The French Open 2023 Championships was historic for men’s singles tennis as Novak Djokovic claimed a record 23rd Grand Slam title. The achievement took him past his biggest rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who have 22 and 20 Slams respectively. As a result, the ‘GOAT’ debate seems to have intensified, with the tennis community significantly divided in their views. Federer came under the scanner recently as he claimed that Boris Becker’s Wimbledon win at the age of 17 is at par with Djokovic’s French Open win at the age of 36.
However, as Federer tried to distance himself from the debate with a partly diplomatic answer, there is one factor that would not go in his favor. It becomes more interesting because on first thought, normally the ‘GOAT’ of the game should have the most number of match wins or Grand Slam wins or ATP titles for instance amongst other criteria set by tennis pundits and enthusiasts alike.
Roger Federer’s ability to finish off matches waned during the latter part of his career
Roger Federer is renowned for taking tennis by storm as many claim that it was his elegance that made an otherwise aggressive sport, look artistic. But having played in more than 1500 matches, it was always a possibility that Federer was to find it tough going in the latter part of his career. It is no coincidence that his final Grand Slam win was in Australia at the start of 2018 when he was aged 36.
The stunning matter of fact here is that Roger Federer lost nearly 25% of his matches from 2017-2021 despite having one or more chances of clinching the match point. Overall, that number came to 23, which is far more than Rafael Nadal who has lost on 8 such instances, and Novak Djokovic, who has only failed thrice. It is interesting to note that the trio has played more than 1000 ATP matches each, even as Federer has more experience, having started out as a professional earlier than them.
The Swiss maestro, who is otherwise known for having nerves of steel and winning some of the most famous points in the history of the game with an ice-cool demeanor, began failing to cross the finish line. Remarkably, two of those instances came at the Wimbledon editions of 2018 and 2019.
Did the Wimbledon 2018 loss create a mental block within Roger Federer?
Being the defending champion in 2018, Roger Federer was one of the favorites to clinch a record 9th title. However, he fell short in the quarter-finals to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson. Despite being 2 sets to 1 up, Federer squandered several chances to make it to the last 4, eventually losing the final set by 11-13. Who knows, had Federer finished off the job ruthlessly, he could have ended up with the title, although Novak Djokovic went on to eventually win it. To top it all, no tennis player likes to lose a best-of-5 match as it takes tremendous effort to complete it, let alone win it due to the physical and mental fitness required. This could have perhaps been the match that Federer could still regret losing till date because of having had a landmark 2017 season and a good start to the 2018 one.
Prior to that loss, at the ATP Masters tournament at Indian Wells, Roger Federer fell short in the final to Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in similar fashion. 2019 also saw Federer missing out on 2 massive title opportunities. Many argue that the former World No.1 was looking solid on clay around the time, having found a way to tackle the likes of Rafael Nadal, who had the edge against him in the majority of their rivalry. However, fate had other plans as Roger Federer conceded two match points to the rising star, Dominic Thiem at the Madrid Open quarter-final, which was reminiscent of the Anderson Wimbledon match as he won the second set in a tie-break by 11-9, only to then clinch the third set, 6-4 to make a comeback.
The most famous Roger Federer defeat at Wimbledon arguably was in the 2019 final, which ended up being his last chance to win a Grand Slam title. Taking on Novak Djokovic, the ‘King of Grass’ was dominant for most parts of the match. However, just when he earned 2 shots at the title, an under-fire Djokovic gave it his all to survive. The Serbian won the longest-ever final played at the tournament till date, which makes many in the tennis fraternity believe that he is either more superior than Federer or rather his successor to the throne. Although Djokovic himself admitted graciously in a post-match interview that he found it hard going in that match but was fortunate since he won the moments that mattered the most.
Roger Federer’s last such defeat was in 2021 when he attempted to make a comeback from injury at the Doha Open in Qatar but surprisingly succumbed to Georgia’s Nikoloz Bashilashvili, failing to win a crucial match point, after being 5-4 up in the third set.
Yet, even just 23 losses of this kind constitutes barely 1.52% of the matches played by Federer, which is a testimony of his consistency, turning out to be rare blip in a career which pioneered excellence in tennis that had never been seen before.
