What happened to Federer in 2002?

[shawn1122]

Tournament	   2006	  2005    2004    2003    2002    2001    2000    1999    1998   Career	
Australian Open    W	  SF	  W	  4r	  4r	  3r	  3r	  -	  -	  2	
French Open		  SF	  3r	  1r	  1r	  QF	  4r	  1r	  -	  0	
Wimbledon		  W       W	  W	  1r	  QF	  1r	  1r	  -	  3	
U.S. Open		  W	  W       4r	  4r	  4r	  3r	  -	  -	  2

 

[darkhorse]

He was a bit of a hothead then, and his backhand wasn't nearly as consistent as it is now.

 

[shawn1122]

But, he made the quaterfinal at both winbledon and french just a year before, and then in 2002 he loses in the 1st round of both tournaments.

 

[Moose Malloy]

In '02, Federer was like most of the rising talents of the past 15 years. Guys like Rios, Kafelnikov, Stich, Safin, Enqvist, Krajicek, Haas, Korda had so many expections of doing well & they flamed out most of the time.

He was a favorite to win '02 Wimbledon, '02 French, '03 French & he lost in the first round of all three. He got so much criticism from the fans & media for those efforts.
Federer just sucked it up & had one of the the most impressive career turnarounds I've seen.
Sadly, I think being a headcase will continue to more common to great talents than being a great competitor(hope Gasquet, Ljubicic can prove me wrong, but I don't see it)

 

[shawn1122]

"At the ’02 French Open, Roger was beaten by Moroccan journeyman Hicham Arazi in the first round. Yet a week earlier, at a clay court tournament in Hamburg, he had destroyed Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin to win his first Masters series event."

Ya, I guess you're right about him being a headcase at the time.

 

[snoflewis]

Tournament	   2006	  2005    2004    2003    2002    2001    2000    1999    1998   Career	
Australian Open    W	  SF	  W	  4r	  4r	  3r	  3r	  -	  -	  2	
French Open		  SF	  3r	  1r	  1r	  QF	  4r	  1r	  -	  0	
Wimbledon		  W       W	  W	  1r	  QF	  1r	  1r	  -	  3	
U.S. Open		  W	  W       4r	  4r	  4r	  3r	  -	  -	  2

what the heck happened to him in 99? lol but look at that 2004 season..that's just amazing

 

[Galactus]

He was just 'fine-tuning' his play after a great year, to a level of genius ready to be unveilled in 2003...

 

[whistleway]

He had the tragic loss of his coach carter to deal with.

 

[rhubarb]

He had the tragic loss of his coach carter to deal with.

Yes, but that wasn't until the summer hardcourt season. He still lost disappointingly at RG and Wimbers.