New Era of Dominance
Roger Federer lost earlier today in his first round robin match in Shanghai to Fernando Gonzalez 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. This loss follows his 3rd Round Paris Masters loss to David Nalbandian, marking the first time since the spring of 2003 that Federer has lost back to back matches. What does this mean in terms of Men’s tennis? Not much really, because ask the 92 other men in the top 100 who are not participating in Shangai who they think will win, my guess is you would be hard pressed to find too many people who wouldn’t pick Roger. What does it mean to the sport of tennis overall? Potentially, quite a bit more.
Federer’s loss came hours after Justine Henin captured the WTA season ending Championships in Madrid, by beating Sharapova in an epic 3.5 hour, 3 set battle. I use the term “epic” somewhat loosely, because I did not witness the match (instead I was coerced into viewing some hockey, congrats to Ted & Nifer on the big win). However, from all accounts it was a superb way to cap off the 2007 WTA season. It was an even better way for Henin to cap off her stunning year, which included two Grand Slam titles (Australian & French), 10 total titles, and a 25 match winning streak (which will still be active heading into 2008). Oh yeah, and she also became the first woman to surpass $5 million in prize money in one year. All this begs the question, is Henin more dominant on the WTA Tour than Federer is on the ATP Tour?
After going 92-5 in 2006 with 12 titles, Federer has come back down to earth a bit this year with only 7 titles (a bit of sarcasm was intended with the word ‘only’) and going 65-8, to date. Bottom line is Federer seems to have lost his aura of invincibility, much like the Indianapolis Colts, whereas Henin seems to be enhancing hers, much like the New England Patriots. Any loyal readers have any opinion on this matter…
EDIT: Henin won the French and US Opens this year.
Some Monday Links:
Peter Bodo’s take on Henin’s victory.
Jon Wetheim’s Ad In/Ad Out.
Gimelstob and Roddick discuss 2007.
Di Mauro is not too excited about his 9 month ban for gambling. I’m not too suprised.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Hasn’t Henin won 3 grand slams - the 2007 US Open too…
November 14th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Federer’s losing a match, especially in the finals, is good for men’s tennis - period! Back-to-back losses aren’t particularly significant - just illustrates Federer isn’t invincible. The few guys who beat Fed give the others hope. What’s particularly interesting is some of Fed’s comments during interviews - i.e. his win today vs. Davydenko - “…I knew he wasn’t going to serve bombs…” whaaa?! Since the Red Group competition began, Davydenko’s elbow problems have precluded his serving hard at all, no less serving ‘bombs’. Getta grip, RF!