Harrowing

No matter if you love Federer, hate him with a passion or really couldn't care less to see his smooth strokes, you were nervous during his 4th round match against 23rd seed Igor Andreev. I didn't even watch the battle and my heart was racing! When I saw the numbers change on my double-paneled computer screen to put the Russian up 3-0 in the first set (Federer being broken in less than a minute on his first service game) all I could think was: who are you and why are you beating my buddy Roger? Of course, he's not really my buddy, but that's always the thought when he plays: he's a friend and we're rooting for him, or at least expecting him to have an easy time winning. It's very different with Nadal who is obviously, constantly, working for every point; putting forth so much energy to run down a ball when he's up 40-0. Federer coasts along and if need be throws in an ace to erase break point. It's a difference of style and it's a difference of personality. It's why each of us loves either Roger or Rafa. Not both.

Anyway, initial worries were alleviated when Federer broke back to force a first set tiebreak, but was not able to stop Igor from taking it 7-5. That's okay: losing a set in a tiebreak is respectable, and it's even somewhat dictated by luck. He'll just step up his game and win the next three straight. No fuss.

Wrong! Neither player could break and found himself at yet another tiebreak. This time Federer came out on top and made this match a best of 3. The third set was what we all were waiting (and hoping) for. The Roger we knew and loved was back, going up an easy 5-2 and then held to win the set 6-3 in just 29 minutes. It was all but over. The perfect Swiss could just ride this momentum into the fourth set to send Andreev packing. Little did he, or we, know the Russian was ready to fight. He broke Federer to go up 4-1 and then took the fourth set 6-3, to even out the score, exactly.

A fifth set. Expected from Djokovic, Murray, even Nadal - but not our Federer. Regardless, he played it perfectly, getting the early break and keeping it to win, 6-3. In retrospect, Roger claimed to enjoy being part of the "dog fight" but I suspect he just enjoyed the outcome.