PETE ZIEBRON
Roger Federer warming up in Cincinnati prior to his match with Denis Istomin. Pete Ziebron Images
Defending Cincinnati Champion Roger Federer rallied from a set down to beat resurgent American Mardy Fish 6-7(5) 7-6(1) 6-4 to win his 4th title in Cincinnati at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters. Sunday's victory was Federer's 17th Masters 1000 win, tying him with Andre Agassi for 2nd place all-time and puts him only 1 behind leader and world #1 Rafael Nadal who owns 18 Masters 1000 crowns. The win was only Federer's 2nd of 2010 and 1st since he won the Australian Open in January.
Last week was Federer's first tournament working with Paul Annacone, the former coach of Pete Sampras and Tim Henman. Federer implemented new strategies to his game and advanced to the Final in the Toronto Masters where he fell to defending Champion Andy Murray 5-7 5-7. I asked Federer in his pre-tournament press conference about his dialog with Annacone: "It's an open debate. He has things to say and I have things to say because we both have experience, you know. I guess that's what's interesting about this relationship right now."
Since Federer had not won a title since Australia, there was plenty of speculation that his game had peaked. Federer recalled the last time that his game and abilities were questioned: "Last year sort of after the Australian Open when I lost against I think Nadal, people were also talking about how I was on a huge decline. I cried on center court at the Australian Open, which was a big tragedy for many people. Nobody ever believed I would come back. I won two slams and played the finals of the US Open and won the Australian Open, so -- then everything changes and you don't win the French or Wimbledon, and things are all bad again. So it moves very quickly. I know the rules and how it all works."
In an interview the following day, Federer also expounded how his advancement to the Toronto Final can immediately change all of the perceptions of his game and how all of the top players are viewed: "Yeah, isn't it strange what a final can do? Yeah, I mean, same thing. Murray hasn't won a tournament since November, now he's one of the favorites for the US Open; Rafa couldn't play tennis anymore until the clay court season came around; I lost the final of the Australian Open in five sets and I couldn't play tennis anymore after that. Still I ended up winning three slams.
So that's why I just think -- I know tennis is a fast-moving sport, and the best players get judged very harshly. But I think you don't always have to judge the present. You have to judge one or two years back, plus how have the matches been played. 7-6 in the third doesn't always mean that you played poorly, let's say. You can also leave tournaments having not won them playing well. People forget that." Meanwhile, the fact that Federer advanced to the Cincinnati semifinals and world #3 Novak Djokovic lost in the quarterfinals guaranteed that Federer would be the #2 seed at the US Open and be placed on the opposite side of the draw of world #1 Rafael Nadal. Cincinnati tennis fans were hoping for the rare opportunity to see Federer play Nadal in a blockbuster semifinal match on Saturday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. However, on Friday, Marcos Baghdatis defeated Rafael Nadal in 3 sets in the quarterfinals, booked his own place in the semis and concurrently prevented the much anticipated Federer-Nadal tilt. Despite playing 21 times (Nadal leads the series 14-7), the two have only played twice in the US. The most recent time was in Miami in March 2005, with Federer winning in the Final.
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