The win against Koepfer on Saturday night won’t quite qualify as a miracle, but the Swiss once again showed there is more to his game than just grace.
As the clock struck midnight in Paris, Roger Federer won the third set of his third-round match against Dominik Koepfer when he had no business doing so. A few minutes earlier, at the start of the set, Federer was playing like a man who did not sign up for being pushed this hard, this late in the night by a player who seemed to relish the nothing-to-lose-everything-to-gain narrative. Playing in the first weekend of a Major that he doesn’t particularly put on the top of his priorities list, Federer moved in straight lines, mostly up and down the court and not much sideways, stopped running after balls that he may have returned but likely wouldn’t have. He was already a break down after two gruelling sets that went to a tiebreak. The break of serve happened when a mishit lob from the frame of Koepfer’s racket harmlessly sailed over Federer’s head and landed inside the baseline. What was going on? He looked to the turf, as if willing it to swallow him up. For most of that set he looked flat… but he hung in there. And then, out of nowhere, a sudden burst of energy. Not brilliance, per se. We have seen better from him. This was just a stalled engine that suddenly came to life. Second gear, perhaps third at best? But with some smart play, he clinched the set. That eventually set summed up the escape act that Federer pulled off on the night, winning 7-6 (5),6-7 (3),7-6 (4),7-5 to reach French Open last 16. “I’m not bothered by the outcome of this match at all,” Andy Murray tweeted a few minutes before Federer’s win was sealed. “Just seeing Federer at 39 off the back of two knee surgeries playing to an empty stadium at 12.
