Roger Federer’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Andreas Seppi defeated No. 2 Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(7). It is the first time since 2001 that Federer will not be in the fourth round at the Australian Open and first time since 2003 he will not be in the semifinals.

Federer did not play well from the beginning and Seppi was ready to take advantage of the numerous mistakes. But something was definitely off with Federer. His serve is one of the best in the game, yet he hit nine double faults. He lost one set in his previous match, but did not double fault. He hit three in his first match. Only 58% of his first serves went in and he won 48% of his second serve points. He only broke Seppi three times, committed 55 unforced errors, and won 58% of his net points.

The numbers are not normal for Federer. The only actual good number is 15 aces. As Jon Wertheim said, the match was “Roger Federer’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”

“I just somehow couldn’t play my best tennis today and that was also due to Andreas playing great tennis,” he told the media.

Seppi, on the other hand, managed to break Federer three out of five times. Every time Federer showed weakness, Seppi jumped and took a bite. He only committed 40 unforced errors and hit four double faults. Federer was strong in the fourth set, but Seppi forced the tiebreak and with a forehand hit the ball just passed Federer.

“I just tried to enjoy playing on center court again,” Seppi exclaimed after the match. “It’s not often you get the chance to play on center court. I just tried to play my best and I did because I was playing Roger. You never feel comfortable playing against Roger, but I was focusing on my service game, I didn’t have many chances on his serve.”