Roger Federer Loses His Cool and Place in the Final to Novak Djokovic

Roger Federer, looking more unlike his sporting image than at any time since he reached the top, smashed a racket, got a code violation, was booed by a section of the crowd, and declined to shake hands with the umpire after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Novak Djokovic in the semi-final of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Federer also gained huge support from a majority of the crowd after the racket-trashing incident, which occurred just before he went 0-4 down in the final set, but it could not stop a dramatically worrying sequence in Masters Series tournaments.

It is now 20 months since he won at this, the highest level of the sport outside grand slams, and underlined the frequently repeated question as to whether he is still good enough, at the age of 27, to beat the record of 14 grand slam titles held by Pete Sampras. Federer has 13.

It also created ironies – brief, but even more surprising – about the timing of his misdemeanors, which have erupted only a week after being voted by his fellow players as winner of the Stefen Edberg award for sportsmanship for a record fifth time.

"I didn't lose it just because I smashed a racket – it doesn't mean I lost it," Federer contradicted when it was suggested that he had lost his head. "It didn't feel great, it was just a natural thing that I did."

He then added: "It was a great thing that they got behind me after I smashed the racket." This support clearly lifted Federer, who had been pouring unforced errors in the breezy conditions. He hauled back one of the breaks of serve to reach 2-4, and served a love game containing two aces to reach 3-5.

Between each of these games he received huge cheers, but when Djokovic came to serve out the match for a second time, he made no mistake, managing to force the pace without impairment to his consistency in the difficult conditions.

"There was so much wind," said Federer, "and once you start feeling bad it's difficult to regroup. It was made more difficult from one end by the sun in your eyes. It's the same for both players but once one guy has the upper hand and the other gets down, it's even more difficult.

"I was just trying to keep the ball in court. It wasn't like I was chasing the lines or anything. He was struggling in the first set and I finished worse than him. It was a great effort finishing even worse than him," he added sarcastically.

Despite all his tribulations it came as a surprise that Federer did not appear to shake hands with umpire Fergus Murphy of Ireland.

Djokovic, who had felt unwell after his quarter-final victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, is now sure to keep his world number three ranking for at least three weeks against the challenge of Andy Murray. Had he failed to reach the final the Serb would have been in danger of losing it for the first time in nearly two years.