Roger Federer: Burying Fed After Aussie Open Loss to Rafael Nadal Is Ridiculous

Roger Federer was dispatched in the Australian Open semifinals by Rafael Nadal, but to suggest that Fed's reign as a tennis elite is over is simply preposterous.

There is no question that Federer wasn't himself against Nadal, as he committed over 60 unforced errors in the four-set match, but I wouldn't consider the loss to be alarming. Nadal played excellent tennis, and he is the No. 2 player in the world for a reason. If Federer was beaten handily in straight sets, then I could understand it, but the match was generally very close.

It's no secret that Federer has had his problems beating Nadal, particularly in Grand Slam tournaments. Nadal is now 7-2 against Federer in majors and undefeated if you don't take Wimbledon into account. Rafa's movement and spin simply make him a tough matchup for Federer, so I'm not sure why there has been such an overreaction to the latest loss.

Perhaps it's because Federer is 30 years old and hasn't won a Grand Slam since the 2010 Australian Open. That may very well be true, but it isn't as if he has dropped off the face of the Earth. Federer is still the No. 3 player in the world behind Nadal and, Novak Djokovic and he continues to make Grand Slam semifinals and finals.

For whatever reason, though, he simply isn't winning those tournaments like he did earlier in his career. Some will say it's because he's in decline, but I think it has more to do with stiff competition from elite players like Nadal and Djokovic.

If Federer was routinely bowing out early in big tournaments, then I could understand the concern, but that simply hasn't been the case. Before his loss to Nadal at the Aussie Open, many thought Federer was playing his best tennis in quite some time. I think his straight-set demolition of Juan Martin Del Potro was evidence of that.

In this day and age of sports, people generally love to put athletes on an unrealistic pedestal when they succeed and tear them down unfairly when they fail. I don't have any doubt that Federer will be in the semis of every major this season, and I give him a great chance to win either Wimbledon or the US Open.

I think that fact that Federer was so dominant for so long in winning 16 Grand Slam championships has caused observers' judgments of him to be clouded. With Nadal, Djokovic and even Andy Murray in the fold, there aren't going to be any cakewalks to major titles like there may have been in the past.

It isn't a matter of Federer getting worse; it's simply a matter of his competition getting that much stronger. I'll admit that Nadal has Federer's number, but Fed certainly isn't done competing for major titles after bowing out against Nadal once again. Every player has a kryptonite of some sort; Nadal just happens to be Federer's.