Phenomenal, shocking, stunning...Roger Federer lost a tennis match this past weekend.
For most tennis professionals, this wouldn't be news in the least. The best tennis players in the world lose anywhere from a half dozen to a dozen times a year. They certainly win their share of titles, but they are far from invincible. In his best year, Pete Sampras went 85-16, winning two grand slam titles.
In the 2004 season, Roger Federer wnt 74-6, the best record by any men's player since Ivan Lendel in 1986. He won three grand slam titles that year - losing in the third round at Roland Garros.
This year, however, he nearly bettered that amazing year. Federer went into his final match of the year a thirty-five match winning streak as well as a twenty-four match winning streak in finals (never in tennis's history has there been a better closer than Federer - the previous record had been twelve by McEnroe and Borg). Federer also went into his final match with a chance to tie John McEnroe's record for best season winning percentage with an 82-3 mark. Federer is nigh on unbeatable.
And then up popped David Nalbandian. In about as shocking a result as I could imagine, Federer "lost to David Nalbandian, 7-6(4), 7-6(11), 2-6, 1-6, 6-7(3). Federer won the first two sets in two tie-breaks (7-4 and 13-11) but became fatigued and lost the following two. In the fifth and decisive set he trailed 4-0 but won 4 games in a row, before having to serve to stay in the match at 4-5. He leveled 5-5 and then broke Nalbandian's serve to lead 6-5, 30-0. He couldn't hold serve and eventually lost in the tie-break 7-3. It ended Federer's 24 consecutive final wins (Open Era record)." (from Wikipedia's Federer article.)
When I saw the headline on ESPN.com, I had to do a double take. Federer simply does not lose. And he doesn't come close to losing in five sets, and he doesn't lose two straight tiebreakers. Stunning...
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