{"id":590,"date":"2007-05-11T21:03:16","date_gmt":"2007-05-12T05:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/?p=590"},"modified":"2007-05-11T21:03:16","modified_gmt":"2007-05-12T05:03:16","slug":"federer-loses-again-this-time-to-a-wild-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/federer-loses-again-this-time-to-a-wild-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Federer Loses Again, This Time to a Wild Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did Roger Federer lose to wild card Filippo Volandri in the Masters Series event in Rome? Let me count the ways.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Mistaken Identity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Federer couldn\u2019t hit the side of a barn with his forehand \u2013 he hit two forehand winners all day \u2013 but he kept going for big shots. If he\u2019d been playing Rafael Nadal that would have made sense, but it wasn\u2019t Nadal, it was Filippo Volandri who is currently number 53 in the world. Federer should have made the adjustment any amateur knows how to make: get the ball in play and let your opponent make an error. At the very least, make your opponent hit some shots. Volandri had no opportunity to lose his nerve because Federer didn\u2019t make him hit enough balls to lose his nerve.<\/p>\n

2. No Returns Accepted<\/strong><\/p>\n

Volandri is a weak server. When he was serving for the match, one of his first serves came in at 86 mph. Olivier Rochus is 5ft5in and his serve is more intimidating. Yet Federer got exactly one break because he couldn\u2019t return the ball and he didn\u2019t pressure Volandri\u2019s second serve (which is barely stronger than my second serve).<\/p>\n

3. Server Down<\/strong><\/p>\n

Federer\u2019s first serve percentage was 44%. It\u2019s clay court tennis, if you can\u2019t get your first serve in it\u2019s not like the lighting fast court gives you a second opportunity to hit a big serve. Here\u2019s the stubbornness again. Take something off the first serve and just get it in! Works for Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n

4. Can’t Get a Break<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Federer lost to Guillermo Canas earlier this year, he said he wasn\u2019t playing the big points well. Today Federer had seven break points and he converted exactly one. Volandri, on the other hand, had eight break opportunities and converted four.<\/p>\n

5. Wrong Side of the Bed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe Federer fell out of bed and knocked himself unconscious without knowing it because he forgot how to slide. Clay court movement is not his forte but again and again Volandri hit a deep cross court shot and Federer couldn\u2019t get himself close enough to slide into the ball on the soft red clay. I\u2019ve never seen him play so badly. Forty-four unforced errors in two sets with four double faults and only twelve winners.<\/p>\n

Volandri is not one of those wild cards who\u2019s ranked two or three hundred and something, he\u2019s a pretty good clay court player. He won more clay court matches than Nadal last year and took the title at Palermo. Of course, Nadal was undefeated and Volandri lost fifteen matches but still, he\u2019s not chopped liver.<\/p>\n

Right about now, Federer is chopped liver. His last four tournaments ended with four Federer losses and today, a meltdown. The edge is gone, at least for the time being. There\u2019s no longer that feeling that Federer will pull a win out by suddenly taking over a match and easily dispatching his opponent. His opponents frequently show more desire than he does. His clay court season is in tatters and Nadal is running away with every tournament.<\/p>\n

The best we can do is hope that Novak Djokovic can beat Rafael Nadal – they play each other next. That’s not likely but then neither was today\u2019s result.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/strong>:
\nRerun in Rome: Preview and Picks <\/a>
\nB**tch and Sing Dept: Early Rounds in Rome<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How did Roger Federer lose to wild card Filippo Volandri in the Masters Series event in Rome? Let me count the ways. 1. Mistaken Identity Federer couldn\u2019t hit the side of a barn with his forehand \u2013 he hit two forehand winners all day \u2013 but he kept going for big shots. If he\u2019d been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ams-rome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}