Posted by Unknown on 06:27 with No comments
-Neha Rajput (rajputneha989@gmail.com)
In one’s life some things are meant to happen and perhaps Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal at the US Open was simply not among them. The 37 times career clashes will still not include a match-up in New York after the ghosts of the 2009 final seemed to revisit Federer as he was beaten 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 by Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarter finals.
The Argentinean would surely have built on the victory against the Swiss from eight years ago with all the wrist injuries and even the biggest fan of the Swiss would struggle not to have enough pleasure for him after this. After defeating the big dog, Del Potro locked horns with Nadal after bludgeoning Federer with his serve and forehand and summoning up a little more composure on the biggest points. Former world number 1, Federer, had four set points in the third-set tiebreak, but could not put him away.
Afterwards in the end Del Potro thanked the vociferous support for him on the Arthur Ashe Stadium which, while outnumbered, provided at least as much noise as that of his ever popular opponent. He managed to ignore his missed first serves being clapped on occasions.
Later in a press conference he said, “I think it's my home court too. It makes me very happy every time I play here. I think I played my best match of the tournament, I hit my forehand as hard as I can and I deserved to win in the end.”
Before featuring in another semi final, Del Potro added, “I can't believe I'm playing another semi-final after the injuries and surgeries, especially here in New York.”
In a press conference, Federer denied that the prospect of facing Nadal had played on his mind but admitted that his level of tennis had not been high enough in the past 10 days to win the tournament: 'I know before going into the tournament, I wasn't in a safe place. I might have to depend on my opponent and I don't like that feeling,' he said.
When asked to describe the loss against his opponent, Federer said, 'It's hard to explain what happened in the tiebreak. He was better in the big points. In some ways I'm actually happy I made the quarters, so I'm not disappointed, because it's been a good run this year already. Unfortunately I ran into a guy who was better than me today.'
The defeat was somewhere expected because the former world number 1 was already struggling in the tournament. The match against Youzhny was more like a nightmare for Federer as he was two sets down and was on the verge of an unexpected exit. But tennis now is more like a sport where the unexpected is the new expected. To prove this statement right the fans of this sport first witnessed the shocking exit of Nadal from the Wimbledon earlier this year and now Federer becoming the prey.
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