Staggered



It didn’t take long to see that things were going to be a little different for Stan Wawrinka this afternoon. In the first game, his opponent, Roger Federer, came forward on an approach that forced Wawrinka to run hard to his forehand side. He got to the ball in time to crack a pretty good pass down the line. But you wouldn’t have known that it was pretty good. You wouldn’t have known it was any good at all, because Federer was all over it, like a fly on flypaper. He had read the shot and covered the line accordingly. He angled off a crosscourt bachand volley with ease and was quickly up a break.

“I thought the beginning was crucial,” Federer said.

That's because his opponent was coming in with a head of steam. Laver Arena has been Wawrinka’s playground this week. He’s owned the night there, and he’s feasted on just that type of passing shot. He must have hit a dozen clean winners with it against Gael Monfils and Andy Roddick. This time he watched as it was gobbled up by a faster player with better net sense, better hands, and a decade spent learning the ins and outs of Wawrinka's own game. Federer appeared to have read his friend’s mind as he swung for that forehand.

It was downhill fast from there for Stan, whose swagger turned to stagger by the end. He managed, as far as I heard, just one short wail, after one of his rare successful passes in the first set. His biggest show of emotion came when he was broken in the third set—Wawrinka gave us the best racquet smash of the tournament so far. The problem was, it also seemed to release all the energy he had left. Wawrinka walked around in a humbled daze for the rest of the match.

From the start, Wawrinka swung with none of the freedom he’d shown in his previous matches. Backhand bombs turned to shanks, and he wasn’t even close to controlling the rallies with his forehand. Federer said he read his serve well, which was a key, and as for the block return that Wawrinka used so effectively against Roddick, well it wasn’t so effective against Federer. He was there to knock it off with an easy forehand.

“I play Stan very different to what Roddick or Monfils or what other players might do against him,” Federer said, commenting on the fact that they’re friends and know each other’s games so well. “Clearly it’s not an easy match for him also.” Federer’s post-match celebration was notably muted.

It wasn’t easy on a few levels for Wawrinka. First, his form over the previous few days worked against him in a weird way. He’d been so good, and had acted like a new, more confident man, that he suddenly couldn’t come out and swing like he had nothing to lose against Federer. The new expectations, from him, his coach, the sport’s fans, made that impossible. Second, it’s not easy for a guy who’s 25 to make a Slam breakthrough, no matter how much he’s improved. They tend to happen for younger players who have yet to learn just how hard it is to win one. Nadal in 2005, del Potro in 2009, even Federer when he was 21 at Wimbledon in 2003: They played with the blind faith of youth. Wawrinka has labored for too long in the tour trenches, and gotten to know his role, to make breaking out of that role an easy task.

Last night Rafael Nadal found his second-week form; today it was Federer’s turn. He came into the tournament riding high, but nobody can stay in the stratosphere for two weeks. He said today that by the time a player is mid-way through a tournament, he’s used to the conditions and is seeing the ball well, and that’s the case for him now. He’s settled in, and remains, to me, the favorite.

And probably to Stan Wawrinka as well. Little Brother came into the press room today with a rueful smile of embarrassment on his face. He didn’t look crushed by the defeat, just put back in his place. Maybe he was never really in the match at all. At Federer’s presser a few days ago, he was asked which of the players left were particularly dangerous. He knew Wawrinka was potentially his next opponent, but he barely mentioned his buddy's name.

“He was too good for me,” Wawrinka said today. True, but sad. It sounded like he'd made up his mind for good on the subject.

http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2011/01/staggered.html

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