Peter Hapak for The New York Times
On the first Wednesday of Wimbledon this June, under a bright early-evening sky, Roger Federer trailed two sets to one in his second-round match against Sergiy Stakhovsky, a Ukrainian ranked 116th in the world and best known until that point for pulling out his cellphone during a match to take a photograph of a disputed ball mark. But Stakhovsky had played imposing serve-and-volley tennis, a style seldom seen nowadays, and as the fourth set unfolded on Center Court, it became clear that he was not going to succumb to nerves. Federer, 31 and seeking a record eighth Wimbledon title, would have to contrive an escape.
The specter of defeat can bring out Federer's ornery side. At this year's Australian Open, he twice shouted obscenities at Andy Murray during their semifinal match. (Murray didn't flinch and won in five sets.) Now, with Stakhovsky serving at 3-4 40-love in the fourth set, the Ukrainian once again followed his first serve to the net. Federer's return landed at Stakhovsky's feet, and he short-hopped the ball back to Federer, who took it in the air and rifled a swinging backhand volley at Stakhovsky's head. It was a jarringly violent shot — one radar gun clocked it at 96 miles per hour — and Stakhovsky dove to the ground rather than try to play the ball, which sailed over the baseline and ended up somewhere near Calais. Federer would later deny that he had aimed at Stakhovsky ("this is not the juniors"), but it didn't matter. A short while later, on the 12th point of the fourth-set tiebreaker, Federer pushed a backhand wide, and Stakhovsky sank to the grass to celebrate the biggest victory of his career and one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history. On the court where it had started, the Federer era had possibly just died.
A half-hour after the match, Federer entered the interview room and immediately pre-empted any talk of retirement. "I still have plans to play for many more years to come," he said. "You don't panic at this point, that's clear." But his actions in the weeks that followed suggested, if not panic, at least deep anxiety about the state of his game. Federer, who normally takes a break from competition in July, swiftly announced plans to play two tournaments that month — the unfortunately named Bet-At-Home Open in Hamburg, Germany, and the Swiss Open in Gstaad. He caused still more surprise when he arrived in Hamburg and pulled a new racket out of his bag. After years of playing with a quaint 90-square-inch head, he was finally joining the rest of the world in using a larger racket — in this case a 98-square-inch one. (Most players on tour use 100- to 106-square-inch heads). The equipment change seemed to be an admission that he needed more power and a larger sweet spot, but the new racket didn't do much good. Federer was defeated in the semifinals in Hamburg by an Argentine qualifier ranked 114th in the world. The following week, he lost his first match in Gstaad.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Federer during his peak, defeating Andy Murray in the final at the 2008 u.s. Open, to win his 13th grand slam event.
There has been talk of Federer's decline ever since he lost the 2008 Wimbledon final to his archrival Rafael Nadal in a five-hour, five-set epic that many consider the greatest match ever played. And it has grown louder in recent years as his results at Grand Slam events have tailed off. (Between 2005 and 2009, Federer reached the final of 17 majors; since 2010, he has made it to 3.) But three losses in rapid succession to players who would have once struggled to take a set against him was a new low. The sore back that troubled Federer in Hamburg and Gstaad was seen by some as an indication that his body, unfailingly resilient till now, was giving in. Then he withdrew earlier this month from the Rogers Cup in Montreal, the first of two tuneup events that he'd been scheduled to play ahead of the U.S. Open. His ranking fell from third to fifth, the lowest it has been since 2003, the year he won his first Wimbledon.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 25, 2013
Two articles this weekend in the special U.S. Open issue contain outdated references to the tournament. An interview on Page 44 with Jimmy Connors, in which he discusses his brief stint as Maria Sharapova's coach, had gone to press before Sharapova dropped out of the tournament. And an article on Page 31 about Roger Federer had also been printed before Federer was defeated by Rafael Nadal and dropped to No. 7 in the rankings.
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