ATP Finals week, week of great memories. Today we rescue Roger Federer’s victory in Houston 2003, a season of explosion that ended with an event full of controversy, great revenge and the Swiss message to the entire locker room.
There is an idea in the popular imagination of believing that the era of dominance of Roger Federer It started after the victory of the Swiss in Wimbledon 2003. Yes and no. Of course, there he laid the first stone, which showed that behind so much waiting there was a true champion, but the following months were not so happy for the man from Basel. People knew his career well, as well as that rebellious and irascible side that had delayed his first Grand Slam until he was almost 22 years old. Would that triumph be a flash in the pan or did it really mean something more? From that moment on, no one took their eyes off the champion. And this had consequences.
Barring his title defense in Vienna, most of the sports news Federer received over the next five months was negative. He lost a final in Gstaad to Jiri Novak, in five sets. He missed the chance to be No. 1 in Canada, surrendering his weapons in the semifinals against Andy Roddick in a match where he served to win. He was beaten – once again – by David Nalbandian, first in Cincinnati and then at the US Open. But the hardest thing, by far, was the defeat with Lleyton Hewitt in the Davis Cup semifinals, one of the cruelest losses in the Swiss’s career, as he himself has recounted on numerous occasions. He closed the calendar with six victories in his last three tournaments: Madrid, Basel and Paris. In this way he arrived at Masters Cupwith the feeling of having to prove something to people.
The previous year had already seen him make his debut in this competition, leaving the group stage undefeated and then losing to Hewitt – yes, Hewitt again – in the semi-finals. But the contract with Shanghai, only two years long, had expired and now the rights had gone to Houston, who signed another two seasons in exchange for €24M. Obviously, there everyone would go with Andy Roddick, which arrived after a fireproof summer and the No. 1 almost tied until the last box. Roger, two places below, was aware that his record still lacked many achievements, including winning a title in the United States. In 21 events held on North American soil, the results showed nine eliminations in the first round and only one final, that of Miami 2002 against Andre Agassi. Convincing the local public of his greatness was a core subject.
“At the beginning of my career I had a lot of problems in the United States, American tennis players always played with a lot of confidence in those tournaments, more than any other player from any other country. In addition, the conditions used to always be very harsh due to humidity and heat.“, acknowledges Federer in statements collected by René Stauffer’s biography. However, this time he had no excuses with the weather, since in Houston they wanted to innovate by holding the first outdoor Masters Cup in 29 years. Would the Swiss be happy with the change? The answer is no. “I think this tournament should be played indoors, especially since we only have two Masters 1000 tournaments that are held under these conditions”, pointed out at that time the third best racket in the ranking, annoyed in case this could benefit his rivals.
ALL THE FACTORS AGAINST
To make matters worse, Federer also had no luck with the draw: he was typecast with Juan Carlos Ferrero (who had won three of their five matches), David Nalbandian (I had always beaten him) and Andre Agassi (I had always beaten him). The H2H against his group mates was 2-11, a bad omen for a man who was arriving urgently in the month of November. If we add to this that he did not like the conditions either, that the balls bounced irregularly or that the capacity of the stadium was barely enough for 7,500 people, it was not surprising that some voices close to the Basel stadium even dropped the possibility of withdrawing from the tournament. This is where our last guest comes into play, an essential figure to understand the whole mess.
Jim McIngvale, owner of the Westside Tennis Club in Houston, served as promoter of the event. A very particular tycoon who was nicknamed Mattress Mack and who did not feel good at all listening to the complaints at the press conference of the new prince of tennis. But the Swiss was so angry that he even regretted that the simultaneous doubles competition was restored for the first time since 1985, which caused less space in the locker room and a greater distribution of training shifts. Sparks flew to such an extent that, according to legend, McIngvale himself paid the Basel player a somewhat hostile visit minutes before their first game of the season. Round Robin before Andre Agassi. We do not know what the American millionaire’s words were, what we do know is what happened later on the field.
Federer began his career by saving 2MP against the kid from Las Vegas (6-7, 6-3, 7-6), then mercilessly devastated Nalbandian (6-3, 6-0) and finished with another placid victory against Ferrero (6-3, 6-1). In the semifinals, a grown Roddick played after having secured the No. 1 until the end of the year, but it was too late, Andy ran into the fully oiled Swiss machine (7-6, 6-2). Andre Agassi, who had already suffered it on the first page of the tournament, would be his opponent again on Sunday in the final, but that dance was very different from the previous one. Roger took out his wand to seal his first ‘master’ title in just 88 minutes, leaving the best returner on the circuit without a single break point in his favor. “It was one of the best games I have played in my entire career.“, he confirmed with the trophy in his hands.
A week that had begun with the worst omens in the Swiss’s mind, ended with victories against the current champion of the US Open (Roddick), Roland Garros (Ferrero) and the Australian Open (Agassi). He even surpassed Wimbledon himself, leaving the bad vibes behind and facing the competition with the right motivation. “I don’t know how I did it, honestly. I think the first match against Agassi ended up being key for the rest of the tournament, at least for me“said the champion. “From that day on I didn’t spend as much energy, but I started playing amazingly. In fact, in the practice sessions I felt very bad, I was missing all the training sessions with the boys, I was not able to assimilate the rhythm of the ball. Then all of a sudden the games started and I started playing really well, so it’s all been a bit surprising for me.”, he hotly valued.
AGASSI’S REFLECTION
The eleventh individual title of his career, seventh of the season, served to displace Ferrero and finish the course in the second step of the classification, although the overall sensations of the entire calendar said that he had been much more regular and reliable than Roddick . This was confirmed by his 78 victories and $4M in prizes. His face at the ceremony showed something more than simple happiness for having won, in his eyes you could see the pride of someone who overcomes all his demons and finally manages to convince the entire world that it would be him, and no other, who would dominate the circuit. the next five years. At that very moment, but inside the locker room, some words were about to be said that were not revealed until many years later.
Darren Cahill, Agassi’s coach, says that he found his pupil especially affected after the final. It is true that Andre had become a father a few months ago, that he had not competed since the US Open, but his legendary stomach could not digest that severe corrective. “He will never do it seen like that, normally he accepts defeats without problems, in two or three minutes he was over it, but that time he stayed with his head down for twenty or thirty minutes”reveals the Australian, who quickly tried to cheer him up and make him smile. What Cahill did not know is that this was not just any defeat, but the prologue to a magnanimous performance with Federer in the starring role. After catching his breath, the American looked at his coach and was transported to the future:
“Dude, our sport has changed forever, it will never be the same. This boy is taking tennis to another level, nothing like it has ever been seen”
Agassi, who never beat Roger on a tennis court again, was not wrong. At 33 years old, he was the first to see the future, to experience firsthand a sensation that he had very rarely had in his career: that of feeling inferior to his rival. Houston was the origin of a long love story between Federer and the Masters Cup: 17 participations (balance of 59-17) and six titles in ten finals. And the conditions? Wasn’t he supposed to not like them? In 2004, to close the master’s biennium in Houston, the Swiss would escape again with the title in his possession. This time, undefeated.
2023-11-15 08:22:50
#Houston #Roger #Federers #title #ATP #Finals
