Federer falls short in Cincy, credits Djokovic

Roger Federer fell in a championship match at the Western and Southern Open for the first time on Sunday, losing 4-6, 4-6 to former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. But instead of looking at his own performance after the match, he was full of praise for Djokovic, who completed the Career Golden Masters.

Federer was full of praise for Djokovic after the final: “Congratulations Novak on writing history today. It's an amazing effort not just today but your whole career to get to this point. It's an amazing achievement. You should be very proud. Well done.”

Federer knows just how difficult it is to win at this level, claiming 27 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in his career. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal (33), Djokovic (31) and Federer (27) are the only players to capture more than 20 since the series was created in 1990. Djokovic is the first player to triumph at all nine Masters 1000 events.

“He's a great champion and this is what this should be about, this press conference, not about me missing second-serve returns. It's about him making history,” Federer said. “We can go into whatever points you want, but I think that's what the headline should be about. This is an amazing accomplishment, and I hope he's extremely proud and extremely happy about this moment.”

Every match at this level is tough. Case in point: all six of Djokovic’s opponents this week were inside the Top 33 of the ATP Rankings. Four of the five - Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic and Federer - have cracked the Top 3 in their career.

“I think it's extremely difficult to win a Masters 1000. These tournaments don't come easy. You saw my performance today. It's just a long week. It's tough, grueling. The best players are playing. You play against tough guys early on in the draw, so you don't have much time to find your rhythm and actually almost work on your game throughout the week,” Federer said. “He's done that maybe better than anybody. So it's a great credit to him. I think it's an amazing accomplishment.”

It wasn't a bad week for Federer, either. He fell short on Sunday, but it was the World No. 2’s sixth final from eight tour-level events in 2018. The Swiss is now 33-5 on the season, and will set his sights on the US Open, which he has won five times.

“I’ve just got to come up with a lot of energy, and then hopefully I also have a chance after 10 years to do something special again at the Open,” Federer said. “I still think this US Open draw, as well, is going to be quite entertaining, and I can't wait for the US Open to come around.”

But for now, it’s Djokovic’s moment. Federer could sit and nitpick why he was only able to win 47 per cent of second-serve points, why he was broken three times after putting together a streak of 100 consecutive holds in Cincinnati, or why the Serbian was able to win 78 per cent of second-serve points. But he won’t.

“It was definitely not my best day on the return”, Federer, who won just four of 18 second-serve return points, added. “That's it. It was just awful. But it's okay. He served well. But missing every second serve on the forehand side, I don't know what that was about. I don't even want to look for reasons why it happened. I just think it did. Novak totally deserved to win today. This was not good enough. It's okay. Good week, but I'm happy it's over and I need to rest. So it's all good.”

“Roger wasn't obviously at his best. He missed a lot of returns. He had a difficult time moving. He was not really playing as well as he did in previous matches this week, but at the same time, I thought I was solid. I didn't allow him to come to the net and be aggressive too much and I tried to kind of hold ground and protect the line”, Djokovic said.

“It's much easier said than done when you're playing Roger, especially in these conditions where he loves playing here. Everything happens really, really fast and there is not much time to think or to construct the points, so you really need to be alert all the time, especially against him.”

Federer suffered his first defeat in a Cincinnati final, falling to 7-1. He had defeated Djokovic in three previous championships, in 2009, 2012 and 2015. Moreover, the Swiss was denied his 99th tour-level crown, which he will now look to seize at the US Open.

Date: 20 August 2018, Source: ATP

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Federer holds off Wawrinka's best hard-court effort

Roger Federer advanced to his eighth Western and Southern Open semi-final on Friday, performing double duty and maintaining his dominance against countryman Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-2.

The second seed improved to 21-3, including 16-0 on hard courts, in his ATP Head to Head series against Wawrinka, who continued to show positive steps in his comeback from two knee surgeries one year ago.

“I just tried to remember for the core of the match, focus on your serve and try to do what I talked about with the coach beforehand on the return games, but it was just never really connecting at the right times my way,” Federer said.

“So I just had to hang tough, not get frustrated, and hope that I was not going to throw in a horrible service game or that he was going to connect perfectly. It was a close match today, so I'm just relieved that I got through it somehow.”

Wawrinka was two points away from the semi-finals in the second set, at 6/6 in the tie-break, as he hadn't conceded anything to Federer, playing steady from the baseline and not overhitting against the second seed. But, in the tie-break, Wawrinka went for broke and came up empty, blasting a backhand wide on Federer's third set point.

Lightning briefly suspended the match after the second set, but when they resumed, it was all Federer. He broke for the first time in the match on his eighth opportunity to lead 4-2, and a break to love sealed the quarter-final just before midnight Eastern Time.

“Maybe he came out a bit heavy after the rain delay. I also felt heavy for a second, because it has been a lot of tennis and a lot of focus we had to put into it. Maybe it felt a little bit easier for me and maybe it was a little bit clearer what I wanted to do also from the baseline. And I just didn't want to overhit, to be honest, because I felt like I did that quite a bit the first couple of sets,” Federer said.

“But again, Stan has the power, and I'm so glad he's back on the Tour, playing well and moving well. So I really enjoyed the match for what it was. It's difficult to always play against him, but I'm happy I was able to find a way in the tie-break in the second, because it was a frustrating night, for me, for the most period, and in the third I was able to find a way.

“I think it was partially because he maybe dropped his level, for sure, but maybe me, I also played a bit better then.”

For Wawrinka, his quarter-final run in Cincinnati marks back-to-back positive weeks at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events. Last week, at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, he beat Aussie Nick Kyrgios, Marton Fucsovics of Hungary before falling to Rafael Nadal in the third round.

“For sure it was a great level. I think I'm playing great in general. I'm playing better every day, every week. Last week was really important and really good for myself, for my tennis, for my confidence. I'm happy to see where I am right now. I had a tough match last week against Rafa. Close match, also. Today was against Roger. They are No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. I beat Schwartzman, I beat Nishikori, so the level is good,” Wawrinka said.

“I need to keep improving, keep working, keep doing the right thing and keep pushing myself. For sure tonight I'm sad and disappointed to lose, but for me it's a big victory for myself after what I had last year. It was exactly one year ago. To see where I was also few weeks ago, I'm really happy to be here.”

Both players were performing double duty. Federer beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in straight sets earlier Friday, and Wawrinka knocked out Hungary's Marton Fucsovics. Overall, the always positive Federer didn't seem to mind the two a day.

“It was exciting to go through something new, only it was something I have done for the second time of my career maybe at the professional level. It felt like two separate days, actually, because this morning it was daytime, or this afternoon it was daytime, windy and breezy, and then we came out in the nighttime and it was black, and the sky was totally different. No wind at all. Different atmosphere. It was quite interesting, actually,” Federer said.

The seven-time champion will next meet Belgian David Goffin, who beat Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4). Goffin won their last matchup in the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finals, but Federer leads their ATP Head to Head series 6-1.

Date: 18 August 2018, Source: ATP

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Federer wins in Cincinnati return

Roger Federer’s first competitive outing in the American Midwest in three years is off to a flying start with the Swiss seeing off Peter Gojowczyk in the second round of the Western and Southern Open on Tuesday. In his first ATP World Tour event since turning 37 on 8 August, the seven-time champion needed just 72 minutes to defeat the German, 6-4, 6-4.

The No. 2 seed had not played since squandering a match point in his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat to Kevin Anderson a month ago and admitted to feeling anxious about his US summer hard-court return. But despite a rusty opening service game, in which he rolled down two double faults to face a break point, the Swiss soon hit his straps.

“I felt good in that first match, to be honest, walking out, hardly any nerves,” Federer said. “I think I knew what I wanted to do, what I had to do. Game plan is very simple. It's straightforward, it's fast-court tennis.

“I'm only feeling better every day that has gone by after Wimbledon. So it's nice to have played a match so my last match is not the Anderson match, so you've kind of turned the page, I guess, in that regard. It's a good thing.”

He served out the opening set 6-4 with a sublime serve-volley reaping the backhand volley winner. When Federer broke in the opening game of the second set he looked to be cruising, with a touch-volley winner edging him to 4-2.

Saving his best point for the brink of defeat, Gojowzyck - who had defeated Joao Sousa in the first round - pulled off a smash passing shot on his way to holding for 3-4 but it would not distract Federer from the job at hand. He served it out to love to set a third-round meeting with Argentine Leonardo Mayer, an earlier 7-6 (7), 6-4 winner over Andy Murray's conqueror, Lucas Pouille.

“I do believe usually it takes two or three matches to get going like aiming for the lines, finding the rhythm on the serve, being able to serve very accurate, time and time again, getting used to the balls, how the ball flies,” Federer said. “That's why I'm always happy when I clear the first hurdle of any event, because it gives me an opportunity to actually play better the next time around.”

Date: 15 August 2018, Source: ATP

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