Door is open for Federer at French Open
At 33, tennis superstar hoping to find more major magic on the clay at Roland Garros
There are two distinct sounds when Roger Federer graces the courts of Roland Garros. One is the pop of backhands and forehands kicking up puffs of red clay. The other, getting ever louder, is the scratchy tick of life’s clock.
At age 33, with 34 bearing down in August, time is increasingly the enemy to Federer’s quest to add to his already record haul of Grand Slam titles.
The count climbed to 17 with his seventh win at Wimbledon in 2012, when he was still a young 30-yearold. Then, abruptly, it stopped. In Federer’s golden spell from 20042009, there were 24 Grand Slam finals. Federer played in 20 of them, winning 14. But since his 2012 Wimbledon win against Andy Murray, just one of the 10 subsequent Grand Slam finals featured the Swiss: an epic five-setter loss to Novak Djokovic last year.
Of all places for Federer to prove that he still has another major title in him, Roland Garros would seem the least favourable. The slow red dust blunts nuances of his game so effective on other, faster surfaces. Having one of the sharpest tactical minds and best right hands tennis has ever seen were never quite enough for Federer at the only major he’s not won multiple times. He needed a sprinkling of luck, too. Federer’s only victory at the French Open, in five finals, came in 2009 against Robin Soderling, who did him the favour of taking King of Clay Rafael Nadal out of the picture in the fourth round.
Good fortune, in the shape of Maria Sharapova’s fingers, is smiling on Federer again this year. The defending women’s champion, called upon to pluck out the seeded men’s names in Friday’s draw, delivered a road map that could hardly be more favourable for Federer.
Sixth-seeded Nadal and thirdseeded Murray were both drawn in the half that includes top-seeded Djokovic. That means secondseeded Federer would only have to play, at most, one of those infernal three who beat him at the semifinal or final stage of majors in 2013 and 2014. And such a blockbuster match could only happen in the June 7 final, if Federer gets that far.
“There is a chance to go very deep,” he acknowledged. “How deep remains to be seen depending on the level of play.”
Federer opens his 62nd consecutive Grand Slam campaign, extending his record, on Sunday against a qualifier. In the women’s championship, last year’s losing finalist Simona Halep, seeded third, opens against Evgeniya Rodina, ranked No. 91. The 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic plays Yaroslava Shvedova, a quarterfinalist in 2010 and 2012.
Federer has a relatively easy-looking path until the fourth round, where he could meet 13th-seeded Gael Monfils before a potential quarter-final against his Davis Cup Swiss teammate Stan Wawrinka, seeded eighth. In the semifinals, a possible meeting with either Japan’s Kei Nishikori, seeded fifth, or fourthseeded Tomas Berdych looms.
But all that is just on paper. The end, in the Wimbledon second round in 2013, of Federer’s astounding streak of 36 Grand Slam quarterfinals or better punctured the idea that he’s assured a place in the second week of a major tournament. Roland Garros last year ended in the fourth round for Federer, with a fiveset loss to Ernests Gulbis. The Latvian, ranked No. 25, is in Federer’s section of the draw again this year.
“There (are) a lot of good players out there that want to win the tournament that can win the tournament. Others that are dangerous on the day,” Federer noted. “Whether it’s in semis or in the finals, if you lose, you lose at one point or another, and that’s not funny. So my objective is to not lose.”
Nadal’s seeding dropped lower than ever at Roland Garros this time, leaving him vulnerable in the draw, after the nine-time champion endured his worst season on clay in 10 years. The 14-time Grand Slam champion enters the tournament with five losses in 2015 on the surface where he used to be superhuman, accumulating a 66-1 record at Roland Garros.
“There is a chance to go very deep. How deep remains to be seen …” ť ROGER FEDERER TENNIS PLAYER