Federer, a compilation of bizarre losses

[George Turner]

Federer, while becoming the GOAT, has some utterly bewildering and unexplainable losses to inferior players that are not explained by factors like injury (such as Robredo in the US open.) In contrast to Djokodal he is an artist, even the greatest artists are unpredictable.

-2004 French open, lost to Kuerten 6-4 6-4 6-4. Fedr was approaching his peak, Guga was washed up and over the hill. However Guga dismantled Federer, one of the few occasions from 2004-2007 he got comprehensively outplayed. Guga lost in the next round and only won one more match at major level.

-2007 Sunshine double, lost to Canas x2. Fedr was on a 44 match winning streak going into Indian wells, on the brink of breaking the record. But he randomly lost to Canas in the first round, then lost to the same opponent again in Indian Wells. They played twice more after this with Federer easily winning both matches.

-2012 Olympics, lost to Murray. 6-2 6-1 6-4 This was bizarre not because of who Federer lost to but because he threw in one of the worst performances of his career. He looked clueless from start to finish and just never showed up. To put in that performance in a gold medal match was strange, having beaten Murray at Wimbledon just a few weeks ago.

-2015 Australian Open, lost to Seppi 6-4 7-6 4-6 7-6. Seppi has played Federer 15 times and only won four sets. Three of them came in this match. That says it all.

-2017 Dubai, lost to Donskoy 3-6 7-6 7-6. Federer only lost one match in the first half of 2017, against the most obscure, random opponent he played during that time. Federer missed two match points in the second set and failed to serve out the match in the third. This remains Donskoys only career win against a top 20 player.

-2017 Stuttgart, lost to Haas 2-6 7-6 6-4. The second match Federer lost in 2017 was to a 39 year old Tommy Haas who Federer had owned throughout their careers. This was the last ATP match Haas won. He lost to Tomic in Halle the following week.

-2018 Miami, lost to Kokkinakis 3-6 6-3 7-6. This is the most recent ATP match the Kokk has won. Sorry to tell you that mate.

-2018 US open, lost to Millman 3-6 7-5 7-6 7-6. Millman is a journeyman player who has no weapons whatsoever. In matches against Nadal, Djokovic and Murray he offered zero threat and looked like he was there to pick up the paycheck and go home. Federer should never have lost to this guy, but he did. Federer made 77 unforced errors and served at 49%, one of his worst ever performances.

What's the most bizarre Federer loss?

 

[Druss]

From the list above I would say either the Canas ones in 2007 or Dubai to Donkoy. Those were shocking as Federer was playing very well leading up to those events, especially in 2007 were he was at his majestic peak at the Aus Open.

2004 French Open should not be there, Kuerten is one of the ATGs on clay and Fed was still a 'baby' on the surface.

2012 OG Fed was wasted going into the final thanks to one Martin Del Potro.

2015 Aus Open to Seppi is a good pick. Def unexpected considering up until then Fed had made 11 consecutive SFs. I'll never forget that loss, as I had bought 4th Round tickets to go see Fed, instead I ended up seeing Nadal play Anderson in RLA.

2018 Miami Fed was starting to show signs of steep decline in his game post AO, sure losing to the Kokk was a shock, but there were others worse than that, including SW19 2013.

2018 USO to Milkman stung, but was expected as Fed was playing terrible (pretty much all year).

 

[Pheasant]

Fed’s worst loss was the 2018 Wimbledon loss to Anderson. Fed had tied his own by winning 34 consecutive sets at Wimbledon after grabbing a 2 set lead on Anderson. But Fed inexplicably followed this up by losing the next 3 sets.

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

Clay baby
Injured
Tired. Juan has been very instrumental in Murray's career.
Bee bit his bottom
Hungover from AO/played with Bear Grylls the week before
Gift for a friend
Guy played AO, Rotterdam and IW went deep in all of them so not surprising
Old/humid/still injured

 

[vernonbc]

Fed's first round loss at Wimbledon to Stakhovsky.

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Fed's first round loss at Wimbledon to Stakhovsky.

2nd round.

 

[Rafa24]

Fed’s worst loss was the 2018 Wimbledon loss to Anderson. Fed had tied his own by winning 34 consecutive sets at Wimbledon after grabbing a 2 set lead on Anderson. But Fed inexplicably followed this up by losing the next 3 sets.

didn't he lose to tsonga after being up 2 sets as well?

 

[Sartorius]

It's noteworthy that most of these losses come after 2009 when Federer's career went into a different phase. Also note how they gradually increase in number as years go by, it's normal. As he continues to play he'll lose more matches, and since he's still very good he makes those losses close, hence they look "bizarre".

 

[Sputnik Bulgorov]

didn't he lose to tsonga after being up 2 sets as well?

Tsonga's serve was unplayable in that 2011 Wimbledon QF. Back then, Federer still had a decent return and ground game. Tsonga won the last 3 sets 6-4 6-4 6-4 and didn't face another break point. Fed got straight up owned.

As well as Anderson played in this years match, he
Had a more difficult time vs an older Federer with a much weaker return and ground game. Fed was playing very conservatively this match because he was making errors most of the time he tried to take any risk, especially in the last 3 sets.

 

[Pheasant]

didn't he lose to tsonga after being up 2 sets as well?

That one should make the list too. Nice call.

 

[FatFedererFanTurnsSlim]

2017 ATP Tour Finals vs Davee Goffaa: Coolly takes the 1st set 6-2 and freezes to lose 3-6 4-6. There's no way he loses the final to a Made In China version of himself.

Still waiting for that 7th tour finals title.

 

[FedEx23]

That one should make the list too. Nice call.

That one stung, but it wasn't necessarily crazy or unimaginable like some of these on the list.

 

[Plamen1234]

2017 ATP Tour Finals vs Davee Goffaa: Coolly takes the 1st set 6-2 and freezes to lose 3-6 4-6. There's no way he loses the final to a Made In China version of himself.

Still waiting for that 7th tour finals title.

Yes I still cant believe he lost this match.This was such a missed opportunity to win 7th WTF title.Now it will be so hard to win it.Firstly Fed needs to improve his form and secondly it will be very hard to beat Djokovic there- he have made 5 consecutive finals there ( from 2012 to 2016) and he is in the best form from all other players who will play in WTF this year.

 

[TheAverageFedererFan]

2007 Canas in Sunshine Double. Federer was coming off an incredible run in the Aussie and Dubai. But lost to Canas in Indian Wells in the 2nd Round. Very strange and crazy unexpected loss, but the fact that he lost again in Miami!

 

[metsman]

2007 Canas in Sunshine Double. Federer was coming off an incredible run in the Aussie and Dubai. But lost to Canas in Indian Wells in the 2nd Round. Very strange and crazy unexpected loss, but the fact that he lost again in Miami!

IW he had blisters, Miami was the bad one. It sucks because Nadal/Djokovic were in form those 2 tournaments so it would have been nice for him to face them

 

[tennisaddict]

Millman, Robredo, Kokki are the most crazy losses for me.

The losses to Haas at Halle , Hewitt at Brisbane /Halle were throwaways

The most irritating losses have been to Djoker , Delpo at USO and Anderson at Wimb

I think Fed did not have a single BP against Tsonga last 3 sets , so no issues there. Murray completely outplayed tired Fed at Olympics

 

[Fridge]

2007 volandri?

 

[Tennisgods]

Federer, while becoming the GOAT, has some utterly bewildering and unexplainable losses to inferior players that are not explained by factors like injury (such as Robredo in the US open.) In contrast to Djokodal he is an artist, even the greatest artists are unpredictable.

-2004 French open, lost to Kuerten 6-4 6-4 6-4. Fedr was approaching his peak, Guga was washed up and over the hill. However Guga dismantled Federer, one of the few occasions from 2004-2007 he got comprehensively outplayed. Guga lost in the next round and only won one more match at major level.

-2007 Sunshine double, lost to Canas x2. Fedr was on a 44 match winning streak going into Indian wells, on the brink of breaking the record. But he randomly lost to Canas in the first round, then lost to the same opponent again in Indian Wells. They played twice more after this with Federer easily winning both matches.

-2012 Olympics, lost to Murray. 6-2 6-1 6-4 This was bizarre not because of who Federer lost to but because he threw in one of the worst performances of his career. He looked clueless from start to finish and just never showed up. To put in that performance in a gold medal match was strange, having beaten Murray at Wimbledon just a few weeks ago.

-2015 Australian Open, lost to Seppi 6-4 7-6 4-6 7-6. Seppi has played Federer 15 times and only won four sets. Three of them came in this match. That says it all.

-2017 Dubai, lost to Donskoy 3-6 7-6 7-6. Federer only lost one match in the first half of 2017, against the most obscure, random opponent he played during that time. Federer missed two match points in the second set and failed to serve out the match in the third. This remains Donskoys only career win against a top 20 player.

-2017 Stuttgart, lost to Haas 2-6 7-6 6-4. The second match Federer lost in 2017 was to a 39 year old Tommy Haas who Federer had owned throughout their careers. This was the last ATP match Haas won. He lost to Tomic in Halle the following week.

-2018 Miami, lost to Kokkinakis 3-6 6-3 7-6. This is the most recent ATP match the Kokk has won. Sorry to tell you that mate.

-2018 US open, lost to Millman 3-6 7-5 7-6 7-6. Millman is a journeyman player who has no weapons whatsoever. In matches against Nadal, Djokovic and Murray he offered zero threat and looked like he was there to pick up the paycheck and go home. Federer should never have lost to this guy, but he did. Federer made 77 unforced errors and served at 49%, one of his worst ever performances.

What's the most bizarre Federer loss?

I’d throw in Tsonga, Wimbledon 2011. Good player and all but this was Wimbledon. In fact any loss from 2 sets up, Fed usually such a good front runner. Some of these recent ones have been pretty inexplicable to be honest. I feel with Fed nowadays that once the tide turns against him in a match, he can’t turn it back. Knew he’d lose to Millman when he screwed up the 2nd set.