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Roger Federer suffered yet another loss in a forgettable season. This time he lost to American James Blake in the Beijing 2008 Olympics Quarter Finals.

This time, at least he reached the quarterfinals. Federer won his first few matches, including a convincing victory over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic prior to the clash with Blake.

n fact, despite the media attention to his slumping form, he still won two tournaments this year and got to at least the semifinals in all three Majors thus far!

Put simply, if an unheralded player gets to the semifinals of three majors in a year, he would probably be hailed and showered with affection and praises.

Unfortunately, semifinalist and finalist are not what we come to expect from the world No. 1.

Then again, his losses this year have all come against top ranked players—notably against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon and the French Open, Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, and most recently at the hands of up-and-coming Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

The match was delayed by a thunderstorm for 3 hours.

Blake won the first set 6-4. Prior to the match, Blake was 0-8 against Federer and have only won one set. In winning that first set, Blake overcome a huge psychological hurdle.

In the second set, both players held serve to level the score at 5-5. Then Federer inexplicably crumbled. With the game at 30-40 in Blake’s favor, Federer gave away another point from a backhand error, one of the numerous he had in this match. That gave Blake the initiative at 6-5.

Federer served at 5-6 down. Facing the prospect of Blake winning on his serve, Federer’s serves deserted him when he needed it most. He couldn’t get a singe first serve in for this pivotal game! Fortunately, Blake hit a forehand just wide to hand Federer a lifeline. With score tied at 6-6, the match went into a tiebreak.

At times, Federer looked like he was bothered by the humid weather. Other times, it almost seemed he was too kind to play the game. There were a couple of points where Federer should have been more aggressive with his smashes but he did not. For instance, with the tiebreak at 1-1, Federer hit a forehand smash meekly, enabling Blake to recover and hit a crosscourt winner. Things are not looking good for the swiss mastro.

Blake won the next point with a powerful serve to bring score to 3-1. Then showing confidence against the world no.1, he adopted a serve and volley game, and went to the net. The strategy worked and Federer hit a backhand into the net, perhaps affected by Blake’s net presence. Blake is now 3 points away from a place in the Semis.

Federer won the next point with a smash. But as mentioned before, it seemed almost he couldn’t bear to hit it. There was just no aggressiveness. Federer’s body language seems to suggest he has already given up. Did he finally succumb to the tremendous pressure of performing match after match, tournament after tournament?

James Blake wrapped up the next 2 points, and held serve for match point. With a forehand error from Federer, Blake has finally won against the world no1.

Is Roger Federer Getting Vulnerable?

Honestly, the game was won by James Blake, not because he deserve to win, but more because Federer deserve to lose. Federer’s backhand has been very unreliable this year but he still have his serves. In this game however, his serves deserted him as well.

I believe the pressure of winning has finally overwhelmed the Swiss star. Perhaps being at the top for so long, made him forgot how he got there.

I could still remember Federer crying as he won his first ever ATP title or that unforgettable victory over Pete Sampras in the 2001 Wimbledon Finals. He was so passionate about winning then. Quite frankly, i do not see the same emotions displayed in his recent games.

You could see from his game that he can still be brilliant when he wants to, hitting impossible shots that lands on the line. He is only 27 years old, definitely still have a few more good years ahead. I believe its more of a psychological barrier that he has to get through. He has to get back the feeling of winning, and the desire to win. Once he gets it back, i am certain he will overtake Nadal. I will wait for that day.