Roger Federer was one match away from his first trip to the French Open final and a possible “Roger slam” – four straight slam titles – and he couldn’t hit the side of a barn. It was the first set of his semifinal match at the French Open against David Nalbandian and the ball was bouncing off the frame of his racket. He blamed his slow start on the wind but I reckon it was just as windy on the other side of the court.

Any grand slam title requires a bit of good luck and it looked like Federer got his today

Federer mishit another ball at 2-2 to go down a break and that was all Nalbandian needed to win the first set 6-3.

It wasn’t only the wind. I call Nalbandian the perpetual semifinalist because he can outsteady everyone except the spectacular players. Not that he doesn’t have spectacular shots. He got another break point early in the second set on a fabulous cross court return from outside the doubles line. On the next point, Federer got himself into deeper trouble with a floating backhand and found himself down a set and a break.

Was this how how his bid for a French Open title and the Roger slam would end? No fifth set tiebreaker, no scintillating exchange of stunning shots, instead, a bunch of popgun forehands from the number one player in the world? Everyone wanted to see Federer-Nadal VII in the final but they wanted to see a tough semifinal too and they were getting neither.

After Nalbandian got ahead 3-0 in the second set, Federer started to wake up. He chopped a crosscourt winner off a tough shot to hold his serve. In the next game he hit a beautiful drop shot and a backhand passing shot to get a break point. Nalbandian felt the heat. He double faulted to give Federer the game at love.

The comeback was complete after Federer ran down a ball that Nalbandian had poked over his head. Federer ran backwards to the opposite corner of the court and when he reached the ball, turned on it and flicked it down the line past Nabandian then put one finger in the air. “I am number one.” Rightly so. It looked like a squash shot and it was. Federer credited “my squash over the years with my father… .” Nalbandian hiccuped again, he put an overhead into the net, and Federer was up a break in the second set.

Federer won the second set, 6-4, then broke Nalbandian to begin the third set. After holding on his next service game, Nalbandian was visited by the trainer and the doctor. In the next game he lunged awkwardly at a ball instead of gracefully sliding then ran down a ball but couldn’t get around on it.

the first image that came to mind was Bjorn Borg spraying his tummy with a freezing product during changeovers at Wimbledon

Federer broke again to go up 5-2 and as Nalbandian walked off the court at the end of the game, he retired due to an abdominal strain. He’d injured it during his match with Davydenko then reinjured it serving at 3-1 in the second set. Which was exactly the point at which Federer started to turn his game around. Any slam title requires a bit of good luck and it looked like Federer got his today.

He didn’t seem to appreciate it though. After the match he called Nalbandian out: “He gave up. But if he’d been leading 5‑Love in the third set, he wouldn’t have given up.” What is happening to tennis? First Novak Djokovic called out Rafael Nadal after Djokovic retired then Federer called out Nalbandian after Nalbandian retired.

This is the ninth time a male player has retired in this tournament. A quarterfinal and semifinal match failed to finish. That’s not a good product for tennis to put on the court. There’s been an epidemic of injuries because the season is too long and there is no off-season to speak of. The organizers of last year’s Masters Cup in Shanghai were uncharacteristically blunt in complaining about their weak field caused by injuries to Nadal, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi.

After Nalbandian retired, the first image that came to mind was Bjorn Borg spraying his tummy with a freezing product during changeovers at Wimbledon. He’d strained an abdominal muscle while trying to beef up his serve. I don’t remember if he won that year but he got to the final in the last six Wimbledons he entered so it’s a safe bet that he reached the final and I know he didn’t retire once he got there. That’s more than you could say after watching Justine Henin-Hardenne retire during the Australian Open final due to an upset stomach.

It’s tempting to say that players today don’t have as much intestinal fortitude as past players but the combination of newer equipment, big hitters and an absurdly long season have led to this. However, players should be ganging up on the ATP and WTA, not calling each other out.

When I spoke to players at last year’s WTA championship, they offered little support for a separate players union – the players have three seats on the WTA Board of Directors as do the tournament directors. With the current structure, the players don’t have enough power to force the WTA to eliminate tournaments from the schedule. Kim Clijsters was ranked number one coming into those championships but she was so tired from her late season run that she won only one match. She’s now twenty-two years old and plans to retire at the end of the 2007 season because she’s tired of being injured. She’s afraid she’ll begin to look like an old NFL linebacker, unable to walk up and down the stairs without excruciating pain by the time she’s fifty years old.

Luckily for tennis we have Federer-Nadal VII this Sunday and we might get the beginnings of a real rivalry. I guess that’s why no one is complaining.