Federer Beaten on the Big Points
Roger Federer lost… again… this time Federer fell to the 6 foot 10 inch big-serving Croat, Ivo Karlovic. What was stunning about the loss was how poorly Federer played on the big points. Federer lost two tie-breakers against a player who, despite his big serve, had a losing record in tie-breakers this year. In his first match when Federer sneaked by Robby Ginepri, Roger also lost a tie-breaker and failed to even put several serve returns in
play on big points. A week ago when Federer was upset by Gilles Simon, Federer blew a 3-1 third set lead. It’s such a very fine line between feeling confident and feeling nervous or tentative. Federer in the past maybe won some matches that he could have lost, but now he is losing matches that he could be winning. Roger may not have played his best in these two recent losses, but they were both close matches and Federer couldn’t manage to pull out his typical clutch tennis on the big points that really mattered. After several years of almost flawless tennis, it seems that Federer has finally lost his edge. Finding his confidence again will be critical to Federer’s future success, but it will not be easy…
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