Treacherous Road Ahead: 3,450 Ways to Slip

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: April 13, 2010

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This is an update of an earlier piece I wrote.

3,450. Its a big number. No, it's a gigantic number. It's representative of an 89% winning percentage, a 16-2 singles mark on clay. Roger Federer was damn near perfect on the dirt in 2009, and that magical run of 2009 may just do him in this year.

As Roger strikes optic yellow balls this week, feverishly working on regaining his legendary timing, the majority of the ATP’s finest are busy slugging it out in the European playground of the elite known as Monte Carlo.

This year, Roger Federer has opted not to play the only non-mandatory Masters 1000 event on the calendar. The rationale, being that five-time defending Champion Rafael Nadal practically owns the red courts in the vacation paradise. Federer seems to be realizing that unneeded showdowns with him in non-Major settings are way too dangerous to risk. This is especially true, considering Federer is not in what we would call "top form".

Federer is under the gun in a big way, a way that he's never been before. Nearly 30% of Federer's total 10,765 ranking points must be defended between now and the start of Wimbledon. The Maestro did himself a great service by adding a few hundred points to his 52-week rollover in Australia by going one match further than he did in 2009 (picking up an extra 800 pts). But make no mistake, this is the part of the season where Federer's claim to number one will be either cemented or torn down.

The thing that hurt Federer this year was a several week layoff due to a lung infection. The illness rendered him virtually unable to hit a ball between the Australian Open and Indian Wells, meaning he he was unable to pick up valuable additional points at the two mid year U.S. Master's 1000 events.

He was unable to play his beloved Dubai, and as a consequence, dropped a few points. It would have been great for Federer if he could have picked ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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