Another Sad Day For Federer

What started off as an excellent season is turning into a misery as Roger Federer suffered yet another setback, losing in straight sets to Austrian Jürgen Melzer in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals. Riding high on his last season late resurgence to form, the Swiss Master was red-hot in claiming the Doha title in imperious fashion. However, after his surprising semifinal defeat to Djokovic in Australia, Federer appears to have lost the momentum. Once more he is lacking the mental strength to deliver on big occasions. He seems out of sorts, weak and failing to match his main rivals in intensity. Consequently, he has failed big times in all of their 2011 clashes. I find it shocking and utterly worrying, but Roger managed to win only 1 set in three successive defeats to Djokovic this year and only 5 games in a recent one-sided 6-3,6-2 encounter with his nemesis, Nadal. I held a glimmer of hope though, as he did perform incredibly well against other players, holding an impeccable 24-0 record against lower ranked opponents.

It all came tumbling down today as a poor performance saw him being quickly dismissed by his junior's pal, Melzer, to whom he never lost in 3 previous meetings. At the beginning of the match, the Austrian accused an injury which required a medical time-out. At this stage, I was expecting another short day at the office for Federer. Nevertheless, a rejuvenated Jürgen came back on fire, breaking Federer's serve one time in each set and fighting back several break points to ensure the biggest win of his career.

For Federer, this is yet another sad day that must be immediately forgotten. I admire his commitment to the game and his desire to compete and to return to the top of the rankings, but something needs to change.  As previously said, there are days when he is just too weak, when he is totally lost on the court or when he lacks answers and clear directions. Maybe it's his serve that is letting him down relentlessly now. Maybe his backhand is just not strong enough. Maybe he has no more tricks up his sleeve. Maybe he is too old. There are lots of maybes, but as long as he still has something left in his tank, Roger will continue to be a force to be reckon with. He will never dominate as he did several years ago, but he will win at least a couple of Grand Slam. He just has to.

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