Roger Federer has enjoyed so much success in his fabulous career, but sometimes he had also to experience some misery. Yesterday in Dubai, Roger endured an extremely tough loss to world no.116 Evgeny Donskoy.
Why this loss was truly amazing
On paper, Roger was the obvious favorite, not only for the rankings, but also because he played a fantastic tennis in the first round against Paire when he disintegrated the Frenchman 6-1 6-3. Roger had a fabulous start against Donskoy to grab a 5-1 lead in no time before winning the opener 6-3, but…
In the second set, both players had solid service games to go straight to the tiebreak when Roger wasted a 5-2 lead before squandering three match points. Eventually, the Russian won the breaker at 7, but things got even worse for Federer in the decider.
Roger got a solid 5-2 lead in the third set, but then he couldn’t serve out the match when he was 5-4 up, and eventually he lost four consecutive games (from 5-2 to 5-6). It was time for Donskoy to melt when he tried t serve for the match (he was broken at love).
The final set went to the tie-break again, and when Roger conquered a 5-1 lead, everything looked good for the Swiss. It appeared that Federer was about to clinch a tricky (and sort of “inglorious”) win, but then something amazing happened: Donskoy won the following 6 points, and he won the match 3-6 7-6 (7) 7-6 (5).
I had to close the match in straight sets. FEDERER
The Swiss was visibly upset for the loss to comment
“I had my chances. I should somehow close it out. Don’t know how it got away, but he did very well. It’s a rough one, for sure. But tennis is this way. Margins are small. A fast court like here, you can’t find much rhythm. Next thing you know, you’re struggling.”
Next step: Indian Wells.
| COULD NOT BE WORSE THAN THAT |
