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(CNN)Roger Federer was back as a Grand Slam contender after a stellar 2014 season.
He reached the Wimbledon final – taking world No. 1 Novak Djokovic to five sets – and ended the campaign by helping Switzerland to a maiden Davis Cup title.
But did all that tennis cost Federer – and his 33-year-old physique – last year at the Australian Open this year?
Was it a hand injury he sustained earlier this week? Or was his opponent just too good?
Regardless of the possible reasons, the bottom line is that Federer will have to wait for a record-extending 18th Grand Slam title after beating Andreas Seppi 6-4 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6(5) has lost. in the third round on Friday in Melbourne.
There were no such problems for Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova.
That Seppi was the man who knocked out Federer came as a surprise – the Italian had never won in the previous 10 games. He had claimed only one set.
And against tennis’ big three, Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, Seppi possessed a dismal 1-25 record.
But the world No. 46 played one of his best matches and most importantly didn’t collapse when the finish line was in sight.
Instead, it was Federer who blinked in the tiebreak of the fourth set.
He led 3-1, only with a double fault at 3-2. Then Federer led 5-4 and made a costly, unforced error with the backhand. Federer also regretted missed chances in the tie-break of the second set when Seppi was there.
“It just broke me to lose that second set,” Federer told reporters. “And actually the fourth one, I should win that too. There’s only a few brutal sentences to lose.”
Seppi ended the excitement in stunning fashion by scrambling his way before hitting an instinctive forehand pass winner down the line.
“It was definitely one of the most important shots of my life,” said Seppi.
Federer was thus eliminated despite winning more points throughout the match, 145 to 144.
“I felt yesterday for some reason and this morning it wasn’t going to be very easy today,” said Federer. “Even in training, I still felt that way.
“I was just hoping it’s one of those feelings you have sometimes and it’s absolutely not true and you just come out and play a routine game. I was aware of the test and was well prepared.
“I just somehow couldn’t play my best tennis today. That was probably partly because Andreas played very well.”
Maybe the warning signs from his previous lap were there.
Federer lost a set to Seppi’s Italian compatriot Simone Bolelli in the second round. He – and this is rare for Federer – urged the coach to address an issue with his hand. Federer thought he might have been stung by a bee.
He did not mention the hand or other physical problems in his briefing with reporters.
Federer also defended his decision to play exhibition matches in December during tennis’ notoriously short off-season in India.
“I wanted to go to India,” said Federer. “I wanted to go back to Switzerland for Christmas. I trained as hard as I could.
“That’s all I can do. Sure, the year ended late, but a week later than normal. At the end of the day, I’m honestly confident that what I did was the right thing to do.”
Federer’s exit has made Murray’s way to the semifinals much easier. The two-time Grand Slam champion and Federer were supposed to meet in the quarterfinals on paper.
While Federer was sent home, Murray easily defeated Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1 6-1 7-5.
However, Murray’s performance wasn’t the only topic of conversation during his press conference. A specific tweet was also mentioned.
After Nadal visibly struggled on court in the second round and puked on his five-set win over Tim Smyczek, Murray appeared to criticize the Spaniard in this tweet: “When I was cramping at the US Open last year and won I was a ‘drama queen unfit need to see psychiatrist faker’ weird…” Murray wrote.
But he insisted he wasn’t targeting Nadal on Friday.
“I didn’t see the whole game last night but Rafa was clearly struggling,” said Murray. “It was a great effort to get through what everyone was rightly saying.
“But that certainly wasn’t the case at the US Open when I was in a similar state. And yeah, I just don’t see why that should be.”
Nadal looked physically better on the pitch after suffering cramps against Smyczek and eliminating Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-1 6-0 7-5 under the lights at Rod Laver Arena. He saved all seven break points he faced – and they all came in the decider.
He said in an interview in court that he slept a lot to recover but didn’t move when asked about a percentage of his physical condition.
“Uh, I was never very good at math,” Nadal joked.
Joining Nadal and Murray on lap four were Tomas Berdych from seventh position and Grigor Dimitrov from tenth position.
Dimitrov survived Marcos Baghdatis’ angry bid to prevail against the charismatic 2006 finalist 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-3.
Second-placed Sharapova, Dimitrov’s girlfriend, swept aside 31st-seeded Zarina Diyas 6-1, 6-1 two days after saving match points against a Russian qualifier.
Other winners in the women’s draw included third-place finisher Simona Halep and seventh-place finisher Eugenie Bouchard.
Read: Serena shifts into gear
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