Slams.  In 2008, the pattern changed dramatically with Federer winning only 2 singles titles at smaller tournaments coming into the 2008 U.S. Open.  Federer had also suffered several surprising losses in 2008, e.g. Mardy Fish, Gilles Simon, Ivo Karlovic, as well as a couple tough losses at Grand Slams to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.  Federer struggled with mono in the beginning of the year, but his fitness seemed fine when he played tough matches at both the French Open and Wimbledon.  What’s been most surprising about Federer’s play in 2008 is how poorly he’s played so many of the big points.  He hit many unforced errors in matches, either when it was very close and/or he was trying to close out the match.  In the past, Roger used to buckle down and play his best tennis on these tough points.  As Federer said at one point this summer, he used to “win matches that he should have lost and now he seemed to be losing matches he should have won.”  By winning the 2008 U.S. Open, Federer clearly salvaged his season and also changed the outlook for the “second half” of his career.  In winning the U.S. Open title, Federer displayed flashes of his (old) brilliance on a more consistent basis, but he also struggled.  Federer definitely has a serious chance to break Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles and then some in the next few years.  However, it will be unlikely that Roger can maintain the week in, week out consistency of the first half of his career.  Instead, although there may be more valleys than in the past, Federer will still reach the high peaks… albeit a little less frequently…

Posted by TC at 09:03 AM |