CAMELOT FANTASIES

To many, Federer lost the match because he was apparently in a 'clown' mode after being a set and half up. There's absolutely no explanation as to why suddenly a player of Federer's caliber, who cares about nothing but winning, would go into clowning mode. He simply just did. Right. And then some others feel the condition was 'chilli' and that didn't really favour Federer. It did at first, for a set and half in fact, and just when players were more than warmed up, it got 'chillier' for Federer alone. Right again.

All this makes me really wonder if anyone had seen the match especially in the way it should have been seen. Let's take Nishikori for example. He was coming off a win over Ferrer where he had to overcome 4 match points to win that match. What does that tell you? Do you wonder about that? It tells you that he trusted his own ability a great deal and was convinced that he could do it as he's done it before. Clearly he has a very strong mental side to him on top of having a very attractive and powerful game. And clearly he came into this match feeling the same way and was convinced of his own ability for the simple fact that, he didn't back down after getting broken twice in the 2nd set. He believed he could do this as he's beaten Federer before. So why overlook your opponent and undermine his dangerous ability to pull an upset?

And if Federer had played a sloppy game to get broken in the 2nd set then Nishikori too played a sloppy game to get broken first. Let's also not forget the fact that he was the more aggressor in both the 2nd and 3rd set. In fact, on top of winning more points in both 2nd and 3rd set, he also created more breakpoints for himself and left 0 for Federer in the 3rd set. He was playing better and better as the match progressed and was playing with far more accuracy than Federer and didn't mind going for his shots. His last point, that backhand crosscourt winner, speaks volume of that especially when the points were 30/40.  He could have easily choked that point away too.

And since when one thing happens without having a cause behind it? If one believes Federer clowned away the match then clearly you haven't seen the match or seen the match but blindfolded. If Federer's game declined then it's due the fact that, Nishi raised his game. Nishikori put a lot of pressure on Federer's serve starting from the 2nd set, as he kept the return very deep putting Federer in uncomfortable position to barely return the ball let alone hit winners as he typically does. Federer got tight when serving the first serve as he was afraid of Nishi's return and had to go on 2nd serve quite a few times. And Nishi was murdering some of those 2nd serves. Let's not forget that Federer's serves are his main strength these days and Nishi, by that time, had a very good bite on it. In fact Nishikori himself said during his post match interview that his return game had led him to get the upper hand on Federer. And he himself was serving much better by that time.

Nishikori definitely came into the match knowing he could win too and that was the key. He's now 2-1 against Federer and 1 all with Nole. He is now, along with Dolgo, the most dangerous player on tour. What separates them from the rest of the bunch is the fact that, they trust their ability and they have a very strong head above their shoulder.

One also must take into the fact that, it's already a huge task when you walk into the main court against a player like either Federer and Nadal, where the crowd support is overwhelming and you have to beat that first. It's quite another when you have to beat the player too when they tend to come off as quite intimidating. It's a HUGE task for any player outside these two so it does pain me when I see fans unable to give them any credit and most often than not their players lost due to some sort of lack on their part rather than their opponents had anything to do with it too.