Federer explained his loss in 3rd set to Tsonga at the 2009 Rogers cup as such:
“Well, I think I got off bad starts on all of my service games towards the end. I think I was down maybe Love 30 in each service game. That was a problem for me.
If I maybe just get off 15 Love, 30 15 kind of game, then things might look different, you know. But I didn’t, so I had to scramble each time and have to start playing safe a little bit, and that’s exactly kind of what he needed because otherwise I was just going to hand it over to him.
This way, you know, he made me work for it and he did well to come back. It’s not something I go through very often, being up 5 1 and ending up losing, get broken back to back after having not broken especially throughout the whole match.
It’s tough, you know, but you’re still in it with a chance. But in both tiebreaks I served horribly, and I guess that cost me the match in the end.”
Why I did quote him instead of giving my own theory (after all, I can also pretend to be a pundit, thanks to blogging paradigm!)? Simple: he explained my theory! Its key to have an edge in your service game when you are truly dominating in a match. Else, it opens the door for your opponent to claw his way back in. Towards this, the first 2 points on your service games are critical. Fed plunged on his first serve percentage and paid the price.
