Roger Federer to skip clay court season
MIAMI: Roger Federer’s latest reign atop the world rankings will end after the Swiss great’s shock loss to Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round of the Miami Masters on Saturday.
Kokkinakis, ranked 175th in the world, needed a wild card just to get into qualifying. But he showed nerves of steel in a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) triumph over 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer.
“I was calmer than I thought,” Kokkinakis said of the third-set tiebreaker. “Inside I was pretty happy, I was excited, but I kept pretty calm.”
Federer, who won his 20th Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open, regained the number one spot in February after winning the ATP title in Rotterdam but needed to reach the quarter-finals to remain at the summit.
Instead he’ll be replaced by Rafael Nadal when the rankings are released at the end of the tournament.
“I deserve it after this match. That’s how I feel. Just so bad,” said Federer, adding that he “could never get to any level that I was happy with today”.
“Sometimes you have these matches,” he said. “Sometimes you find a way through. I just couldn’t get it done today.”
Federer also announced he’ll skip the clay court season, including the French Open, just as he did last year after winning titles in Indian Wells and Miami.
WAS RACIALLY ABUSED, CLAIMS WOZNIACKI
MIAMI: Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki said on Saturday she and her family were verbally abused and the subject of death threats by spectators during her 6-0, 4-6, 4-6 loss to Monica Puig at the Miami Open the previous day. Wozniacki, in a Twitter posting, said tournament staff and security did nothing to prevent the abuse. However, Miami Open officials said they were not aware during the match of any threats and would have been handled the situation immediately if notified.
“However, during the match last night people in the crowd threatened my family, wished death threats on my mom and dad, called me names that I can’t repeat here and told my fiance’s niece and nephew (who are 10 years old) to sit down and shut... up.