Reuters
London, Nov 16: Roger Federer showed glimpses of his class during his 6-4, 6-2 demolition of Tomas Berdych here Sunday evening and demonstrated once more that he still has it in him to challenge the likes of Novak Djokovic.
The Serb may have started his campaign earlier on an ominous note during his straight-set demolition of Kei Nishikori, but then Federer showed that as far as ‘swagger’ on the court is concerned, he is still unrivalled. The two will meet next in ther round robin Stan Smith group league encounter Tuesday, and one can definitely be sure that the Swiss would provide a sterner challenge to the Serb than the Japanese did.
The 34-year-old Federer, cheered on by a sizeable army of Swiss fans in various sorts of red and white attire, made a mess of his opening service game, falling 0-2 behind after serving two consecutive double faults to gift Berdych a break.
But he responded with a break to love and then from 3-4 down in the opening set he produced a dazzling show reel of his favourite tricks to win seven games in a row — throwing in a couple of his trademark half-volleyed returns for good measure.
At times, Berdych, the gentleman that he is, could only applaud in admiration at the audacity of Federer’s strokes. There was one pick up from the feet in the opening game of the second set that simply had the entire crowd at the O2 Arena standing up and clapping for nearly a minute.
“Was one of the worst starts I’ve had in years,” Federer told reporters after the match. “No first serves, two double faults, nothing coming from the baseline. So it was rough. But thankfully I was able to pick it up when it mattered the most.”
Asked whether, he would be able to put it across Djokovic when the two meet for the fourth time this season (the scoreline reads 2-1 in favour of the Serbian) Federer optimistically stated: “Let’s see. I wouldn’t have been playing if I doubted my own abilities.”
