Wimbledon 2012 Results: Shaky Start No Reason for Roger Federer to Worry

Roger Federer’s sleepy start to his third-round match against Julien Benneteau is no reason for the six-time champion to worry, as he will still reach the semifinal round.

Federer dropped the first two sets to the Frenchman, but stormed back and won all remaining sets to advance to the next round. All scores and schedules can be found at Wimbledon.com.

The Swiss has not been in top form as of late, but there is still no player that can stop him before the semifinal round. 

Federer’s less-than-impressive victory over Benneteau sets up a fourth-round match against unseeded Xavier Malisse. If Federer wins, then he will face the winner of unseeded Denis Istomin and No. 26 Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinals.

While Federer has failed to reach the semis at Wimbledon in the previous two years, he lost in the quarters to quality opponents both times.

In 2010, he lost to 12^th-seeded Tomas Berdych, who is now the No. 7-ranked player in the world. The next year, he again lost to the 12^th seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is now the No. 6-ranked player in tennis.

The opponents that Federer will face on his way to the semifinals are not nearly as talented as Berdych and Tsonga.

The all-time Grand Slams leader could likely get away with more slow starts in both of his next two matches and still survive, although he would be smart to try and avoid that. 

His real test will come in the semifinals, where he will likely run into Novak Djokovic. Federer has lost six of his last seven matches to Djokovic, so if he loses in the semifinal it will not be an overly disappointing or surprising result. 

Djokovic is simply a better player than Federer right now and should beat him in the semifinals. 

Of course Federer will want to win, but ultimately a semifinal loss to the world’s top-ranked players is not an unsatisfactory showing, and it would be an improvement over his previous two performances. This is likely how Federer’s Wimbledon run will end. 

Despite the lackluster start in his most recent match, Federer will finish the tournament with a positive result.