After watching Rafael Nadal barely survive a scare from American Tim Smyczek during his second round match at the 2015 Australian Open, many a tennis fan were starting to wonder if there was still a chance of seeing a potential semi-final battle between the fourteen-time Grand Slam winner and Roger Federer.
While that may have been the matchup fans were hoping for, someone clearly forgot to let Andreas Seppi in on the plan. In what has to be the biggest upset of this year’s Open, the forty-sixth ranked player in the world managed to not only play the match of his life but also turn it into a stunning 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5) victory over a man he had won all of one set against in ten previous head-to-head matches.
Considering Federer has not won a major since taking home the seventh Wimbledon crown of his career back in 2012, it is not a complete shock to see him go out prior to the semi-finals of such an event. However, you would be hard-pressed to find a single soul who felt the Swiss Maestro would not be around for the second week of play at this year’s Aussie. In all honesty, it is almost unfathomable.
Yet here we sit, with the seventeen-time Grand Slam winner on the outside looking in and the entire tennis world shaking their collective heads in disbelief. The scariest part in all of this…is the fact this was no fluke. While Federer did not play anywhere near his best tennis, it was not as though he handed Seppi this match.
If anything, the thirty year old deserves huge credit for coming from behind in not one but two tiebreakers to knockoff the world No. 2. Be it his consistent groundstrokes, surprisingly soft touch at net, or his unwillingness to fold in high-pressure moments, Seppi suddenly looked as though he belonged inside the top ten or at least he did for one night.
At thirty-three years of age Federer will never be the player he once was and at this stage of his career, it is almost impossible for anyone to come out here and suggest he will win another major before calling it quits. Could it still happen? Of course it could and after watching him raise his level of play to the degree he did in 2014, you would be crazy to bet against him.
Having said all of that, expecting Roger Federer to be the automatic he once was is about as unrealistic as it gets. He is still a very special player and arguably the greatest one this game has ever seen but that sense of invincibility that surrounded him for a very long-time, is now nothing more than distant memory. It may not be what tennis fans want to hear but the reality of situation is what it is.
