What Happened to Roger Federer?

What happened to Roger Federer? Every tennis fan is of late asking
themselves this question after viewing Fedex' performance in the first
eight months of the 2008 ATP tennis calendar. True, he had reached
the finals of two grand slams in this period - the French Open and
Wimbledon - before losing both matches to world no.2 Rafael Nadal -
but, Federer's overall showing in the tourneys in the earlier half of
the year, and post Wimbledon, raises serious questions on the world
no.1's (world no.2 in the next two weeks probably) game and fitness.
Roger suddenly appears to have lost his confidence, and his movements
on the court slowing down considerably that even lowly ranked players,
whom Roger had dispatched so easily few months back, are able to
beat him with ease. It appears that the weight of his reputation,
coupled with the anxiety of losing, is heavily burdening his mind/game.
Recent loses have not helped the matter either.

May be Roger needs a bit of rest, and time to reassess his game plan.
In fact, he himself had admitted that he need to sit back and take a
look at his game. But a tighter ATP tour calendar means he would be
able to do that only after the US Open at the earliest.

Come August 18, and Federer will lose his world no.1 ranking for
the first time in the last 237 weeks to Rafael Nadal. But, he is definitely
capable of making a comeback. However, in order to do that, he needs
to play far better than at present, and of course with a clear mind that
is not burdened by the monster he himself had created in the
last 4 years. Let's hope that Fedex will bounce back to the player he
had been 10 months back.