The
remains of the draw Federer crashes out to
Cañas; not sure about suspension length
Mal Tam/MALTphoto
Canas may not have reputation
back, but his game is there.
FROM THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN AT INDIAN WELLS –
It’s been seven months since anyone has been able to look at a draw
that Roger Federer topped and been able to re-work with brackets without
the great Swiss.
Bring on the back-up singers.
Federer and his 41-match winning streak crashed out of Indian Wells on
Sunday in a desultory 7-5, 6-2 loss to Argentine Guillermo Cañas
in the second round.
It was a totally lackadaisical and uncharacteristic performance from
Federer, who littered the court with 39 unforced errors to only eight
from the Argentine.
Federer pressed all day long, couldn't dictate from the backcourt, was
unable to keep up with the quick Argentine in long sprint and was a
complete non-factor at the net. He failed to take care of two set points
in the first set and after receiving treatment for blisters at the end
of the first set. He looked downright depressed and showed little fire.
It was a theater of the bizarre and only Federer had a clue to why he
performed so poorly, and he didn't have a big one.
So for the first time in along time, a Federer streak has been stopped.
This time, it was the Swiss’ attempt to bust the Open era record
of 46 successive wins set by Argentine Guillermo Vilas.
He may never get another shot at the record again, but you can bet that
if ever gets another time, he'll go over the wall in an attempt to break
it.
The man simply despises losing and could care less about the pressure.
"I'd rather face it,” he said. “You think it's pressure.
It's no pressure at all because I take it match by match. And you guys
think it takes a win to break the record. I'm concerned about winning
my first-round match against a lucky loser. There you go. It just shows
you how tough it is. And today was just a grind for me from the start.
First-round match is always difficult, but I've had an incredible run,
not losing in the first round for, I think, over two years. So I'm really
happy about that. Sooner or later it had to happen, so it's okay. It's
no problem."
Cañas played like he did when he cracked the Top 10 back in 2005.
He served hard and with variety, kept his groundies deep, played the
angles nicely and went straight at Federer's backhand. He saw that Federer
looked tired and he forced him to play extra balls.
Remarkably, Federer rarely approached the net, even though he had lost
control from the backcourt.
"All he did was just keep the ball in play and moving me around,"
Federer said. "I was definitely thinking of coming in. When you're
down a set and a break, you definitely start to think about what you
can do differently. I just didn't serve right at the right times. I
couldn't really get a good groove going on my forehand really the way
I wanted to. But he scrambled well. I've got to give him a lot of credit.
I just didn't do well in the second set at all."
Mal Taam/MALTphoto
Roger suffered his first loss
in seven months.
So now Cañas' world has been turned right
side up once again. For much of the past two years, he has played the
role of high profile defendant after he was found guilty of taking a
masking agent for banned substances and was suspended for 15 months.
Like many suspended athletes before him, he claims innocence and said
that a doctor in Acapulco mis-prescribed a medication to him.
"I feel terrible for that, to make maybe a small mistake," Cañas said. "But
all the players know that, and for this they give me a very good welcome and
support me a lot. Now it's great again because I do what I want, I do what I
love."
Federer doesn't seem so convinced that Cañas served enough time,
as his suspension was reduced by eight months.
"I don't know how the whole process [works], of how something like that
happens,"
he said. "They always fight for it anyway, everybody that was tested
positive. That's, for me, just not understandable. Everybody who gets
caught always says, ‘I didn't do anything,’ so it's just
not right. It depends on how long the suspension is. In the end, they
always cut them short.”
Cañas doesn't sound overly bitter, except when he discusses what
occurred at the '05 US Open, when he tried to get into the tournament
to see his then girlfriend, Maria Elena Salerni play, and was turned
away.
"It was tough because I was in the door," he said. "I feel
like shit."
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