Did Federer pull out of London final because of row with Wawrinka?
McEnroe says Fed pulled out after row
John Mcenroe last night fanned suggestions that a late-night rumpus with his Swiss colleague Stan Wawr in k a may have contributed t o Roger Federer’s late withdrawal f rom the Barclays ATP World Finals.
The world no 2 disappointed more than 17,000 fans at the o2 Arena by pulling out of the final against novak Djokovic, citing a back injury sustained in his evening semi- final against Wawrinka.
But McEnroe also said a post-match spat between the two players, stemming from something Wawrinka said to his opponent’s support bench, would not have helped matters. According to courtside photographers his words were directed either at Federer’s wife Mirka, his father Robbie, or perhaps both.
French TV reported that it had picked up Wawrinka saying: ‘She did the same thing at Wimbledon.’
McEnroe told viewers on ESPN: ‘ Afterwards something went on in the locker room, there was a long talk between the players that went on well into the night and the stress of that — I can’t confirm all of this — I don’t think that helped the situation.’ When asked a bout what happened during the apparent altercation in an unusually feisty third set, Wawrinka replied: ‘not much, nothing special. Tense match, it’s never easy.’
Federer declined to speak to the media l ast ni ght af t er hi s withdrawal, but apologised to the crowd in person.
Today Federer and Wawrinka are due to travel to Lille where, starting on Friday, they will make up the Switzerland team that tackles France in the Davis Cup.
That is the only major prize in tennis that the Swiss master has not won, and that will incentivise him to quickly smooth things over with his compatriot.
Wawrinka’s team were eager to write the tiff off as just one of those things that happen in the heat of battle, while sources i n the Federer camp were emphasising that he pulled out of last night’s final purely due to the parlous state of his back.
It can only be speculation how much the stress of Saturday’s unexpectedly fractious semi-final contributed to the situation.
he and the famously genial Wawrinka have always got on well, although the dynamic in their relationship has changed somewhat this year through the latter’s surge into the elite. he even rated at Swiss no 1 for a time this year before Federer’s excellent run of results.
The 17- t i mes Grand Slam winner told the o2 crowd that something pulled i n his back during the decisive tiebreak. ‘I have tried treatment on it, medication, tried to turn it round as quickly as possible but I didn’t really feel that much of an improvement,’ said Federer, who does not know how it will affect his chances next weekend.
‘I can’t compete at this level with novak, it would be too risky at my age to do this right now.’
It was typical Federer class to front up before the disappointed crowd, and in his whole career it is only the third time he has pulled out of a match.
he only gave up the struggle an hour before the final, and by then Chris Kermode, t he ATP’s executive chairman, had gone into crisis management mode.
he called Andy Murray at his Surrey home at 2pm to ask him to play a replacement exhibition singles against Djokovic, and a lighthearted doubles with Tim henman, John McEnroe and Pat Cash.
‘he instantly offered to help, he didn’t ask for a fee and wasn’t offered one,’ revealed Kermode, adding that the others had also volunteered to entertain the crowd, which included the likes of Jose
BPI Mourinho and hugh Grant, for free. Given that the doubles final (won by the Bryan brothers) took place along with t he exhibitions, Kermode said there would be a partial refund and priority booking next year for ticket holders, who had paid up to £110 for their seats.
As this event makes around £10million profit, it is only right.
overall a good job was done in managing Federer’s non-appearance, al t hough Murray, who l ost 6-0, 6-1 to the Swiss earlier in the week, could see the funny side.
‘I have to apologise because clearly I pushed Roger so hard on Thursday,’ the Scot quipped.
however, questions might again be asked about how fair it is for one semi-final to be played on Saturday afternoon and another on Saturday night, which happens at many ATP events.
It all capped what has been an unfortunate week, which saw so many one-sided matches — not a vintage year.
At the end of it all Djokovic was left champion for the third year running, and is very much the man to beat next season.