Federer loses the opener in London

Not a good start from Roger Federer in London after the Swiss loses in straight sets his 1st match against Kei Nishikori.

The match

It seems that something was a bit off from Roger after he curiously missed a return in the 2nd game smashing the ball on his own face! Later, the first set went straight to the tiebreak with the Japanese conquering a fast 6-1 lead before winning 7-6(4).

The crucial moment

Nishikori was particularly brilliant in the 11th game (5-6) when he was 15-30 on serve. In fact, Federer blasted a tremendous forehand that the Japanese neutralized with an impossible half-volley on the baseline. That was probably a key moment of the match.

The second set was an utter disaster for the world no.3 that lost his serve in the 2nd game at 15 soon after he finally broke Nishikori in the previous game. Eventually, the Swiss was broken again in the 6th game before losing 7-6 (4) 6-3.

The code violation

Roger received also a code violation after he slammed a ball in the crowd in utter rage. Federer commented “Yeah, I was talking with the umpire just because I thought what was his argument, you know, why the warning.

But nothing more than that. He thought I was angry. I wasn’t. Now I’m angry because I lost, but I wasn’t, so. He knows me very well apparently, or he thought so “

Next vs. Thiem

Roger will face Dominic Thiem on Tuesday. The head to head is 2-1 for the Austrian and there will be no time anymore for Roger to blink.