EVER since Roger Federer won the first of his Grand Slam titles nearly nine years ago and ascended to the world No 1 spot a few months later, he has repeatedly faced opponents who wanted to emulate him. Yet rarely has he taken on anyone who is so unabashed in his hero worship at Belgian youngster David Goffin.
Even though Goffin used to have posters of Federer plastered around his adolescent bedroom in Liege, he didn’t allow any form of stage fright or intimidation as he tested the French Open’s third seed’s title credentials. In the end Federer won through 5-7 7-5 6-2 6-4 but maintained his opponent looked anything but a lucky loser and is set to enjoy a great future.
“I guess it was a nice situation as he idolised me,” said Federer who now moves through to a record 32nd consecutive Grand Slam quarter final. “I thought he played really well and gave a great impression. He has great potential.
“For me it was rather like the time I played Patrick Rafter here in 1999 when I played my first ever Grand Slam event as a 17-year-old. I won the first set and then he took the next three.”
However Goffin, ranked 109 in the world and only included in the main draw at Roland Garros because Gael Monfils was forced to drop out with a knee injury, won considerably more than the five games Federer managed to muster in the concluding three sets against the current day Australian Davis Cup captain.
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Light and nimble with ability to move quickly over the clay, the 21-year-old who figured in Belgium’s Davis Cup win over Great Britain in Glasgow two months ago, made Federer toil for his place in the last eight.
Goffin seemed inspired as he took the opening set after stunning Federer with a breathtaking forehand to register the first break of serve after early deadlock. Confidence seemed to exude from the Grand Slam rookie and things seemed intriguingly poised until Federer broke serve to make it 6-5 in the second set before leveling the match.
From then on things reverted to type with Federer in control and Goffin's early enterprise affected by fatigue and the realisation of just who was playing across the net.
Goffin, the first lucky loser to reach the last 16 of a major tournament Belgian Dick Norman reached Wimbledon’s fourth round in 1995, his said: “I came out of the qualifiers and I played my best tennis in my first three matches. Then playing Roger was the cherry on the cake. I won't hide the fact that I had photos of Roger everywhere on the walls of my bedroom. It was like a dream for me playing him here.”
Prior to this event, Goffin’s best performance on the ATP World Tour was reaching the quarter finals of the year opening event in Chennai and he continued: “It was like a fairy tale early on and I was aggressive in the beginning but towards the end I grew a little bit tired. It was a good moment when I sat down in the chair after winning the first set against my idol but I knew it would be tough because there was another two for me.”
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Now Goffin is destined to rise to the low 60’s when the next ATP World Tour ranking list is released after the tournament and he concluded: “Of course it was the biggest match of my life. I was of course a little bit nervous but physically I was good at the start of the match and it was a great experience.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will return to Court Philippe Chatrier on Monday a break to the good in the final set of his fourth-round encounter with Stanislas Wawrinka. The Frenchman led by two sets to love before Wawrinka, unlucky to be trailing by such a scoreline, hit back in sets three and four to force a decider.
Despite the eerie parallels with their third round meeting settled in the Paris dusk a year ago, Tsonga looked set to emerge victorious this time after breaking in game four before holding for a 4-1 lead. Had he broken the Swiss once more he would surely have been allowed the opportunity to serve out the match, but Wawrinka held and the tournament officials suspended the action. The winner faces top seed Novak Djokovic, whose five-set encounter with Andreas Seppi pushed back the court schedule.
With Roland Garros now the only Grand Slam venue without a floodlit show court, Juan Martin del Potro was also left frustrated by the dying light after taking a two sets to one lead against Tomas Berdych. The Argentine had moved 7-6 1-6 6-3 ahead when bad light stopped play on Court Suzanne Lenglen, as Tsonga and Wawrinka started the fifth set on Chatrier. Federer awaits the winner in the last eight.