Roger Federer's First Round Match against Brian Dabul

I had predicted in my earlier blog that Roger Federer would win his opening round match against Brian Dabul in straight sets. Not only me, millions of tennis lovers all over the world, too, must have predicted the same. So I won't seek any special credit for it though Federer proved my prediction true with an easy 6-1, 6-4 and 6-2 score.


The very first game, which was Federer's service game, saw a scary moment when Dabul got the lone break point of the whole match; to the great relief of Federer's fans including me, Dabul failed to cash in on it.

The first set was devoid of any pyrotechnics from Federer, but he warmed up in the second set which had the shot of the day. Dabul was serving in the 9th game of the set, and the score was 4-4 and Advantage Dabul. Dabul lobed the ball deep into the baseline. Federer, near the net, turned back and running unhurriedly to the baseline, hit the ball between his legs. The ball sailed over the net and landed close to the inside edge of Dabul's right sideline. All that Dabul could do was to merely stand staring, with that unbelievable expression on his face.

The whole stadium stood up and applauded while Federer himself raised both his hands, elated.

The last time Federer had done the same magic was against Djokovic, who, shaking his head in sheer disbelief, and slowly breaking into a smile, applauded on his raised racquet-head.

From that point onward it was all Federer while Dabul virtually disintegrated. Dabul hastened his own defeat by two successive double faults and many unforced errors in the 3rd set.

Dabul couldn't serve any ace in the whole match. The average speed of his first serve was a lowly 166.4 kmph. His fastest serve was of a mere 187.2 kmph, a far cry from that of the big servers. I did not see any blistering forehand from Dabul in the whole match. Neither was he a great returner of serve. That explains his dismal performance in Grand Slams.

But here comes the crucial question: was Federer's play against Dabul a champion's?

Federer served 18 aces. But what is an ace? When the opponent does not reach the ball, the serve becomes an ace. Most of the aces Federer served today, would have been returned by his major rivals like Nadal, Murray, Soderling, Djokovic, Berdych, Davydenko and a host of others. The average speed of his first serve was 190.4 kmph. Only 200+ will comfort me. Further, He got only 65% of his first serves in. This percentage is too low and has to improve to 80% for winning big matches. The same goes for his forehands too: none of them, today, was fiery.

The point is, Federer was not at his best in today's match. If he is not at his best, we can't hope him to go farther in this tournament, not to speak of him winning his 17th Grand Slam.

Today's match hasn't allayed any of my fears as one of Roger Federer's ardent fans.