Nalbandian upsets Federer
By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- The only thing more predictable than the gruesome weather here at the U.S. Open has been the uncanny infallibility of the top-seeded men's players. And then, as soon as the rain stopped on Thursday, Roger Federer was stopped, too.
| Treading water | |
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NEW YORK -- On Thursday, after four consecutive days of rain at the U.S. Open, the Grandstand Court retired.
The water level under the lowest-lying court at the National Tennis Center was so high that the surface seemed wet even after crews made vigorous attempts to dry it. Joe Sexton, the grounds crew supervisor, said the grandstand -- one of three large show courts -- needed 12 hours of sun to become playable. The same could be said for this 2003 U.S. Open. According to the weather forecasters, Friday should take care of that. On Thursday, after losing about 100 matches a day starting Monday, this was the USTA's push-comes-to-shove moment if an on-time Open was to be delivered. Three or four hours of clear air, it was hoped, might be enough to keep everything on schedule for a Saturday night women's final and a Sunday night men's final. And that's just the way it worked out. The six men's round-of-16 matches -- four of which already had started -- were completed. The two unfinished women's round-of-16 matches also were finished. "I think this was the weirdest situation I've ever experienced in a Grand Slam tournament," Mary Pierce said after losing 7-6 (2), 6-1. "It was really, really weird to wait four days and play 20 minutes to finish the match." With better weather forecast for Friday and the weekend, the men will be forced to play four best-of-five matches in a span of four days -- something that has never happened in a Grand Slam in 35 years of Open Era tennis. The women will have to play three best-of-three matches in three days. Friday's schedule will feature four men's quarterfinal matches and the two women's semifinals. |
The No. 2 seed lost to David Nalbandian, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-3.
The world's greatest mysteries are unsolvable riddles. Who built the statues on Easter Island? Is there intelligent life outside our solar system? Whence does Styrofoam come? Add Nalbandian's mastery over Federer to the short list.
"I like his game," Nalbandian said. "I don't know why.
"I think my return is good. I don't care about his serve and volley or whatever. I try to press in the second serve and then try to play more on the backhand."
Far easier said than done.
The No. 13-seeded Argentinian has won all five of his professional matches over Federer, all of them achieved in the last two years while Federer has climbed up the tennis ladder with dazzling speed. Two months ago, Federer won Wimbledon and flirted with the world's No. 1 ranking. After Nalbandian dismantled him, the questions about Federer's competitive fire -- briefly extinguished by his first Grand Slam title at the All England Club -- will resurface. "I'm trying to figure out how to beat him," Federer said. "First of all, he likes my game because I keep coming and he likes to play contra tennis, which he does extremely well. I have never had a great day playing against him. That's something which has probably something to do with his game because he doesn't allow me to." Of the top six men's seeds, Federer is the only one not to reach the quarterfinals, which look like this:
No. 1 Andre Agassi vs. No. 5 Guillermo Coria.
No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. No. 6 Lleyton Hewitt.
No. 4 Andy Roddick vs. No. 12 Sjeng Schalken.
No. 13 Nalbandian vs. No. 22 Younes El Aynaoui.
Because of the rain, all of these matches are scheduled for Friday, to be followed by the Saturday semifinals and Sunday finals -- as originally scheduled.
With Agassi and Roddick resting comfortably after their earlier round-of-16 victories, the other remaining matches -- four of them already in progress -- commenced when the rain lifted late Thursday afternoon.
Ferrero hung on to beat unseeded Todd Martin 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3; Coria beat Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Hewitt defeated Paradorn Srichaphan 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; Schalken handled Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; and El Aynaoui beat Moya 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4.
Even when they first met as juniors, Nalbandian, then 16, had the upper hand on Federer, 17. Nalbandian won the 1998 U.S. Open junior boys' final in straight sets, but Federer returned the straight-sets favor later that year in the Orange Bowl.
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| Roger Federer is the top men's seed to lose so far. |
Federer, inarguably, has the most stylish chops in the game. His serve isn't as powerful as Pete Sampras' was, but John McEnroe has compared the rest of his game quite favorably to the 14-time Grand Slam champion's.
Nalbandian doesn't have the achingly beautiful backhand or the exquisitely timed volleys so subtle they sometimes evaporate, but he is smart and, at times, quite devious. Federer has never seemed to get a handle on Nalbandian's quirky-jerky, contra-counter-punching game, and it has left him frustrated. "I'm really looking positive into this match," Federer said Sunday, "because it's really time I beat him."
Federer came out soaring on Thursday afternoon and won a disjointed first set that was interrupted by rain twice. And then things got squirrely.
Nalbandian raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second set, only to have Federer break his serve twice, weather three set points and force a tiebreaker. Federer seemed oddly laconic in the extra session; a 124-hour serve was his only point. And so, Federer had battled all the way back from 0-5, essentially for nothing.
"I just thought I'd hang in there, and eventually maybe you'd get a chance to come back in the set," Federer said. "I did. Was just a pity I lost it in the end. Might have -- probably would have changed the match."
As the third set progressed, you could sense Nalbandian's resolve strengthening as Federer's sublime game grew sloppy. Federer survived three break points in a five-deuce game at 3-all, but Nalbandian broke through in the eighth game. After he ran down a drop shot and steered it into the open court, his momentum took him onto Federer's side of the court. He looked Federer in the eyes and pumped his fist on the way to his changeover chair before serving out the set.
The fourth set belonged to Nalbandian, who by the end, looked like Federer himself, flicking half-volleys and returning serves with precision. The last ball, a blocked backhand service return, broke Federer at love.
Federer, a man many viewed as the greatest threat to a Roddick victory here, suddenly was gone. Why is Nalbandian so difficult for him?
"I don't know," Federer said. "Otherwise, I would have beat him."
When people talk about the favorites on the men's side, you hear names like Roddick and Agassi and, before Thursday's "upset," Federer. Nalbandian's name hasn't come up.
"It's time to start it," Nalbandian said. "I think I'm ready to play four matches in a row."
Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
