Federer proves a point to himself

Reuters.uk, UK
Mon Apr 4, 2005 6:17 PM BST

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) – Roger Federer accomplished something at
the Nasdaq-100 Open he had not done for almost four years when he
won a match from two sets down.

The Swiss master usually bamboozles his opponents from the moment he
steps on court but Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal made a blistering
start to Sunday’s final.

It was not that Federer was playing badly in what turned out to be
a thrilling contest, just that he ran into an inspired Nadal, who
went into the biggest match of his burgeoning career on a 15-match
winning streak.

For a man who had tasted defeat just once in eight months, Federer
was on unfamiliar territory as he lost the opening two sets.

The world number one had to dig deep into his memory bank as the
last time he overcame a two-set deficit was in the 2001 French Open,
when Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian took him to 9-7 in the fifth set of
a second-round match.

Federer was only two points from defeat in the third-set tiebreaker
against Nadal but he found his way out of trouble to win 2-6 6-7 7-6
6-3 6-1.

“I was very worried, especially after the first set as I don’t lose
sets very often 6-2, so this really shows you that I was struggling,”
said Federer, whose only defeat since last August was a five-set
marathon against Marat Safin in the Australian Open semi-finals.

“Every match I go into, I’m this huge favourite. When I lose sets,
it’s like crazy,” he said.

“I’m really happy that I came back because I’ve hardly ever done it
in my career. This is a big moment in my career, especially in the
final against a player of this calibre.”

CALM AUTHORITY

Since bursting on the scene with a stunning win over seven-times
Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras at the All England Club in 2001,
Federer has been the epitome of calm authority.

Even that facade slipped against Nadal, however, with the top seed
hurling his racket to the ground in frustration as his record of 17
consecutive final victories came under threat.

“I was very disappointed as I was missing one opportunity after
another,” he said. “I really felt like I was climbing uphill all
the time.

“I had an opportunity and I missed it again and just had enough. So
I threw it hard… who knows, maybe it did me good and woke me up.”

Having extended his record to 18 successive final triumphs and
recovered his cool, Federer turned his thoughts to the French Open,
the one grand slam title to elude him.

“I’ll definitely work on my physical conditioning but there’s only
so much you can do before the French,” said the Swiss, who has never
advanced beyond the quarter-finals in six visits to the claycourt
major.

“My potential relies very much on my explosiveness, I’ve got to use
that on clay as well.

“I know I’ve got the game, and I know I can hang tough now for five
sets without a problem, where in the past maybe that wasn’t always
the case.”