Federer Baghdatis Match: Federer Loses in 3

Roger Federer's first tournament since his illness has not been so good for him. He missed about 6 weeks of the tour suffering from a lung infection and Indian Wells was the first tournament he was scheduled to play after recovering. His infection was bad enough that there was even talk of him missing the Indian Wells Tournament, but the sportsman in Federer could not stay away from the courts for too long.

However, his matches in the Indian Wells tournament showed that the star was perhaps a bit rusty and would take some time to regain the form that saw him win 16 Grand Slam titles, more than any other male tennis player in history. He managed to scrape to the third round in Indian Wells, but lost a hard fought battle to Marcos Baghdatis in the third round, a match that went to almost two and a half hours for 3 sets, showing how tough the match actually was. Even the scoreline of the match was testament to how close it went, with Baghdatis eventually winning 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) after saving some match points form the Swiss number one.

Interestingly, this was Baghdatis' 7th match against Roger Federer, with Federer winning all the previous 6, the most notable of those being the Australian Open 2006 final. Many will say that the seventh match, too, should have been Federer's, and with Federer leading 7-5, 5-4, 15-40 at one point of the match, the Swiss himself admitted that he lost a match he should have won, ruefully saying, "It was one of those matches where you play well most of the time, and don't play well when you really have to. It's a pity." For all of Federer's fans it is indeed a pity, as they would have liked him to get a few victories under his belt before the all important French Open in May.

Baghdatis, on the other hand, played the match of his life, and was well-rewarded for it, moving into the 4th round of the Masters 1000 tournament. More importantly, he has finally beat the man to beat, and though it took him 7 tries, he was very happy with the result, and even claimed 7 to be his lucky number, in reference to the number of tries it took him to beat the world number one. His victory, which finally came after Federer netted a backhand, saw Baghdatis bend down and kiss the court in joy. The Cypriot, ranked 27th was ecstatic, saying "I don't know what to say. I'm very happy. It's an amazing win for me."And so it has been.

Federer will consider himself unlucky for losing from a winning position, and indeed, the last time he lost a match after being on match point was way back in 2006, to none other than his nemesis Rafael Nadal. Since then he has moved from strength to strength, capturing his first French Open Title, completing a career Grand Slam, and eclipsing past Pete Sampras' record for the most single titles won. Federer will, however, have to work himself to his usually sublime form that saw him being called the best tennis player ever soon, for the 2010 season is demanding and a few more of such losses can have an impact on his ranking.

With the French Open and the Wimbledon coming up soon, the millions of fans that Federer has will be praying that he recovers his health and form, and gets a few victories under his belt before the all important Grand Slams begin in May.