Germany’s Alexander Zverev returns the ball to Switzerland’s Roger Federer during their match at the Italian Open tennis tournament, in Rome, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The Swiss has been hampered by injury in 2016. If we take a closer look to that clinched victory over Federer, we’ll see that it’s more than just “one” win. How? They both have a final to their name on the dirt already this year, with Thiem losing in Munich and Nishikori in Barcelona. He came to Rome early to train, drawing 6,000 fans to a weekend practice session.
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Defending champion Novak Djokovic overcame a first-set scare to set up a Rome Masters quarter-final with Rafael Nadal thanks to a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Tomaz Bellucci on Thursday. However, he recovered sufficient poise to register two more breaks and go through in 77 minutes.
“Today was an extremely hard match”, Djokovic said. And coming back after a tough first set that I had a lot of opportunities.
“It doesn’t matter how I played”.
Federer also said – thanks to the precarious health of back – that he only officially made a decision to play against Zverev after he’d warmed up.
At 22, Thiem is the youngest player in the top 20 of the rankings. Federer, who did not face a single break point in the opener, had no trouble serving it out the rest of the way.
He broke the 34-year-old Federer’s serve again midway through the second set as he claimed the 32nd victory of a breakthrough season that saw him rise to a career-high 13th. He closed out the opener with a backhand victor down the line. He promptly wasted no time showing the fans that he was fit enough to perform, breaking Zverev in the sixth game of the first set for a 4-2 advantage. I’m very disappointed obviously with that.
“I was trying but it didn’t work”, Azarenka said. “Conditions were ideal. I practised on centre court every day for about two hours a day”.
With the Olympics also on the calendar and of course Wimbledon, would Federer be wise just to fully heal and return in a month for the grass season?
Murray, seeded second, raced through the first set, sealing a first-set bagel. This was all about getting court time.
“I’m playing well, I feel like I am playing at the right level. On the court I am, but off the court I don’t have a serious bone in my body”. That was most important… You don’t become an indomitable champion without a good dose of pride. Other than events in which he had no interest in winning (of which there can’t have been very many), I highly doubt Federer has ever entered a tournament he didn’t think he had a chance of winning, even in 2013. “The next 10, 12 days are going to be really important for me to recover”. “It’s just unfortunate that I can’t play my best tennis”. Clearly the way I’m playing right now is never going to be enough.
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Talking to ATPWorldTour.com, Kyrgios said: “It makes me feel confident”.
