Another Glimpse of the Federer Magic

In recent years, Federer stated so many times that an Olympic individual medal is his main goal, so having failed short in his previous three attempts, the Swiss was determined to make a menace at the 2012 London Olympics. Coming off a sensational Wimbledon triumph which saw him regain the world number 1 position, Roger is currently bursting with confidence. He dug himself out of a rabbit hole in his opener against Columbian Alejandro Falla before cruising over the likes of Julien Benneteau, Denis Istomin and John Isner to reach the semis. 

Facing Juan Martin del Potro for a place in the grand final, the Swiss expected little problems. Although the Argentinean beat him for the 2009 US Open title, Federer got the better of him constantly since. It was del Potro though who got off to a stronger start, winning the opener 6-3. Play went with serve in the second act and even though Roger was constantly under pressure serving second, he managed to level the dispute winning the tiebreaker 7-5. The trend continued in the decider, but at 9 all, Federer got what looked like the decisive breakthrough. Juan was not finished though and broke his opponent to love to keep the battle going. 

Being given a second opportunity to serve out the match, Roger kept his composure and closed out a magnificent victory at the second time of asking. Very much like he did in 2009 to conquer the Wimbledon trophy against Andy Roddick, the Swiss produced another glimpse of his relentless magic, winning the longest three setter in the Open Era history. 

“I'm extremely drained from serving against a match so many times, basically being down in the score for the entire match except the one time where I served for it," said an overly enthusiastic Swiss, who goes on to face Briton Andy Murray for the gold medal in a rematch of the Wimbledon final he won a couple of weeks ago.

At the other side of the net, a broken-hearted Argentinean hardly found his words: "It is tough to speak now, I feel sad," he said. "But Roger played a fantastic match, he is a good winner. I'm very sad at the moment. It's not an easy situation. Someone always has to win these matches and today it was him." 

Federer felt equally sympathetic, praising his opponent and wishing him the best of luck in his bronze medal match against Novak Djokovic: “I felt very bad for him at the net. It was an emotional hug we sort of gave each other. It's not over for him yet. I hope he can make the turnaround and play a good bronze medal match. The level of play throughout was amazing, especially from Juan Martin. I've never seen him play so well, to be honest, from start to finish, particularly on grass. He should be very proud of his performance."

Having played an absolutely sensational match, the 6-3,6-7,15-17 loss to Federer left Juan Martin del Potro completely heartbroken. While the Swiss goes on to tackle Britain's Andy Murray for the gold medal, the Argentinean squares off with Serbian Novak Djokovic for bronze.

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