1 Response to dubai05federer_ferrero

1. Voo de Mar says:

   January 8, 2022 at 2:20 am

   Points won by each set: | 28-35, 32-23, 45-39 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   34 % Federer – 34 of 100
   18 % Ferrero – 19 of 102

   …as Ferrero defeated Federer in Madrid ’03 (semifinal) after a gruelling battle of two contenders to finish the year at the top, it seemed they would play many more similar matches in the 00s being two of the five best young players at the time (along with Safin, Hewitt & Roddick). It wasn’t meant to be though, only in Dubai ’05 they co-created a thrilling contest, but paradoxically it was unlikely to expect this when they entered the court because Ferrero was struggling a lot with injuries in 2004, and dropped in the ranking from no. 1 (September ’03) to no. 98 (February ’05)! Meanwhile Federer established himself as a new king of tennis when Ferrero was drastically losing his ranking, hence it was shocking when the Spaniard – playing with a lot of confidence, typical for his first years of that decade – led 2:0* (30/0) in the 2nd set, he also led with a break in the decider, *4:2 (deuce). In the tie-break he had a double match point; perhaps the possibility to reach his first quarterfinal in almost a year (!) paralysed him a bit, and despite having won five successive deciding tie-breaks, he succumbed 6/8. On both match points Ferrero sent his forehands long: first off Federer’s second serve, then in a 9-stroke rally. Following that victory, Federer rather easily won their last five meetings (H2H: 10-3 in the end). Ferrero regained his confidence after Dubai, finished the year ’05 inside the Top 20 but never came back to his form of the years 2000-2003.

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