WIMBLEDON, England – The first step is acceptance, and Roger Federer is not even there yet. The game of tennis is changing, the hard-chargers behind him are figuring him out, and Federer is way too comfortable wearing his crown.
The best ever. The No. 1 seed at Wimbledon?
Federer lost in the Wimbledon quarterfinals Wednesday to Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Federer's game is beginning to look obsolete. Honestly, he hasn't lost much from his best, if anything. He's 28 and people will talk about the beginning of aging.
That's not the problem. Federer's stubbornness is. And not only that: His willingness to enjoy the top of the mountain without looking down to see who's coming, and why it's working.
"I couldn't play the way I wanted to play,'' he said. "You know, I am struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue. That just doesn't quite allow me to...''
I'm going to have to stop him right there and call BS. How pathetic. It is so far beneath the king to whine about little owies.
The man is in denial.
You cannot take away his six Wimbledon titles, his 16 majors. They are all there for the history books and museum. But Federer doesn't have to join them there yet.
It is getting hard, though, to continue thinking of him as the best of all time. He's still in his prime, and he's not the best player now. Rafael Nadal is. Nadal always beats Federer.
But Nadal is no longer just a freak of greatness sharing the stage with Federer. It is not just one superstar encroaching on another.
The entire game has changed. It has hit Federer. And Federer needs to get off the throne and start hitting back.
We've seen this so many times in tennis, and in other sports, too.
When someone special comes along, the reigning generation tries to fight him off. Then, everyone oohs and aahs over him for a while, wondering how any human can do what he's doing. Then, people try to copy him, which gets them somewhere, but not to the top.
You have to find something else to overcome. That's what Nadal did.
That's what the next generation of tennis players is doing.
It's funny, because the next generation was supposed to be Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. They are top players, and now Djokovic will climb over Federer in the rankings.
But the coming generation is Juan Martin del Potro, Robin Soderling and Berdych. They have found a crushing low-spin game that drives the ball through the court and pushes around Federer, with his elegant old strokes.
On top of that, racquet and string technology have changed, even in the past 24 months. Without getting technical about it, these guys can hit as hard as they want and keep the ball in the court.
So they aren't afraid of Federer anymore. And Federer doesn't fully use the new equipment.
He lost the U.S. Open final to del Potro, who pushed him around. He beat Murray in the Australian Open final, but Murray is a dinker, who hits soft. Then, Soderling pushed Federer around in the quarters of the French Open.
Still, Federer wasn't recognizing what was happening.
"I'm not blaming the conditions or anything,'' he said at the French Open, "but I think they were in his favor toward the end.''
Well, the conditions were perfect Wednesday. The sky was blue. It wasn't windy. It was dry. Centre Court is where Federer has been king.
And Berdych pushed him around.
So I asked Federer if he would have to adjust his game from here.
