Federer's "off" year

First off, I want to state that the number one player in the world is Rafael Nadal, and deservedly so. He has done everything asked of him to attain the number one world ranking, and this article is not meant in any way to belittle that accomplishment or Rafa.

This article is about the former number one in the world, Roger Federer, and his year of "what ifs". That's right, we've asked ourselves several "stop the presses" type of questions about the guy this year:
" What's wrong with Federer?"

"Is age a factor for Roger?"

"Is he fatigued?"

"Was it that weekend spent with Jessica Simpson?"

Well, the last one about Ms. Simpson is of course false, but the other are questions that several current tennis folk keep trying to answer. The one question people should really begin to ask is "how off really was this year"? Be that the U.S. Open is still in his sights (18th straight grandslam semi btw naysayers), Federer has chalked up two tournament wins comparative to his regular mark of 7-10 per year. He has lost more then anytime since his ascension to number 1, and he has relinquished his coveted Wimbledon title and top player monniker to Rafa Nadal.

Lets try and read between the last 4 years of the so-called Federer machine. Countless 2 out of 3 set matches one 7-6 in the third by Roger, 5th set pure genius and luck against Agassi in the windiest of conditions in 2004, a come back against Nadal down match point, down match point to Roddick on two separate occasions and 2004 Wimby final luck, Gasquet a few times down match point and one time losing, ande momentum shifts abound vs. Agassi and Roddick in New York as well as winning the big points against Djoker (Novak Djokavic) in the U.S. Open Final last year. Mental toughness, brilliance, and things falling the right way have led Roger Federer to the greatest 4 years of any player in history-but this dominance was by no means as easy as the experts lead you to believe. Federer could have lost any of these matches at any time, its a tribute to him that he is so tough to beat and that he didn't lose these matches. All of a sudden this year, he is losing these types of matches. Same exact type of tennis agains Djokavic in Australia, but this time Novak won the big points. Roddick beats him in 2-3 sets..of course it goes 3. Nadal comes back twice on clay to win masters tournaments, gives him pounding at Roland Garros, but he also was points from the title in a match called the greatest of all time (how he didn't get any of those break points to convert I will never believe).

He has had his share of losses though to less heralded players, but the point is those less heralded players always had their chances. Federer plays a beautiful game and he is what you aspire to look like playing tennis, but the truth is the boys on that tour all have game. Anybody can beat anybody, ask Roddick, Djokavic, and Nadal. So I ask how bad is this year? When a player is plus 30-35 matches in terms of wins to losses, had mononucleosis and could have won a semifinal by a few points going his way, and reach 2 major finals (maybe 3) and 4 straight semifinals this year to go with 2 tournament victories and a gold medal in Olympic doubles. I would say Roddick would take that, Safin would, Novak would, even Nadal would have taken that, but when it happens to Federer, immediately the experts had a field day with him.

Let me say something, Roger Federer is a consumate pro. He will win more majors because the game is there, the athleticism is still there albeit still missing a month of off-season, and knowing how to win is there. He loves the game for what it is, and no one has marked his level of consistency since Pete Sampras...but he never won three slams in one year 3 different times.