Indian Wells Rd 3: Baghdatis upsets Federer 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4)

In all honesty, this loss was not very surprising to me. Is as if I’ve developed some kind of mysterious connection with Federer through being a fan of his and living through his tennis career with him as well as writing about it. Today I wasn’t bothered to watch much of the match. Somehow I couldn’t get myself enthusiastic about it, and I was busy most of the time with something else. Therefore I wasn’t too disappointed with this loss either. It’s almost as though I sub consciously expected it. This feeling I had is even more strange given that Roger had 3 match points and should never have lost this match. I think after a 6 week break and the fact that Roger had lung infection during that time as well, this loss should not be too surprising. He came up against a very good player on the night, and I’m very happy for Baghdatis who totally deserved to win this.

Baghdatis was always going to be a dangerous opponent, but you had the feeling Roger was not 100% match sharp. The last time he had match points and lost a match was in the Rome 2006 final against Rafa, so it’s not something that happens very often at all. Federer was playing well, it was only a question of missed opportunities at crucial stages of the match. It was a high quality match that reminded me of the US Open final last year. Roger was winning the match until 7-5, 5-4 and 40-15 on the Baghdatis serve. I was pretty sure the match was over at this point, but I wanted Baghdatis to hold serve so I can see more tennis. I know, selfish of me, but apparently Roger felt the same, and it ended up costing him the match. Baghdatis broke Federer after he made the great escape, which was to be expected.

He then held serve to win the second set. In the third set Roger got the break at 2-1 and held serve to take a lead of 4-1. Again he couldn’t capitalize on his advantage, and gave the break back to Baghdatis. It has to be said that Baghdatis played some fantastic tennis as well. But at 6-5 and Baghdatis serving, Roger would squander yet another match point. As you can see this match was very unlike Federer. Normally he is such a clinical finisher. He was playing just fine, but he never remembered to close out the match. Personally i am fine with that, because it only means he isn’t match sharp and he ran into a player who was playing very well himself. Baghdatis said afterwards it was the biggest win of his life, which shows how much it means to the players to get a win over Roger. If Roger had to lose and I had a choice as to whom it would be, I would choose none other than Baghdatis.

He is a great guy and a very talented player as well. At times he was giving Roger some of his own medicine. He hit some very well disguised drop shots which even Roger struggled to get to. In Federer’s post match interview he also felt that he needed more matches and said that he was going to play a lot of practice sets before Miami. I’m sure he will be very motivated to do well there and that we will see a good performance from him there. Remember last year in Montreal after a long break he lost to Tsonga, after which he went on to win Cincinnati. I feel like this is a similar situation and won’t be surprised if he wins Miami. His ball striking and everything is fine. It’s just a question of getting back into match fitness again. I have to say I’m not crazy about what these long breaks is doing, but on the other hand if Roger played a lesser player and got through it, he might have gotten better with every match and still had a good result.

Presser: It’s interesting where they asked Federer what he thinks about the way Baghdatis played, and he says that he thought that Baghdatis didn’t play his best and that he played much better in the Oz Open final. Baghdatis on the other hand said that it was the win of his life, and I felt that he played pretty much as well as he could. Maybe Roger could have given him more credit there. Just a thought.