FEDEX tears

The remains of one of the rackets with which Roger Federer had dominated the men’s game lay in bits at Crandon Park yesterday as an emblem of the sense of brokenness that has overcome the former world No 1.

All that could have gone wrong for the 27-year-old Swiss went wrong yesterday as he slumped to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open. As Federer faced the media afterwards, wiping away the tears with his collar, you wondered when he would look at the world with a clear vision again.

When Federer smacked his racket into the ground and the jeers of the Miami crowd rang in his ears — they are an uplifting lot in these parts — there was a feeling of emptiness, even though 8,000-odd people were in his company. It is a sensation that he has felt before in a period of his career that has provided an awful lot of questions but very few answers.

He has been a great player for so long — 237 consecutive weeks as the No 1, 13 grand-slam titles and assorted other tournaments bear testimony to his brilliance — that to see him in such disarray comes as a bit of a shock. “You try hard and then it’s just not working,” Federer said, the tears sticking to his eyelid. “Today it is different just because there’s so much wind as well. Once you start feeling bad, it’s tough to regroup. Once one guy gets the upper hand, the other guy is a bit uncertain. He played so bad in the first set, I had a great effort by finishing even worse than him. It was good.”

The last two quotes were, of course, Federer being facetious, which is not like him at all.

Actually, nothing about Federer is like him at all at the moment. There was so much mistiming yesterday it was difficult to believe you were watching a Swiss. The forehand, usually so dependable, has become a liability, his footwork was non-existent and, far too often, he simply does not seem to have the will to make himself move to the place where he needs to be. It was only because Djokovic was terrible at the start, and as tight as a drum at the end, that the result was not more convincing in his favour.

The upshot of the Serb’s victory was that, whatever happened in Andy Murray’s semi-final against Juan Martín Del Potro, of Argentina, overnight, the British No 1 could not overhaul Djokovic for the world No 3 berth. But both men will have eyed Federer’s discomfiture. They can see that Federer is wounded and that this year he has not beaten any of the other three members of the top four and has struggled with a few lower down the scale. This is simply an unprecedented period for Federer, the veneer that was once unbreakable being shattered far too easily. “Thank God the hard-court season is over,” he said. But can he really be looking forward to the clay?

The suggestion that the smashing of his racket equated with a seminal moment in his career was met with disdain. “Just because I smashed the racket doesn’t mean I am losing it,” he said. “I didn’t feel great, it’s just a natural thing I did.”

Natural for Marat Safin, for Goran Ivanisevic, for Djokovic himself maybe. But for Roger Federer?