WHAT HAPPENED: Roger Federer took the court for his second-round match on Wednesday, after a rusty start to his opening round Monday night, looking clean and crisp in Wimbledon whites.
Although he ultimately prevailed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, his game initially was hardly a match for his duds. In the early going, it was sloppy and lethargic, and Federer looked more out of sorts than the ESPN commentators calling the match had recalled ever seeing him. His forehand was flailing. Federer sprayed 12 unforced errors in just the first four games, as the third-seeded Swiss quickly fell behind, 0-4, to No. 99 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Things didn’t improve much for the rest of the opening set; Federer hit a total of 17 unforced errors and just eight winners. He lost the set without putting up much of a fight, 6-3.
But in the second set, after saving a break point in the opening game, Federer appeared to flip a switch—much as he did in his opening match—and promptly began striking the ball more confidently. He jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a pummeling forehand that pushed Dzumhur deep; Federer brought the Bosnian in with a delicate drop shot and then lofted a lob over his head, smack on the baseline, for a winner.
Later in the second set, Federer unloaded on three consecutive thunderous forehands, including a screamer into the corner, to go up, 4-1. And early in the closely contested third set, Federer struck a rolling crosscourt backhand pass on a dead run from outside the doubles alley, bringing the crowd to its feet.
The frustrating Federer of the opening set gave way to the free-flowing Federer tennis fans have grown accustomed to.
It was vintage shots like those on Wednesday afternoon that demonstrated that Federer isn’t done yet. But if the five-time US Open champ wants to go deep this year—15 years after he won his first title in Flushing—against increasingly stiffer competition, he will need much cleaner and crisper starts.
“I clearly have to play better from the get-go,” said Federer, after the match. “I'm not concerned. It's all good, you know, and I just need to take the positives out of it, because once I lose that first set I do get better, which is a good thing.”
WHAT IT MEANS: We think of Roger Federer as the king of grass for his dominance at Wimbledon, but he once reigned on the hard courts at the US Open, too, winning five consecutive crowns, from 2004 to 2008. Yet it seems incredible to note that Federer has not won the US Open in 11 years. In fact, Federer has not been to a final in Flushing Meadows since 2015, and he was the runner-up here twice in the last decade. The all-time Grand Slam leader has, in fact, struggled at the US Open nearly as much as he has at Roland Garros, and last year’s ignominious loss to John Millman in the fourth round was a low point for him in Queens.
Though Federer had a dismal start, the 5-foot-9 Dzumhur displayed many of the skills that he rode to a career-high ranking of No. 23 just last July. He scrambled around the court and torched two-handed backhands, often leaping in the air to put more mustard on the ball. Dzumhur acquitted himself quite well against the No. 3 player in the world; in fact, the Bosnian owns a more-than-respectable record against Top 10 opponents, having notched four victories over the likes of Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka.
Dzumhur admits to idolizing Federer—with whom he has spent several seasons training in Dubai—but that familiarity hasn’t allowed him to break through against his idol. Wednesday’s opening set was the first he has been able to win in three matches, all in majors, against Federer.
MATCH POINT: Remarkably, Wednesday’s match on a rainy afternoon was the first time that Federer has played under the roof in Arthur Ashe Stadium since it was added five years ago. Dzumhur, meanwhile, had never stepped foot on the court before today. But at least in the early going, it was the Bosnian who seemed much more comfortable in the cavernous environs.
