Roger Federer: Mistakes Erase Chance for Upset of Novak Djokovic in Rome

When you're going up against the top-ranked tennis player in the world, a 25-year-old virtuoso who has had your number more often than not, the last thing a player can afford to do is make things easier on his opponent by committing needless mistakes.

However, that's exactly what happened in the men's semifinals of the Italian Open in Rome Saturday, as Roger Federer made a number of costly errors that proved too much to overcome in a 6-2, 7-6 (4) straight-sets loss to Novak Djokovic.

This isn't to say that Djokovic was just handed the match, as the Serbian was clearly the better player from the start, cruising in the first set on the heels of two breaks of service and displaying his trademark quickness.

However, the 30-year-old Federer rallied in the second set, and CNN reports the 16-time Grand Slam winner had the Italian crowd on it's feet before finally fading at the end.

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Serving for the match at 5-4, Djokovic forced a match point, saved by Federer, who proceeded to break back to level at 5-5.

Roared on by the crowd, Federer took the match into tiebreaker, but after a grueling 25 stroke rally, the top seed gained the mini-break.

It proved crucial, and at 5-4, Djokovic won his next two service points to close out the match.

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Federer, for whatever reason, seemed sluggish much of the day. Maybe it was the differences in the two surfaces—the red clay in Rome and that God-awful blue clay at the Madrid Open last week, where Federer won. Maybe it was eye strain, for that matter.

Whatever the cause, Federer did himself no favors in Rome, committing 42 unforced errors to Djokovic's 20, and that's a disparity that Federer would have been hard-pressed to overcome against an opponent of Djokovic's skill even in his prime.

Roger Federer clearly isn't in his prime anymore, but he's hardly washed up, and the Swiss legend will have an opportunity to redeem himself for today's missteps soon enough when the French Open begins a week from now at Roland Garros.