Roger Federer explained an upper back issue forced him to receive treatment ahead of the fifth set in his shock US Open defeat to Grigor Dimitrov, but congratulated the Bulgarian on his surprising upset.
The world No. 3 looked set to ease into the final and meet great rival Rafael Nadal for the first time in New York but he was out of sorts from start to finish against the world No. 78 and was beaten 6-3 4-6 6-3 4-6 2-6 as Dimitrov advanced to face Daniil Medvedev in Fridays semi-finals.
Ahead of the fifth set, in which Federer fell 4-0 down, the 20-time Grand Slam champion was forced to leave the court to get treatment and he revealed that his back had caused his physical woes.
Well, I just needed some treatment on my upper – what is it – back, neck, Federer said. Just needed to try to loosen it up, crack it and see if it was going to be better.
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Yeah, but this is Grigors moment and not my bodys moment, so… Its okay.
Asked about his level of disappointment, Federer added: Just low. Just disappointed its over because I did feel like I was actually playing really well after a couple of rocky starts.
Its just a missed opportunity to some extent that youre in the lead, you can get through, you have two days off after. It was looking good.
But got to take the losses. Theyre part of the game. Looking forward to family time and all that stuff, so… Lifes all right.
Its been 11 years since the 20-time Grand Slam winner won his last Slam title on these shores and this latest failure to go all the way comes off the back of a devastating five sets loss to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon this summer.
Djokovic had already been forced to quit due to a shoulder injury at this event and there was a sense this was one of Federers best chances to add to his 20-Slam haul, but he denied there had been any knock-on effects from failing to convert two match points against Djokovic at the All England Club in July.
I mean, I didnt think of it, Federer added. If you move on, its a thing oRead More – Source
