NEW YORK (AP) Roger Federer served poorly. He volleyed poorly. Closed out sets poorly, too. And now hes gone, beaten at the U.S. Open by an opponent ranked outside the top 50 for the first time in his illustrious career.
Looking slow and tired on a sweltering night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the No. 2-seeded Federer double-faulted 10 times, failed to convert a trio of set points and lost 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) in the fourth round to John Millman in a match that began Monday and concluded at nearly 1 a.m. today.
To Federer, it was all about the heat and the humidity. With the temperature in the 80s, even with the sun down, and the humidity at about 75 percent, he was unable to summon his usual verve.
Was just one of those nights where, I guess, I felt I couldnt get air. There was no circulation at all. I dont know, for some reason I just struggled in the conditions tonight. Its one of the first times its happened to me, the 37-year-old Federer said. Its uncomfortable. Clearly just keep on sweating more and more and more and more as the match goes on. You lose energy as it goes by. But John was able to deal with it better.
Its only the second time in Federers past 14 appearances at the U.S. Open that hes lost before the quarterfinals. He is, after all, a five-time champion at the tournament, part of his mens-record haul of 20 Grand Slam titles.
In all honesty, Rogers a hero of mine. I look up to him, said Millman, an Australian who is 29. I felt a little bit guilty today, because he didnt have his best day, and thats for sure. I know that. Im very aware he didnt have a great day in the office. Probably, to beat him, I needed him to have an off-day and I needed to have a decent, good day.
So much for that highly anticipated matchup between Federer and 13-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Instead, itll be the 55th-ranked Millman, who had never made it past the third round at a Slam until last week, taking on No. 6 seed Djokovic.
Hours before, Djokovic left the court for a medical timeout the second time during the tournament hes sought help from a doctor because of harsh weather during what would become an otherwise straightforward 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over 68th-ranked Joao Sousa of Portugal.
Im not 21 anymore. That was 10 years ago. I still dont feel old. But at the same time, there is a little biological clock that is not really working in your favor, Djokovic said. Sometimes, you just have to survive.
He reached the quarterfinals for an 11th consecutive appearance in New York as he bids for a third U.S. Open championship and 14th Grand Slam trophy.
The other quarterfinal on the bottom half of the draw will be a rematch of the 2014 U.S. Open final: No. 7 Marin Cilic against No. 21 Kei Nishikori.
Millman was adamant he would not be intimidated by Federer, and perhaps was helped by having spent time practicing together a few months ago ahead of the grass-court portion of this season.
I love his intensity, Federer said.
Still, this was a stunner. Not simply because Federer lost he entered the day 28-0 at the U.S. Open, and 127-1 in all Grand Slam matches, against foes below No. 50 in the ATP rankings but how he lost. Start with this: Federer held two set points while serving for the second at 5-4, 40-15 and did not pull through. Millman knew that was the turning point.
At the start, I dont think I was playing so well, said Millman, who said he was sweating so much he had a hard time holding onto his racket. But, yeah, as the match went on, I felt more comfortable, felt pretty good.
Then Federer had a set point in the third at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but again was stymied.
In the fourth set, he went up a break at 4-2, yelling Come on! and getting all of those rowdy spectators in their RF gear on their feet, prompting the chair umpire to repeatedly plead for silence. But Federer uncharacteristically got broken right back with a sloppy game, most egregiously when he slapped what should have been an easy putaway into the net.
And then there was his serve. He put only 49 percent of his first serves in play, including a hard-to-believe 31 percent in the second set. This is a guy whose combination of precision and power on that stroke is considered as good as anyones ever.
In the final tiebreaker, he double-faulted twice in a row. The first obvious signs of trouble for Federer came far earlier, in the second game of the second set. He started that 15-minute struggle by missing 18 of his initial 20 first serves. While he eventually held there, he needed to save seven break points along the way. It was clear Federer was not at his best.
Millmans big rips on groundstrokes didnt help matters. Nor did his steeliness despite not being all that familiar with this sort of success or setting. This is a guy who had never managed to beat a top-10 player, let alone a man who has spent more weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings than anyone else.
As the unforced errors mounted Federer would finish with 77, compared to Millmans 28 Federers wife, Mirka, couldnt bear to look, placing her forehead on her hands in the guest box in the stands.
Federer hung his head at a changeover, a little black fan pointed right at his face, but nothing seemed to make him feel like himself.
When you feel like that, Federer said, everything is off.
SHARAPOVA GONE
NEW YORK (AP) Maria Sharapova won the U.S. Open as a teenager. More than a decade later, she cant seem to make it past the fourth round.
With a mistake-filled performance, Sharapova lost a night match at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her lengthy career, beaten 6-4, 6-3 by No. 30 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Monday.
Just a little too up-and-down, is the way Sharapova described her performance.
Its the third consecutive appearance that ended one step short of the quarterfinals for the 31-year-old Sharapova, who had been 22-0 under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sharapova collected the trophy in New York at age 19 in 2006 and owns a total of five Grand Slam titles, but the Russian was far shakier during this match than Suarez Navarro, who never has made it past the quarterfinals at a major.
The Spaniard, who turned 30 on Monday, will be at that stage for the second time at the U.S. Open, five years after her other run to that round.
A really complete performance, is the way she described her play.
On Wednesday, Suarez Navarro and her smooth one-handed backhand will take on 2017 runner-up Madison Keys of the United States. Keys advanced by beating No. 29 Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-3.
I have to be ready, Suarez Navarro said about facing Keys, and I think I am ready.
Suarez Navarro often let the 22nd-seeded Sharapova create her own problems.
Sharapova had all sorts of trouble serving, repeatedly catching wayward ball tosses and committing eight double-faults. She was broken in six of her 10 service games.
During lengthy exchanges from the baseline, Sharapova repeatedly blinked first, although a couple of times the righty managed to switch her racket to her left hand for a desperation shot to extend a point.
While both women finished with 15 winners, Sharapova had nearly twice as many unforced errors as Suarez Navarro, 38-20.
I didnt take care of the chances that I had. By chances, I mean the balls that were a little bit shorter. I hesitated to move forward, Sharapova said. The balls where I did attack, I made unforced errors, especially on that inside-out forehand today.
Since her championship, Sharapova has only once made it to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open in 2012, when she lost in the semifinals. Since then, the best shes done are fourth-round exits in 2014, 2017 and 2018.
After this latest loss, Sharapova was asked whether she envisions herself getting back to her best in the future.
First of all, if I didnt have the belief to keep doing this and to keep having the motivation and the grind of doing this every day in order to get myself in these positions, I dont think I would be here. I think Ive done plenty in my career, established a lot for myself personally, professionally, she replied.
The belief is not something that Im eager to show everybody else, Sharapova continued. The belief matters most when its internal and when you have a passion for something. If you dont, its your choice to not continue that, not for anyone else to tell you so.
