Is Federer vulnerable?
The din became a roar in Shanghai when he lost his first round match 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 to Fernando Gonzalez, the first time Federer had lost a round robin match in his six appearances at the event, and the first time he had lost two matches in a row since mid-2003. It also marked the first time Gonzalez had ever experienced success against Federer, leaving the Chilean to quip, “Nobody beats me 11 times in a row.”
After that match, Federer addressed the fact that while he’s still in charge, it’s getting increasingly hard to remain unassailable.
The Great Federer's record might shed some light:
year... won... lost
2004... 74...... 6
2005... 81...... 4
2006... 92...... 5
2007... 68...... 9
The first thing to be gleaned is that TGF has cut back his number of tournaments from 97 in 2006 to 77 in 2007. This could be a recognition of physical and psychological toll of playing almost 100 matches.
Two of his losses [Canas in Indian Wells and again in Miami] were due to a sprained ankle [knowledge acquired from my mole deep in the Roche camp].
Just changing those two results, would put 2007 at 70 wins and 7 losses - totally in line with his record.
Is he losing it?
The Oz starts in 11 days.
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