Roger Federer’s troubled season took another turn for the worse when he was sent crashing out of the Olympic Games in a shock quarterfinal defeat to United States number one James Blake on Thursday.
Federer, who hands over his number one crown to Rafael Nadal on Monday, was broken when serving for the first set and crushed in the second-set tie-break by Blake, who ended it 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
Blake (28) collapsed to his knees and roared with delight as he celebrated his first win against the Swiss in nine attempts stretching back to 2003. He had only taken one set off Federer previously.
”I would say beating the number-one player in the world has got to be up there,” he said, describing it as one of the best moments of his career. ”The feeling, the emotion involved is huge. It’s something I have to not think about right now because there’s still work to be done in this tournament.”
For Federer, it was his third defeat in six matches since losing his five-year Wimbledon crown to Nadal five weeks ago. The 12-time grand-slam winner has spent a record four-and-a-half years as world number one.
A dismal start to the American hard-court season, with defeats to Gilles Simon and Ivo Karlovic, gave his rivals hope and Blake, wearing a red headband to go with his white shirt and blue shorts, started with grim intent.
Federer needed a service winner to stave off a break point in game eight but Blake earned another chance at 5-4 when the Swiss went long after a pulsating rally.
The top seed then produced an incredible leaping backhand from behind the baseline, but dunked his next shot into the net to go a set down.
Federer lacked his usual aggression, looking content to rally and misfiring with the serve and forehand. Blake capitalised by forcing three break points in game two of the second set, going ahead when Federer put a backhand long.
The scare seemed to spark Federer into action and he broke back at 1-3 when Blake swiped a backhand into the tram lines.
Boos erupted when a camera-toting spectator started snapping Federer while he was serving at 3-4, earning sharp words from the Swiss and a rebuke from the chair umpire.
As tension mounted, Federer held off Blake in two service games to force the tie-break. But the aggressive Blake, pummelling his big forehand, raced to a 4-1 lead and put away his first match point when Federer’s service return went long.
The American missed the 2004 Games during a traumatic spell when he broke his neck, lost his father to cancer and developed shingles.
Federer finished fourth in 2000 but was shocked in round two four years ago early in his reign as world number one.
Nadal is playing Austria’s Jurgen Melzer later while France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu and Gael Monfils are up against Fernando Gonzalez and Novak Djokovic respectively in the other quarterfinals.
Federer was beaten by Simon in Canada and then fell to Karlovic in Cincinnati before arriving in Beijing, where he beat Dmitry Tursunov, Rafael Arevalo and Tomas Berdych, his conqueror at the Athens Games, to reach the last eight. — Sapa-AFP