That’s the theatrical view of former British tennis star Mark Petchey, who suggests Federer may have entered the tournament with the wrong mindset.
Federer played just the one warm-up event for the US Open at the Cincinnati Masters, losing in the third round to Andrey Rublev.
And it was clear in the first round that his lack of competitive match practice on the hard courts had hampered him as qualifier Sumit Nagal took a surprise first set lead.
The world No 3 managed to regain his composure from the second set, winning the next three on the bounce to progress to the second round.
But he dropped the first set again, this time against Damir Dzumhur, before coming back to win in four.
It is the first time in his career that Federer has lost the opening set in two matches successively at a Grand Slam.
And Petchey joked how Federer’s form so far has caused tennis fans everywhere to go into ‘meltdown’.
“Tennis world in meltdown,” he said on Amazon Prime.
“Roger’s lost the opening set for the first time in two matches successively at a major.”
Federer hasn’t had much luck at Flushing Meadows over the past decade, with his last title coming in 2008.
Last year saw him suffer a shock exit to Australian John Millman in the fourth round.
And Petchey suggests Federer may be trying to overcompensate for that result this time around.
“I do think maybe Roger came in with a little bit of a mindset where a lot of us had heard the tournament was going to be a bit quicker than last year which, statistically in terms of the numbers, was the slowest,” he added.
“I just wonder if he came out there with a very aggressive mindset and has actually had to deal with a change of mindset because of the conditions he’s faced with.”
He returns to action today in the third round against Briton Dan Evans, who has recently practiced with the 20-time Grand Slam winner in Switzerland recently.
And Federer paid Evans the ultimate compliment after their match at the Australian Open when he said it was “like playing a mirror a little”.