Roger Federer: Tough Win Against Marin Cilic Will Serve Federer Well

Tough wins aren't always a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, if you're a Roger Federer fan, you don't want to see him in some fifth-set tiebreaker thriller in the opening round, but having a few tough games isn't a bad thing.

In today's third-round match against Marin Cilic, Federer dropped his first set of the tournament in his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win. Cilic broke Federer twice in the match. The fact that Federer came back so well after losing the second set is a positive.

Cilic is a good opponent. He shouldn't have beaten Federer, and he didn't. But a straight set win is not terribly realistic. Sure, it's possible and, in bygone years, it may have been more expected, but Federer's not that dominant player anymore.

The fact that he got a test from Cilic is good. It gives Federer a decent simulation of what he's about to see in the coming week.

Assuming he beats Juan Monaco or Tommy Haas in the fourth round, Federer's quarterfinal opponent will almost definitely be No. 8 Mardy Fish, No. 9 Fernando Verdasco or No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga beat Federer in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

In other words, the road gets no easier from here on out.

It's not bad or at all uncommon for players like Federer to endure an early test. But even if you don't agree with that, this wasn't much of a test.

The only thing that Federer experienced for the first time in the 2011 US Open was the loss of a set. Other than that, he played fine.

Five breaks in four sets is an impressive number. Looking at his first three matches, Federer has broken his opponent 17 times in 10 sets. If Federer continues to play his opponents' serves at that rate, he's a good bet to win.

The main point here is that if you’re a Federer fan, don’t worry too much about the loss of a set. There are plenty of positives to take from this loss.

More than any, the main positive is that he lost a set and came back strong. That’s a good sign of how he handles adversity.

I guarantee that there will be plenty of adversity from here on out. The competition gets tough, and the grind that is a major championship starts to hit everyone.

Federer’s main need is to tighten up his serve and not drop so many of his own service games. If he does that and continues to play defense as well as he has, then grand slam No. 17 isn’t too far out of the realm of possibility.

He’s not playing his best game right now, but, with the exception of Novak Djokovic, none of the top names have been especially impressive thus far.

Impressive doesn’t matter in the end. Winning is the only thing that matters. As long as Federer continues to win, then his chances are as good as anyone’s.