Tennis

Federer looks forward to unexpected break

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-13 09:10

Roger Federer had been expected to pen yet another entry into the history books this week at the Pacific Life Open by snapping Guillermo Vilas's record of the longest winning streak in men's tennis.

Switzerland's Roger Federer walks off the court after his loss against Argentina's Guillermo Canas at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California March 11, 2007. It was Federer first loss which ends his streak of 41 consecutive victories.[Reuters]

Instead of erasing Vilas's name from the tennis annals, his shock second-round defeat on Sunday at the hands of an Argentine claycourter on a comeback trail from a doping suspension created more of an impact around the globe.

Guillermo Canas managed to pull off something that the Swiss player's previous 41 opponents had all tried desperately and failed miserably to do.

Even more astounding was that the 7-5 6-2 result was Federer's first defeat to a player standing outside the top 25 in almost two years.

Canas became the lowest-ranked player, at 60, to trip up Federer since Richard Gasquet, who then stood 101st in the world, showed Federer the exit in the 2005 Monte Carlo quarter-finals.

But for a man who has become a racket-wielding record-breaker almost every time he steps on to a tennis court, he remained unperturbed after Sunday's setback.

"I've come back (from being a set down) so many times, and every time it seems when I come back, it's normal," said Federer, who had been chasing Vilas's 30-year-old record of 46 consecutive wins.

"When I don't come back, it's like there's a problem. It's not the way it is.

"It's just a guy put me away when he had to. He played a perfect match in the end. He didn't give me anymore chances.

"I was just playing too poorly in the end to come back. So the right guy won."

POSITIVE THINKER

After contesting seven successive finals, and winning them all, the 10-times grand slam tournament champion welcomed the unexpected break the rare defeat would give him.

"I'm a very positive thinker, and I think it's going to be good for me eventually this season," said the 25-year-old, who was beaten just five times last season, four of them in finals by Rafael Nadal.

"I've had a very relaxed opening to the season ... just playing the Australian Open and Dubai and having enough time to rest.

"So I definitely won't be worn out towards the end of the season. That's a good thing.

"Over the last one-and-a-half years, I've been in all the finals except Cincinnati and now here.

"I was just pushing the limits all the time. So something like this is actually maybe good for me, (I can) just get away from it, have time to rest up again, and practice real hard before Miami."

Such is Federer's stature in the sport he was even given a standing ovation in defeat, with the crowd realising they had witnessed a rare occurrence.

In the locker room however, there was no such fanfare from his fellow professionals.

"They don't look at me when I walk in now," he quipped.