Our very own rabbit also said (yes, rabbit, I'm totally into your perspectives):
I don't like Federer's post-match explanations. Great players are supposed to beat other players, even when the other players are playing well...
I know this may sound like sacrilege to some, but Roger Federer played well today and still fell.
He said so himself. He simply was outplayed by a player who played slightly better. There was nothing between the warriors. Both had almost the same number of winners and errors. Both lost serve only once. Both won around 75% of their first serve points. Usually when stats are this tight, players across the net choke before The Name and he comes away with the V.
Gonzo has choked against Federer before. Many, many times. Lest we forget, he served for the first set in the Australian Open final in January and completely fell apart. But today he didn't.
Federer is a great player. There's no argument about that. But he's beatable. Even. When. He. Plays. Great. Great players lose, my friends. They even lose to players for the first time in 11 matches.
I don't think Raja is struggling at all. He's still producing scintillating tennis. But I do think other players are beginning to believe they can beat him and that has made a difference.
So far in 2007, Rafael Nadal (twice) and Guillermo Canas (twice) and Filippo Volandri and Novak Djokovic and David Nalbandian (twice) and now Fernando Gonzalez have demonstrated how to do it.
You have to fight, fight, fight and never capitulate, no matter what your game is. Because Rafa and Willy and Pippo and Djoke and Nalby and Gonzo have different games. And if you fight, fight, fight you may also get lucky and win the match. Those shots that you "normally miss," according to Raja, will actually go in.
And you can't. Be. Afraid.
"I have really a lot of motivation," Gonzo said. "After 10 times, it's my turn now. I think the key of the match was my serve and don't be scared to go for my shots. That was really important."
Keep it simple.
To borrow a phrase, Gonzo played the man not the aura and won.
Fed will still win Slams with or without a new coach. He may still win this event. But just in case you haven't really been following me, or think that I've just got a problem with Raja, I've always had more problems with Fed's competition than with Fed himself.
And this is nothing new under the sun. When I rank the accomplishments of Margaret Court over, say, Steffi Graf, with the Aussie's record 24 Slam singles titles (we won't even talk of her doubles and mixed doubles Slam titles), someone, usually a Graf, fan always reminds me that she won 11 Australian Open titles at a time when the top players from elsewhere on the globe didn't show up. In other words, her competition, at least at the Oz Open, was weak. Her 24 Slam singles titles, therefore, deserve an asterisk. But then a Seles fan will jump in to remind us that Graf only won her 22 singles titles because Seles was stabbed.
We're human. We see things in a context that raw statistics alone don't show us.
When Raja can no longer rely on a player to give him a service game down 0-40 because, well, you're playing The Name and there's no way he's going to let that happen; when he can no longer count on players to choke right in front of him and talk about how great he is after; when he can no longer intimidate players with his mere presence; when his competition sees his bet and raises him, then we will see the magnitude of his greatness.
But not until then.
Let's see him rise from the ashes and win a Slam after a two-year drought and the challenges/distractions of injury or tragedy or both, as the great Serena Williams did earlier this year. As the great Venus Williams did earlier this year.
Federer will need to make some adjustments to continue to dominate. Or, his competition simply won't let him.
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