From hero to zero: Roger Federer’s huge lead slips away against Tsonga
Roger Federer arrived in Montreal in 2009 with a 19-game winning streak after the Channel Slam. However, it was not to be for the Swiss in Canada, squandering a massive 5-1 advantage in the tiebreak against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and losing in the quarter-finals. After a slow start to the season, Federer picked up his pace by May and won the Madrid Masters crown.
The Swiss Maestro went on and conquered Roland Garros and Wimbledon, standing on the record of 15 major titles. Roger came to Montreal with a 19-game winning streak.
He beat Frederic Niemeyer and Stan Wawrinka to reach the quarter-finals, facing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a semi-final battle. It was only their second meeting (they would play more often in the years to come), and the Frenchman stunned the world number one, 1 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 in two hours and 19 minutes.
Jo-Wilfried led 5-1 in the deciding set before making a thrilling comeback, winning in the tie-break and staying on course for the title. Federer regained his composure after losing the first set.
Roger Federer vs Jo Wilfrid Tsonga:
Roger Federer wasted a 5-1 lead against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Montreal 2009. He stormed through the opposition to grab the second set in no time and used that momentum to open a 5- 1 in the tiebreak. Winning 11 of the previous 14 games, Roger was two points away from triumph at 5-2 and 5-4.
Tsonga survived those games and played well to erase the deficit and create three match points in the twelfth game. Federer defended them to enter a tie break, but it was not to be for him in the end. He l lost 7-3 after a double fault to propel Jo-Wilfried into his second Masters 1000 semi-final.
Federer had ten break chances and won nine points more than his rival. However, that wasn’t enough to carry him over the finish line, never losing such a massive lead in a career, so this tournament will go down in the history books for something else.
It was the first event since the introduction of the ATP rankings in 1973 with the eight highest ranked players in the world in the quarter-finals. “Well, that happens in tennis. It’s never over until it’s over.
I thought it was a very eventful match and I should have won the first set. Also, Jo completely lost her game for an hour during the second and third sets.
Too bad I can’t serve it. I thought it was a decent game, I didn’t think it was bad, but it wasn’t great either. I should never have allowed him to come back, but it happened, so it’s a shame.
I think I got off to a bad start on all my service games towards the end; I was maybe 30-0 down every service game, which was a problem. I had to scramble every time and start playing a little bit safe.
He needed it because otherwise I would give it to him. In this way, he made me work for it and did well to come back on the positive side. It’s not something I go through very often, being 5-1 up front and ending up losing, especially after not losing a serve before this fall. It’s tough, but you always have a chance.
I served horribly in both tie breaks, and I guess that cost me the match,” Roger Federer said.
2023-08-11 17:08:01
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