Lady Luck Deserts Roger Federer...Again

After all the fuss we were left with Nikolay Davydenko and Novak Djokovic playing for “player of the year” honors at the 2008 Master’s Series Championship Tournament in Shanghai. 

I wonder how many pundits picked this pairing to conclude events.

I would lay odds that these two were not projected into the final round, however, Djokovic was the likely player to emerge from the gold group.  Regardless, this final was an anti-climax to an excruciating week for tennis fans and particularly for Roger Federer fans.

It is no surprise that Djokovic won 6-1, 7-5.  The ATP tried to exaggerate the importance of the victory by categorizing it as “devastating.”  The only “devastating” thing about the tournament occurred on Friday. 

Approximately one week before, Roger Federer was forced to withdraw in Paris with a bad back.  This occurred the same day that Rafael Nadal had to forfeit his match with Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first set 6-1. 

Nadal’s knees would not stand up for further competition.  Roger gifted James Blake a walk-over into the semis in Paris.  Tournament officials at this Paris Masters event referred to this as “Black Friday” as both top seeds packed it in.

Since Nadal had sewn up the year-end number one ranking, he opted not to partake in the season-ending festivities in Shanghai.  Roger, on the other hand, packed his back brace and headed east.

There was still business to conclude.  He was, after all, the defending champion.  He hoped to equal Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl in winning his fifth Master’s Championship crown and he wanted to sure up his number two ranking.    

It was one more week until the end.  Maybe he thought he could muster up enough strength and energy to go through and win.  His theme song became “luck be a lady tonight.” 

The draws came out.  Roger, the number one seed, was grouped with Gilles Simon, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick in the red group.  Novak Djokovic, the number two seed in the gold group, drew Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Del Potro. 

Lady luck had taken a powder, although at this stage in his career and at this time of year, it really did not matter to Federer who he played. 

All participants were top 10 players and all capable of defeating him, but it would have been to his advantage to play the entourage gifted to Djokovic because he had beaten all of those guys regularly.

So Djokovic stormed through his round robin matches, stumbling only once to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, one of the new French forces to be reckoned with.  Davydenko also managed to win his way through, losing only to Djokovic. 

In the meantime, Roger had his hands full and because of his back, he could not practice going all out, especially serving, as he tried to stretch his potential playing fitness. 

When he met Gilles Simon, he began well, winning the first set, but he could not sustain his effort as Simon increased his.  Roger lost in three sets 6-4, 4-6, and 3-6. 

When Roddick pulled out with a bad ankle, it was a gift from the tennis gods and Roger was able to defeat Radek Stepanek, Roddick's replacement, in straight sets 7-6, 6-4.

The turning point of the tournament came on Friday when Roger faced a red-hot Andy Murray.  He needed to win to move on. Murray was already guaranteed his place in the sun—should I say, in the semis!

Luckily, Roger could summon his “A” game.  He played a magnificent match and took the first set from an often befuddled Murray 6-4.  The game was afoot.

In the second set, Roger fell behind 2-5 but clawed his way back to a tie breaker.  Roger employed serve and volley against the staid Scott and kept him reeling from a constant assault.  Unfortunately for Roger, the tie-break went Murray’s way and Andy evened the match with one set each. 

At this point in the match, Roger called the trainer to work on his back that was progressively tightening.  It soon became impossible for Roger to serve effectively. 

Murray quickly went up 3-0 in the final set.  The crowd solidly behind Federer, watched the champion closely, wondering if he might concede for the first time in his career.  He did not.

Instead he leveled the third and final set at three games each.  With his first serve wanting and with all the pain he was enduring, Federer finally fell to Murray on his own serve after staving off eight match points.  Murray took the final set 7-5. 

Roger’s heroic efforts created the match of the week.  Murray was playing against a wounded Federer and still had to stretch his considerable skills to win. 

In the end the win cost Murray and he lost to Davydenko the next day in the semi-finals.

So Djokovic won without a serious challenge from anyone, but that’s the way it goes sometimes when lady luck sits in your corner.