ATP News : 2008


US OPEN STARTS

Rafa Nadal will play his first tournament as World N 1. He will improve his best results, quarterfinals


www.atptennis.com Roger Federer sits motionless on a nondescript chair, looking nowhere other than the gap between his feet, head bowed, elbows resting on his knees. In the normally-congested and often-noisy Cincinnati locker room, only low-level background noise from the nearby training room competes with the solemn silence. Just one other man is in the immediate vicinity... Rafael Nadal.

Often surrounded by members of his entourage, Nadal on this rare occasion is alone, sitting on a bench clutching two racquets moments before his 5 p.m. practice. There is just one image in his immediate field of vision – a forlorn Roger Federer.

Federer had moments earlier departed center court after tasting his first defeat against 6' 10" Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who has broken the Swiss just once in 99 service games in seven meetings. It was the first time Federer had ever lost a match without dropping serve, and more importantly, the Swiss knew that the loss effectively ended his remote hopes of retaining his four-and-a-half year reign as World No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. (www.atptennis.com )




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