Tennis commentator Peter Fleming believes Federer resorted to trying to beat Borna Coric with ‘smoke and mirrors’ at the Shanghai Masters – such was his poor form at the event.
Except the ploy flopped. The 37-year-old had no answers to an opponent 16 years his junior as he went down to a 6-4 6-4 defeat.
Federer has won just one of the last eight tournaments, prompting fears the 20-time Grand Slam champion could be on his way out. Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, has taken three of the last three.
Discussing the pair on The Tennis Podcast, expert Catherine Whittaker said: “Djokovic makes opponents bail out of points in a way that they wouldn’t normally do.
“He makes them panic and go ‘I’ve got no chance of winning a ping-pong battle from the back of the court, I’ve got to make myself do things that don’t feel comfortable to me, or put an extra five per cent on my shots, or go out my comfort zone’.
“Frankly, only exceptional players can do that at a sustained level. That is exactly what Borna Coric did to Roger Federer the day before.
“Federer was bailing out of points, you could see him panicking and think ‘goodness, I can’t win this from the back’.
“He was trying to bluff his way through it, it felt like. Peter Fleming in the commentary on Sky said Federer is trying to win this with smoke and mirrors at the moment.
“It’s a trend this year but Coric was brilliant and there’s no doubt he’s gone up a gear in a very under-stated way.”
Coric met Djokovic in the Shanghai Masters final but was powerless to stop the Serb winning 6-3 6-4.
“I didn’t realise he had a serve like that on him that I saw from him this week,” Whittaker added.
“I didn’t see the serve would ever be a huge weapon in his game, the way it was this week but unfortunately the match-up for him with Djokovic is, at the moment, a no-hoper.
“For Novak, it’s like that two-year hiatus didn’t happen. He’s back.
“Before the US Open I said I think he’ll challenge and win more Grand Slams but I don’t see him relentless dominating in the way that he did.
“That is not analysis that has aged well because that’s precisely what he’s doing.
“I just didn’t see that week in, week out, that invincibility shield surrounding him.
“As soon as Djokovic became human again, it made us realise how extraordinary it was. I just thought I don’t see how someone can capture that level of extra-ordinariness twice.
“But he’s doing it. He’s probably favourite now to finish the year as the world No.1. He’s taken the No.2 spot from Roger Federer.”