Of Roger Federer’s many shock upsets, Wednesday’s loss to World No 116 Evgeny Donskoy is probably one of the strangest. The third seed was up against a qualifier, who has never beaten a top 10 player before, he had three match-points at thee different stages in the game and was 5/1 in the deciding tiebreak.
Yet, the Swiss, who is a former seven-time champion here, found himself out in only the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) loss to 26-year-old Moscow native. This was his first loss on the ATP circuit this year, in his first tournament since winning his 18th Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
After the match, Federer said his lack of experience against Donskoy was one the big factors behind his loss. “I just didn’t know Donskoy. So many times I just didn’t know what his patterns were. I didn’t know what his preferences are. If he does hit a big forehand down the line, is that normal or is that just right now? Is he going to do that on big shots, big points or not?” he said after the shock loss.
He admitted that he himself was surprised at being knocked out after his victorious run in Melbourne. “All that stuff got me a little bit tense, and I could never quite play freely, which is quite surprising, considering how I played in Australia.” he added.
However, even the element of surprise doesn’t seem like a good justification considering he held match points at 6/4 and 7/6 in the second set tie-break and led the third-set tie-break 5/1. Donskoy dug deep and produced a remarkable performance to stun the 35-year-old Swiss. It almost seemed the party after winning the 18th major was still on.
But Federer insists on looking for the positives in what he calls the early days of his comeback after the six-month injury layoff in the second half of last year.
“I just think it’s still the beginning of the comeback and [I] have to take the positives out of playing again at a tournament where I feel I’m quite healthy and I’m happy I got over the injury I sustained at the Australian Open,” Federer said. “I just never really got going tonight and sort of felt heavy. But, look, those matches happen frequently, where you just have to somehow find a way to come through. Tonight I just didn’t. I was convinced that if I came through tonight I was going to feel better tomorrow. It’s OK,” he said.
Federer will play the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells next, which starts on March 9.
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