US Open 2018: 3 things we learned from Roger Federer’s defeat to John Millman
Day 8 of the US Open 2018 witnessed a seismic shock as Roger Federer succumbed to a four-set defeat to World No. 55 John Millman in an unexpected turn of events in the fourth round. The Australian was hardly ever considered a roadblock or even a mild threat to Federer’s smooth progress into the quarter-finals, where Novak Djokovic was waiting.
But the unthinkable happened as the World No. 2 Federer kept fluffing all his chances to go down 6-3, 5-7, 6-7(7), 6-7(3) after 3 hours 34 minutes of play, that left the sports world stunned.
As tennis aficionados try to grapple with the result, here are three things that we learned from this match:
#1 Age seems to be catching up with Federer
When Federer started the 2018 season in majestic fashion by defending his Australian Open title, it seemed we were in for another year of revelling in the Federer magic. Sure enough, the maestro took his form to Rotterdam and won there as well.
But since then, things have gone downhill for the former World No. 1. If fans hoped to see him add to his staggering collection of 20 Slam titles, they were left bitterly disappointed. When the Swiss returned from his hiatus after having skipped the clay season, he did capture the ATP 250 title at Stuttgart on the slick green surface.
However, it was a very different version of Federer the very next week at the Gerry Weber Open. Roger huffed and puffed his way to the final against Borna Coric. When a record tenth title beckoned him at the pristine hamlet of Halle Westfalen, Federer could not conjure his magic anymore.
He looked weary, slow on the feet and his racquet hardly ever stopped peppering the court with unforced errors. The result was a three-set capitulation to the young Coric.
Federer hasn’t been able to get back his mojo since then. He has been raising hopes with his impeccable form in the early rounds of a tournament only to crash and burn later on. The trend continued at Wimbledon, Cincinnati and now at the US Open as well.
For large phases of the fourth round match on Monday, the legend looked fatigued and dispirited and even lacking in motivation. He did admit later on that he found it difficult to cope with the sweltering and suffocating conditions. However, it doesn’t rule out the inevitable question swirling in everybody’s minds -- Is age finally catching up with Federer?
His casual approach and an indifferent body language have been recurrent for the past few tournaments and he has lost to players he was not expected to succumb to. Is he finally feeling the effects of being 37?