One in a Millman
Fed drops shocker to unseeded Aussie
That sound you hear is the air going out of Wednesday night at the U.S. Open.
The blockbuster quarterfinal everyone penciled in has been erased. There will be no mega Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic showdown under the lights.
John Millman, an unknown 29year-old Australian in the first Round of 16 grand slam match of his 12-year career, spoiled the party. The unseeded and 55thranked baseliner pulled the Labor Day stunner, rallying from a set down to oust a shaky Federer 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) at Arthur Ashe Stadium in a three-hour, 35minute match that stretched into early Tuesday morning.
“I just thought it was very hot tonight,” Federer said. “It was just one of those nights, I guess, I felt I couldn’t get air. There was no circulation. … Maybe when you feel like that, you start missing chances.”
The loss marked the secondseeded Federer’s earliest departure from Flushing since losing to Tommy Robredo in the 2013 fourth round, extending the 20time slam champion’s title drought at the Open to 11 years. It was also his first defeat to a player ranked outside the top 50, and Millman’s first win over a top-10 opponent.
“I’m probably in a little bit of disbelief,” Millman said in his on-court interview. “But you know I have so much respect for Roger and everything he’s done for the game. He’s been a hero of mine. Today definitely he wasn’t at his best, but I’ll take it.”
The 37-year-old Federer, indeed, did not play well, nowhere close to the level that’s come to be expected from him, or he had reached in his opening three matches in Queens when he didn’t drop a set. He doublefaulted 10 times — twice in the fateful fourth-set tiebreak and his highest total in a slam since 2009 — and committed an uncharacteristic 77 unforced errors, 49 more than the far more patient Millman, who had trained with Federer at his Swiss base prior to Wimbledon, an experience that certainly seemed to ease his nerves.
“I just struggled with the conditions tonight,” Federer said. “One oof the first time that’s happened to me. John was able to deal with it better.” After taking the opening point of the fourth-set tiebreaker, Federer committed back-to-back errors, double-faulted twice and followed with another error tto giftwrap Millman a 5-1 lead. At 6-3, another error, this time a loose Federer forehand, sealed tthe shocking result.
Just two days ago, Millman described his third-round victory over Mikhail Kukushkin as the “biggest moment of my career.” This, however, dwarfed it, a win over arguably the greatest of all time to reach his first slam quarterfinal against a decidedly pro-Federer crowd. He will meet Djokovic, the sixth seed, on Wednesday. Before that, Millman had a 7 a.m. fantasy draft Tuesday morning to worry about with little sleep beforehand.
“I [have the] second pick,” he joked. “I don’t know whether to go [Todd] Gurley or Le’Veon Bell.”
Initially, it seemed like a routine victory for Federer. The fivetime Open champion broke Millman’s first service game, led 3-0 and took the first set in just 33 minutes, finishing it off with a 128 mph serve and backhand volley winner. He was up a break in the second set, before his serve began to betray him. A Federer double fault enabled Millman to pull even at five-all and Federer lost his serve again when his backhand sailed long, evening the match at a set apiece.
Millman took the third set tiebreaker, rallying from 3-1 down and saving a set point. With chants of “Let’s go, Roger, let’s go,” in the background, he blasted a blistering forehand winner that exploded past a lunging Federer to go up 8-7 then finished the set off with a big first serve. Federer broke him to go up 4-2 in the fourth set. But Millman broke right back, leading to the tiebreak, and eventually, the unpredictable upset that wiped away the quarterfinal almost everyone hoped to see.