sites | Writers | Advertise | My Orble | Login

The Swiss train finally slowing down

November 15th 2008 01:31


Roger Federer has suffered a hard defeat against Brit Andy Murray and is out of the Shanghai Masters. His 4-6 7-6 7-5 loss is the climax of failures that has seen the Swiss maestro surrender his world no.1 spot to Rafael Nadal this season.

One of the most brilliant players in Tennis history has left his immortal aura to finally be a human again. Federer, who was world no.1 for four straight years, departs the Shanghai Masters for the first time since 2002.


The result confirms that Federer is one of us now. Still, a normal tennis player would consider winning one grand slam in a year a huge success.

Not Federer though.

The Swiss maestro is not content with 2008 - a year in which he won his fifth US Open title and was runner up in Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

It’s a great year on anyone's book, but not for Federer, who now calls Rafael Nadal king, after the Spaniard clinched the world no.1 crown courtesy of his Wimbledon win.

Like the great man he is on court, Federer gave it his all against Murray in the Shanghai masters.

However, Federer suffered physical problems during his match against the Briton, which disabled his ability to play at his best.

Federer did start the better of the two, claiming the first set 6-4. He was on the road to his fourth consecutive masters final until Murray found form in the second set.

The world no.4 broke Federer’s serve in the second set to lead 5-2. Murray was in control until the world no.2 won four consecutive games to force a tiebreaker.


Instead of faltering under the pressure, Murray displayed his match winning capabilities and took out the tiebreaker 7-3 to force a third and final set.

It was a hard struggle in the deciding set for Federer, who survived five match points against Murray’s serve, who was leading 5-4 at the time.

But Murray was finally able to convert his sixth match point to win the set 7-5 and celebrate a victory over one of the true all time greats.

As both Federer and Nadal lick their wounds, it seems world no.3 Novak Djokovic has the inside running in Shanghai.

But the form displayed by Murray so far in the end of year tournament will serve him very well when he confronts Nikolay Davydenko for a place in the final, and perhaps a maiden Shanghai crown.
31
Vote
Shared on


   
Subscribe to this blog 


Just this blog This blog and DailyOrble (recommended)

   

   

   

   

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Notify extra people about this comment
Is this a private comment?
List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this comment


One per line max of 30

List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this private comment thread. Only the people in this list will be able to see or reply to your comment.


One per line max of 30

Your Name
(for the email going out to the above list, it can be different to your Orble Tag)
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
7 Posts
29 Posts
30 Posts
276 Posts dating from April 2008
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0

Alan's Blogs

11832 Vote(s)
16 Comment(s)
251 Post(s)
Moderated by Alan
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]