FazThe 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.
| 47 |
| Vote |
