We have the King of the Blue Clay: it’s Roger Federer!
The Swiss had an increbile week after a long hiatus to win his 4th title in 2012, his 74th of his magic career and his 20th 1000 ATP Master (same as Rafa). Wow!
Roger was not very confident about his chances to immediately win a title after a long stop (ehm… vacation). Roger had to overcome terrible players in the first and in the last match (Raonic, Berdych) and he was not sure his body could handle the sudden return.
We need to say that the overall conditions helped a lot. This is not a clay court tournamnet, this is something different, not necessary evil, but different. The altitude, the low bounces and the “skating” court made the edition of this tournament something strage.
The defensive players definately couldn’t cope. It was a pity seeing Nole and Rafa bowing out so early in the tournament at the hands of good (but not legendary) players such as Verdasco for Rafa and Tipsarevic for Nole.
But Roger is a player of another dimension, able to adapt to every condition (and age)/ He played the tournament dancing on the court like a ballerina, always attacking (what else on this court?) and putting his opponents always on the wrong foot.
THE FINAL
We need to say that Tomas had a smashing tournament, a very remarkable one. He got to the final without dropping a set and he was broken for the first time only in the semifinal from Del Potro. He also trashed top ranked players such as Monfils (6-1 6-1 !!!!) and he was always in control of his strong weapons.
First set – Berdych’s immense power
Tomas started the final in ominous way. He broke Roger immediately to get an early 3-0 lead to comfortably win the set 6-3. He was perfect in every compartment, blasting nasty shots all over the court with Federer struggling to cope with so much power. Funny enough the only weak point for Tomas was his horrible first service percentage that was offset but a very solid second serve.
Second Set – Roger fighting back
Roger had to fight back and he did in style. This time he was the first to serve which is a huge advantage especially when you are in a final with Berdych that can easily choke in a second half of a tight and important set.
Roger broke Tomas to get to a 5-3 scoreline when he was unable to grab the set. Roger regrouped to lead 6-5 and it was time for Tomas to choke and to lose the set in an incredible manner. Berdych saved 3 set points when he was 0-40 with 3 consecutive (and amazing!) aces to then double falt twice (!!!?) and give the set to Roger
Third Set – 300% tension, Roger triumphs
Roger had again the huge advantage to be the first one to serve. He was a bit tight to recover the first service game from a 0-30 deficit. Then when leading 4-3 he broke a tense Berdych to go to serve for the match. Game over? No way! The Czech broke back Roger to win his following service game: 5-5. Roger had an easy hold to lead 6-5. Then it was time for Tomas to choke again. Roger got immediately the his opponent was struggling with his nerves to give him slow and sliced balls. The last point was a piece of art when Roger returned a service with an evil slice short in the middle of the court that a nervy Tomas put into the net.
Roger won 103 points against Tomas’ 101
ROGER’s COMMENTS
“It’s a great feeling to win any event, but especially another here in Madrid,” added Federer. “This is a tough tournament. It was tough to move on the clay but you just get on with it and try to make the best of the situation. The level of play was good this week and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.“
TOMAS
“We both played a nice match, but Roger showed why he’s the star,” said the Czech. “He was able to win in the conditions, it was well done.”
