TENNIS/FRENCH OPEN:ROGER FEDERER, 13 times a grand slam champion, looked on the point of making an early second-round exit from the French Open against Jose Acasuso yesterday and later admitted after his struggle on the Philippe Chatrier court that the Argentine might have won in straight sets.
For all the great man’s vulnerability in recent times, Federer’s grand slam record over the last 16 months – as so many of his opponents, including Andy Murray, so frequently point out – is of the kind most players would give their right arm for: one victory, the US Open, three runners-up spots, and a semi-final. Indeed the last time he failed to get to the last 16 of a major was here five years ago. But all is relative.
Despite his recent victory on clay in Madrid against Rafael Nadal, there has been a growing feeling that Federer might be more vulnerable then ever during the early rounds at Roland Garros but he eventually defeated Acasuso 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.
Federer talked of his mental strength in such situations, though there were times when he resembled a dead man walking, as he had in last year’s final against Nadal, in which he won only four games. “I just had to stay calm with all the ups and downs there were in the first three sets,” he said in English, while in French he spoke of trying to change tactics in mid-match, and his complex struggle to gain control against the big-hitting Acasuso.
These were tense moments for Federer as he pursues the only slam to elude him, his nemesis Nadal having beaten him in the last three finals, and the semi-final before that. The crowd rose to him, though it seemed more than a touch of nostalgia, as if they knew the ultimate cause was already somehow lost. If the Federer baby is a boy, the chances of it being christened Roland appear slim.
On the women’s side, Venus Williams saved a match point against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic to progress to the last 32, while sister Serena, having struggled badly in the first round, defeated Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual inside an hour, though any confidence in either of them winning the title remains small.
Meanwhile, France’s Marion Bartoli, the 13th seed, was on the verge of tears after being dumped out of her home grand slam, losing 6-3, 7-5 to Italian Tathiana Garbin.
Bartoli later admitted: “I was a bit tired and a bit sick. It’s like a bit of a sore throat, and my nose is running. I was not really fit. So it was really hard for me.”
Andy Murray, having survived his own sharp fluctuation in form on Wednesday during his second-round victory over Potito Starace of Italy, faces a potentially much more dangerous opponent today in Janko Tipsarevic.
The 24-year-old Serb, currently ranked outside the top 50, has yet to make a major mark in the slams, yet has a habit of considerably raising his game against top 10 players.
Last year he knocked Andy Roddick out in the second round of Wimbledon, while earlier that year at the Australian Open he took Federer to five sets in the third round, losing 10-8 in the fifth. “He is a tricky guy to play against. He serves big, he moves well, and he is a good shot maker. It will be a tough match,” said Murray.
The Serb, who has lived in the shadow of his compatriot Novak Djokovic, plays in prescription sunglasses, and has become famous for a tattoo on his arm bearing a quote from Dostoyevsky, immediately singling him out as the intellectual of the locker room.
“No tattoo question, please,” he said. “I’m not reading that much these days. I’m addicted to a video game called World of Warcraft. I used to read a lot, but I don’t think of myself as any smarter than the others because of that.”
That said, Tipsarevic clearly loves the mental challenge of pitting his wits against the world’s best players, while admitting that his mind tends to drift against lesser opponents, hence his lack of consistency. “But sometimes it happens that I lose focus. I’m somewhere in the clouds.”
Murray will hope that he and those mists consume the Serb today.
