Explaining Roger Federer's long, strange trip past Frances Tiafoe

NEW YORK—Can a five-set match contain just two thoroughly competitive games? That’s how Roger Federer’s strange, topsy-turvy, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 win over Frances Tiafoe in the first round on Tuesday night felt.

The match went the distance, but lasted just two hours and 37 minutes; that’s 13 minutes less than Alexander Zverev’s straight-set win from the previous night. Federer vs. Tiafoe was the tennis equivalent of a swirling breeze. You never knew which way it was going to head next, but once it chose a direction, it tended to stick with it until the end of a set.

Federer said he was worried about his recently injured back at the beginning of the match. The result was an error-filled first set. When Federer wasn’t flipping his backhand into the net, he was shanking it long.

Tiafoe, to his credit, made Federer pay for his mistakes. He broke in the opening game, and, standing on top of the baseline and dictating with his forehand, held out from there. Federer managed to earn one break point, but squandered it by drilling an easy backhand pass into the net.

The turnaround finally came with Tiafoe serving at 1-2 in the second. The American made a series of routine forehand mistakes, and flubbed a makable backhand volley at break point. For the first time, Federer had a spring in his step, and some weight on his shots. “I finally let go,” he said of his back worries, and he raced through the next two sets. By the end of the third, Tiafoe had hit 10 winners and committed 35 errors.

But just when it seemed that this match had begun to make sense, it flew off on an entirely new and unexpected path again. Tiafoe, it seemed, had lulled Federer, along with the rest of the world, into the false belief that the match was essnetially over. As the fourth set began, Tiafoe’s intensity reappeared with it. His serve and forehand had more bite again; Federer, caught off guard, was broken on aanother backhand error at 1-2. This time it was Tiafoe’s turn to run away with the set.

Suddenly, this odd, indecisive match was going to be decided, like it or not, by a fifth set. Again, it didn’t waste any time choosing a player to get behind. For the third time, the break of serve came at 1-2. Tiafoe tossed up a bad drop shot, and Federer put it away with a backhand. When he held for 4-1, it looked like the match had finally reached its verdict, the one we had expected all along.

Yet it turned out that Federer-Tiafoe had saved its best twist for last. Serving at 5-3, Federer began to charge the net on a wing and a prayer. He managed to reach match point with that reckless tactic, but he sent an awkward backhand volley wide. On Tiafoe’s second break point, Federer charged again, and Tiafoe passed him with a screaming down the line forehand. Finally, the night had come alive.

But the tension was short-lived. Serving at 4-5, Tiafoe missed two forehands for 0-30, and on match point he couldn’t get under a Federer slice, and sent another forehand into the net.

The final numbers weren’t pretty: Federer hit 41 winners and made 56 errors; Tiafoe’s totals were 23 and 49. Perhaps the most important positive stat of the night was Federer’s 17 aces, which saved him some running.

Asked afterward how he felt, Federer said he was just happy to be in New York after missing the Open in 2016—not exactly a ringing endorsement of his own health. His next opponent will be either Mikhail Youzhny or Blaz Kavcic. Luckily for Federer, they still have to play each other, and will come into their match with him on Thursday without a day’s rest.

There’s no reason to look further ahead than that. As his odd first-rounder with Tiafoe showed, Federer will have to take this fortnight, as the cliché goes, one match at a time.

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