Nadal, Novak target Murray’s crown
24 Aug 2013 5:19 AM IST
Plagued by back trouble and the declining influence brought on by advancing years, Roger Federer heads for the US Open with his game and legacy, if not his famed confidence, in crisis.
The 17-time Grand Slam title winner is at a crossroads as he prepares for his 14th US Open. A five-time champion at Flushing Meadows from 2004 to 2008, the 32-year-old Swiss finds himself at seven in the world -- is lowest ranking since October 2002 -- after a tortuous summer. His second round loss to Ukraine’s world number 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon was his worst Grand Slam defeat for a decade and ended a run of 36 successive quarter-final appearances at the majors.Then followed the bizarre decision to play low-profile claycourt events in Hamburg and Gstaad which ended in shattering losses to unheralded Federico Delbonis and Daniel Brands, both outside the top 50.
There was even a brief flirtation with a larger racquet as Federer scrambled for a recovery. The statistics are conspiring against the former world number one whose last US Open final appearance ended in defeat to Juan Martin Del Potro in 2009.
His great hero Pete Sampras won his fifth and final US Open in 2002 when he was 31 and promptly quit the sport, a punch-drunk second round exit at Wimbledon having already warned him of the dangers of over-staying his welcome. Meanwhile, Federer’s great rivals, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, all seem comfortably to have the measure of him.
The 17-time Grand Slam title winner is at a crossroads as he prepares for his 14th US Open. A five-time champion at Flushing Meadows from 2004 to 2008, the 32-year-old Swiss finds himself at seven in the world -- is lowest ranking since October 2002 -- after a tortuous summer. His second round loss to Ukraine’s world number 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon was his worst Grand Slam defeat for a decade and ended a run of 36 successive quarter-final appearances at the majors.Then followed the bizarre decision to play low-profile claycourt events in Hamburg and Gstaad which ended in shattering losses to unheralded Federico Delbonis and Daniel Brands, both outside the top 50.
There was even a brief flirtation with a larger racquet as Federer scrambled for a recovery. The statistics are conspiring against the former world number one whose last US Open final appearance ended in defeat to Juan Martin Del Potro in 2009.
His great hero Pete Sampras won his fifth and final US Open in 2002 when he was 31 and promptly quit the sport, a punch-drunk second round exit at Wimbledon having already warned him of the dangers of over-staying his welcome. Meanwhile, Federer’s great rivals, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, all seem comfortably to have the measure of him.
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