Roger Federer- A shadow of the past

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Age, the ardent fans of Roger Federer would hate to know, is not just a number. For close to a decade, Federed was a player without parallel in the world of tennis. But, if one fact has become glaringly apparent over the past year, it is that time and its rather swift passage have had a huge impact on the Swiss maestro. Although he is still lithe and moves around the court with the same grace that has come to define him, the agility and even the alacrity with which he used to react are absent in Federer today.His defeat to Tommy Robredo, a Spaniard who was formerly a top 10 player, in the fourth round of US Open 2013, has quite clearly sounded the beginning of the end of the Federer era. What was even more surprising about his defeat to Robredo was the fact that the Spaniard was unlike Sergiy Stakhovsky, the Ukrainian who was the undoing of Federer in Wimbledon, not really an up and coming tennis player finding his feet at the biggest stage. In fact, Robredo himself is well past 30 and not really looking at a very long career in front of him. Moreover, unlike Rafael nadal and Novak Djokovic, two players to whom Federer has lost most often in recent times, Robredo is not even a player who packs a lot of power into his strokes. How then, did Federer end up being unseated by Robredo?One would be wont to point to Federer's advanced age and say that is the most preponderant factor. While that may well be the case, Federer's age alone is not the reason for his recent failings. The backhand, which was once one of Federer's most valuable weapon today lacks the venom. His magical stroke-play left the spectators in a daze more often than not and the fact that he had a formidable first serve backed by a carefully placed second serve often escaped them. Today, the serve isn't as reliable. It was his redoubtable serve that Federer relied on whenever he had his back to the wall. But, too often in recent times has his serve let him down and been one of the biggest factors for his downfall.While he can still hold the crowd in thrall with his mesmerising stroke-play, he cannot rely exclusively on his wide array of strokes alone anymore to bail himself out of trouble. As mentioned earlier, he has slowed down and as a direct consequence, he has not really been able to chase the balls around the court with the same agility. While he seldom volleyed in the aftermath of his maiden triumph at Wimbledon, his prowess at the net was, beyond a shadow of doubt, unbelievable. Like the innumerable ground strokes that he had in his repertoire, he also had a large variety of strokes that he could play at the net. Over the last few years, it has become amply clear that he is no longer the force at the net he once was.All in all, while the whole tennis fraternity is grateful to Federer for having enriched the game with his enthralling display of tennis, it would only be fair to say that the Swiss is no longer the master he once was.