Tennis
Federer Flops and Henin Tops at Tennis Season Closers
By Dylan Vox

Nov 14, 2007

Roger Federer

Roger Federer winning big matches is just something that tennis fans have taken for granted, but at this week’s Masters Cup, he lost big. It hasn’t happened in over four years, but the unstoppable tennis force lost two matches in a row, leaving him a tough draw to get to the top.  

Winning three of four grand slams last year after losing in the finals to his rival Nadal at the French Open, it appeared that Federer would be wrapping up an extremely successful season when he entered the season ending Master’s Cup championship in Shanghai.

The number one seed and the number one ranked player in the world for the fourth straight year, Federer, however, lost consecutive matches for the first time falling to seventh seed  Fernando Gonzalez, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5,

It was the defending champions first loss to Gonzalez 11 meetings, and broke Federer's 15-0 record in round-robin play at the tournament, which features the top eight men's singles players and doubles pairs.

"It was a tough loss," Federer coolly told reporters after the upset. "I thought I played pretty good. I wish I had an excuse."

Oddly enough the last time Federer lost two matches in a row was in 2003 at two separate tournaments when he lost in the first round at the French open after a third round exit in the warm up tournament.

At the women’s season round up, Justine Henin became the first woman to ever surpass the five million dollar tournament winning mark in one year when she rallied past Maria Sharapova to take home her tenth title of the year at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

"I played with my heart," Henin told reporters after her victory. "I had to find the resources, mentally and physically, but I think it's a match everyone will remember."

The match was the longest in the event's history, coming in at just under three and half hours.