SHANGHAI, China -- Not to worry, says Roger Federer. His
game is very much intact even though he lost consecutive matches
for the first time in 4½ years.
The latest defeat was to Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, a 4-6, 7-6
(1), 7-5 decision Monday at the Masters Cup. Federer, the defending
champion, entered the match with a 15-0 record in round-robin play
at the season-ending tournament. It was the top-ranked Swiss star's
first loss in 11 meetings against No. 7 Gonzalez.
"Some players or people might think, 'Now he's more
vulnerable," Federer said. "I disagree, obviously. I'm going to
hopefully show them again this week and then obviously next year
again."
In the other Red Group match, No. 5 Andy Roddick survived a
second-set lapse to beat No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
Roddick will lead the United States against Russia in the Davis
Cup final at the end of the month. He has been bothered by injuries
that kept him out of tournaments in Madrid and Paris, sandwiched
around losing in the first round in Lyon.
The last time Federer dropped two straight matches was in 2003
when he fell in the third round at Hamburg, then in the first round
at the French Open. He now most likely will have to beat Roddick
and Davydenko to reach the semifinals.
At 26, Federer hopes to pass Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand
Slam titles soon -- he has 12 now. And despite a shaky last few
weeks -- he lost twice to ninth-ranked David Nalbandian, most
recently in the third round at the Paris Masters -- he quickly
points out he had a pretty good season. He won three Grand Slam
titles and extended his record run with the No. 1 ranking to a
fourth year.
On Monday, Federer was untouchable early in the match, and it
looked as if a repeat was in the making of the Australian Open
final in January when he beat Gonzalez in straight sets.
"I was feeling really bad on the court," Gonzalez said. "But
after, he went down a little bit and my level went up. I think the
key of the match was my serve and don't be scared to go for my
shots."
Gonzalez, who has one of the best forehands in the game,
suspected he was due against Federer.
"After 10 times, it's my turn now," he said.
Federer said he figured out what he was doing wrong recently and
corrected it in practice.
"I thought actually I played pretty good," Federer said. "In
some ways I have regrets, and in some ways I don't because I just
thought it was ridiculous what kind of shots he came up with. But
you've got to give him credit for that."
Federer was never in trouble until the second-set tiebreaker.
That's when Gonzalez, who had won only two sets in their previous
meetings, stunned him by bolting to a 6-0 lead. Federer saved one
set point before sending a forehand long to even the match.
Shouting and pumping his fist, Gonzalez had break points for the
first time in consecutive games in the third set but couldn't
convert. Federer squandered five break points of his own. The
Chilean finally converted a break to pull ahead 6-5.
Serving for the match, he pulled ahead 40-0, then
double-faulted. But Federer sent a forehand wide to end it.
"You can't do much when he drills it into the corners,"
Federer said. "The backhand, that's what killed me today. It was a
pity because I think I was playing exactly the way I should have."
Roddick's regular coach, Jimmy Connors, isn't in Shanghai, but
Davis Cup coach Patrick McEnroe is around. He's doing TV commentary
and watched from the stands.
Roddick says he is healthy now, taking advantage of the time off
to build up his leg muscles and work on his volleys, which looked
sharper than in the past.
He appeared in control after taking the first set and breaking
Davydenko to pull ahead 4-3 in the second. Then he then won only
two points in the next three games as the Russian broke him twice
to even the match.
Roddick smashed his racket after missing a forehand wide on set
point, then ran off five straight games to take a 5-1 lead in the
third.
He gave the racket to fans afterward, saying with a smile:
"Better in their hands than a trash can somewhere, right?"