Credit: AP
Last night’s match between Federer and Andreev was truly a nail-biter for fans of both sides. Andreev was in control for most of the match, and yet it was Federer who had the lead in most of the sets. Andreev should have led by 2 sets to 1 as Federer was reeling and facing multiple set points. But did Andreev truly choke or was Federer just lucky? After all, that’s all we have been hearing from the pundits.
In reality, Federer made his own luck. He kept the ball low and in play and waited for Andreev to run out of inspiration and energy. Both seem to have happened last night. Andreev didn’t believe he could win. He had set points, and he went away from his game plan. That’s what makes great players. Was Roger lucky? If anything, he was very unlucky serving for the third set. He was also unlucky to get Andreev in the first round. But Roger has been here before. He was down two sets to Berdych and didn’t lose it. He was struggling badly against a hot Tipsarevic a couple of years ago at Australian and didn’t collapse. If you want to beat Roger, you have to stick to your game plan and execute perfectly.
Roger can’t win with this level of play, and I suspect he’ll improve. But to suggest he was just lucky or his opponent choked is not fair. Andreev was game but just ran out of time and got too impatient. He had Roger where he wanted. So have many others in the past. Not everyone’s Nadal.