Roger Federer: The End of Invincibility

A new issue is quickly finding its way to fruition for Roger Federer, it comes by way of Scotland, and calls itself Andy Murray. The problem for Federer is not just Murray—instead it is what Murray embodies.

After watching Federer battle back to even the match at a set apiece at Indian Wells on Saturday, Federer collapsed in the third set.

What is more troubling than his collapse in the final set was Murray’s demeanor throughout the match. Throughout the match, and admittedly from my perspective, Murray never seemed to worry that he would lose the match.

Could it be that the era of invincibility is over for Federer?

Fans across the globe are well aware of his struggles with current world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, but even Nadal looks very worried on the court.

Murray beats Federer easier than Nadal beats Federer. Is it possible that perhaps the greatest player of all time can no longer impose psychological warfare on his opponents?

This is troubling on many fronts, most troubling in the fact that now Federer must acknowledge there is a formula to solving his equation. No longer is his dominance only in question when playing a southpaw from Spain.

The last years of complete dominance have led to Federer’s greatest weakness—his ability to adapt his game to the next generation of players trained specifically to beat him.

Federer’s refusal to take on a coach and to make statements that his game is “technically flawless,” shows his stubbornness. Moreover, it shows the inability to cope with the fact that his shield of invincibility has been pierced and the blueprint is out on the open market for those ready to take on Federer.

Physically, Federer seems to be in peak shape. Although, his game has been exploited as of late. Federer’s forehand is the greatest stroke in tennis history. It is dominating and dictating and it has been a silent assassin for the last few years.

Federer’s backhand, while no slouch by any standards, is his weaker wing. This poses a problem when playing Nadal. Nadal’s heavy forehand strikes directly to Federer’s backhand.

Federer’s inability to take his one-handed forehand down the line limits his ability to attack Nadal’s backhand. Nadal’s game plan is always centered around an assault on the Federer backhand, Federer’s second greatest weakness.

Until now, no other player had been able to match the assault on Federer’s backhand like Nadal.

Enter Murray.

At one point against Federer, almost 80 percent of Murray’s strokes were directed at the Federer backhand. It should be of no surprise Federer had an un-Federer like 32 unforced errors.

His backhand constantly found the net or the wrong side of the baseline. Like Nadal, Murray utilized Federer’s inability to take the backhand down the line consistently. This led to Federer being unable to move Murray around the court and ultimately led to Murray’s smooth sailing in the final set.

Couple that with the fact that age is creeping up on Federer and the fact that soon he will be a father and you have a recipe for disaster by Federer’s standards.

Lest we forget the issues that crept up on Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras upon starting a family; tennis, as it should, becomes secondary. Federer will have more constraints on his time, his practice sessions are notoriously very unstructured and nonchalant, and the notion of a newborn child makes things that much tougher.

Now, all things considered, I do believe Federer will win another Slam and will eventually surpass Sampras. He will most likely go down as the greatest player of all time and will most likely play into his 30’s like Agassi.

He is tennis’ greatest ambassador and an all-around class act. So it is with great sadness that the Era of Federer has come to an end.