Down the line: Where now for Federer after Wimbledon flop

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  • I’ve done my fair share of oohing and aahing at Andy Murray and Marion Bartoli’s historic Wimbledon triumphs but now that the championships are over, it got me thinking who was hurt the most at SW19 these past couple of weeks.

    There were so many upsets and withdrawals but I think that of all the giants the made early exits, Roger Federer was probably affected the most. Not just because he dropped to No5 in the world rankings this week – the first time he’s been outside the top four in 10 years – but simply because this is Roger Federer and this is Wimbledon, the Swiss’ favourite hunting ground where he’s captured a record seven titles.

    Maria Sharapova is a former champion and was one of the favourites but she has also lost in the second round three times in the last six years at the All England Club. Rafael Nadal is a two-time winner but he lost early last year too, so this is not exactly unprecedented.

    Federer’s second round exit to Sergiy Stakhovsky however, was his earliest Wimbledon defeat since 2002 and his earliest at any Grand Slam since 2003. His seemingly unmatchable streak of 36 consecutive Major quarter-finals came to a sudden halt and to many of his fans and viewers of the game, it was premature and didn’t make sense.

    Federer took eight weeks off this season to have a proper training block, one he said he had not been able to do for years. The idea was to prepare him for the clay and grass seasons like never before but from the looks of it, the plan has backfired.

    He made the final in Rome and won Halle but in the two tournaments that matter the most, he fell flat against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Roland Garros quarters before losing to Stakhovsky in four sets at Wimbledon.

    A healthy Federer losing to the world No116 in the second round at Wimbledon as a defending champion is tough to swallow and I wonder how the 17-time Grand Slam winner will react to it in the next few months.

    He’s already announced he’s playing Hamburg and Gstaad on clay this month which if you ask me is a bizarre choice. Why dwell on clay a mere four weeks before the US Open – played on fast hard courts?

    Is it to boost his confidence, catch up on match play, while adding some points to his ranking? The maximum he can get from the two of them is 750 points which is less than the 1075 that separate him from Nadal and he could get those matches under his belt on hard courts in Bogota, Atlanta or DC instead.

    Perhaps the 31-year-old is choosing the cities he enjoys playing in, trying to focus on the passion of competing in his favourite surroundings rather than have a tactical approach to his schedule.

    Whatever his reasons are, let’s hope he bounces back stronger than ever, just like he’s done over and over again.

    THUMBS UP

    Andy Murray for rewriting history, Marion Bartoli for sticking to who she is and winning Wimbledon the unorthodox way yet without dropping a set, Jerzy Janowicz for giving us hope in the up-and-coming generation and Sabine Lisicki for not buckling immediately after upsetting Serena Williams.

    THUMBS DOWN

    BBC Radio 5 Live’s John Inverdale’s comments about Bartoli were unprofessional, insensitive and plain wrong. Inverdale said: "Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little ‘You’re never going to be a looker? You’ll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight.’" The BBC apologised but he shouldn’t get away with something like that.

    UNSUNG HERO

    Prior to Wimbledon, Fernando Verdasco had won only nine matches this season. The Spaniard’s run to the quarter-finals was nothing short of inspiring and for a while, he was leading Murray by two sets to love and pushed him all the way in the fifth set. Great stuff from the man from Madrid.

    BEST YOUNGSTER

    Monica Puig is possibly having the best Grand Slam debut season we’ve seen in recent years. The 19-year-old made the third round at Roland Garros, her first main draw appearance at a Major, then stormed into the fourth round at Wimbledon. As she and her followers like to call it, that’s some awesome #PicaPower.

    BEST CONGRATULATORY TWEET

    Tomas Berdych tweets the Bryan brothers to congratulate them on winning Wimbledon and included a link to a video of the 80s track "When Will I be Famous" by the band Bros. What were we doing the past five years without Berdych on Twitter?

    BEST MATCH

    Without a doubt, it was the semi-final between Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic. Almost five hours of superhuman tennis. I hope you had your decoders recording because that’s one to save for the ages.

    MOVERS AND SHAKERS

    Federer’s down to No5 in the world, David Ferrer is at a career-high No3 while Jerzy Janowicz’ semi-final showing saw him rise to No17.

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