Federer tumbles to earliest exit in 10 years

New York: As Roger Federer's summer of decline continued on Monday, he refused to blame his bad back or an unfamiliar stadium for his earliest loss at the United States Open in 10 years. That left only his performance to explain another defeat and the pattern that continued.

To watch Federer this summer is to listen to an opera singer who can no longer hit the high notes. Flashes of the usual brilliance remain but occur less frequently, less consistently, until a player who once seemed anything but beatable is now imminently so.

Tennis is not like team sports, where aging outfielders become designated hitters, whose diminished skills can be hidden or disguised. Tennis is a solitary pursuit, like boxing, and when the reflexes slow and the legs go, the contrast is more obvious and stark.

In his 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4 loss to 19th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, Federer, seeded seventh, looked uncomfortable more than anything. Graceful footwork gave way to stumbles. Break points went unconverted. Where he once missed shots by inches, he missed by feet. Federer looked very much as he has looked throughout this summer: vulnerable, human, diminished, if only slightly. (Also see: Day 8 at the US Open, in pics)

Federer met the assembled reporters almost immediately afterward, a pattern consistent with his rare early exits at Grand Slam events. He refused to accept the excuses lobbed in his direction. His face glum, his eyes narrowed, he credited Robredo through clenched teeth and blamed himself. Mostly, he blamed himself. (Related: Federer vows to fight back)

"It's been a difficult last three months, you know," said Federer, who was 10-0 against Robredo. "My consistency is just not quite there yet. Maybe on a daily basis, set-by-set or point-by-point basis, maybe that's something that has been difficult for me."

It all seemed so surreal. A rain delay forced Federer to play at Louis Armstrong Stadium - to play at a smaller show court for the first time since 2006 - and not at Arthur Ashe. He squandered break points as if allergic to them. The crowd, able to watch a star up close without paying for the most expensive tickets, implored Federer forward.

The cracks in Federer's game most revealed themselves in the first-set tiebreaker. Behind by 4-3, Federer hesitated, then charged on an approach shot, the lack of confidence evident in his first few steps. Robredo returned low, and Federer clanked a backhand volley into the net. Stranger still, he charged the net again on the next point, as if he wanted to end it quickly, and Robredo clocked a forehand winner and took the set on the next point.

Commentators braced for a potential loss and its implications. They noted that Federer's record after losing the first set at a major tournament dropped to 29-29. They searched for his last loss in the fourth round at the Open (David Nalbandian, 2003).

Federer went on to play worse. He looked especially tentative off the forehand. He managed six break-point chances in the second set. He converted none of them.

"I almost don't believe what I'm seeing," the commentator John McEnroe said on the ESPN broadcast. "It's not that he's missing it. It's the lengths he's missing it by, the amount."

Early into the third set, Federer went ahead, 0-40, on Robredo's serve. Three more break points. Three more chances. He shanked a forehand. Robredo passed him.

So continued this summer's pattern, a period that will mark the beginning of the end for a player many consider the best in tennis history or will simply constitute a stretch among the roughest of Federer's career. The latter will happen only if he rebounds, if he dominates again, if he wins another Grand Slam event. All that seemed so far away Monday.

So continued the pattern: the second-round defeat at Wimbledon, the semifinal loss in Hamburg and the second-round fall at Gstaad (in his first match, no less), three stumbles that came against players ranked outside the top 50, and now Robredo.

Federer, a five-time Open champion, had hoped to return to his old form under the lights in New York. In the early rounds, he attacked more, volleyed more, approached the net as if this were 2004 all over again. He did not lose a set in his first three victories.

Then it ended, all of it. His match. His tournament. His latest redemption bid.

"The story of my life," Federer said afterward. "When I lose, people are shellshocked to see me play this way."

As Federer bumbled through his break chances, Rafael Nadal, once his chief rival, took the court at Arthur Ashe. It was a scheduling quirk that Nadal ended up there and Federer at Armstrong, but it seemed symbolic, too.

Here were two players whose rivalry defined a generation of men's tennis, who have combined to win 29 Grand Slam singles titles, who because of an Open rain delay ended up on court at the same time. One ranked among the hottest players on tour this summer, the other desperate to halt a three-month skid.

The delicious prospect loomed: should both advance, they would meet in the next round, would meet for the first time at the United States Open, in a quarterfinal.

Nadal lost a set against Philipp Kohlschreiber but bullied his way into the quarterfinals, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. Federer just lost.

So it goes in 2013, when Federer looks less and less like Roger Federer and more and more like the next great athlete to near the end. Maybe that is premature. Or maybe this, for Federer, is the twilight.

© 2013 New York Times News Service