Roger Federer

Roger Federer slipped down one place to world number three on Monday, the first time the Swiss great has been ranked outside the top two since November 2003.

Federer, winner of a record 16 grand slams, suffered a shock quarter-final defeat to Czech Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, won for the second time on Sunday by world number one Rafael Nadal.

Federer also lost at the same stage of the French Open in June, breaking a record sequence of 23 consecutive semi-final or better appearances in grand slams going back to Roland Garros in 2004.

Rafael Nadal prowls along the baseline like a wild beast and, as Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych can attest, picks up the scent of blood in similar fashion.

Now his nostrils will be twitching when he is next in proximity to Roger Federer, a loser in two consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals and a man in danger of ceding for good the rectangle of turf he used to call his own.

By the end of Sunday's Wimbledon final there was the sensation, not felt since 2002, that the Centre Court truly belongs to someone other than the Swiss.
 

As Roger Federer bowed out of the 2010 Wimbledon quarter-final, the inevitable end to his incredible supremacy in tennis has finally arrived.

During 2008, and especially after his epic loss to Nadal in the 2009 OZ Open final, most of us kind of had the same feeling, and it was a more than a pleasant surprise that he could put this - by his standards - mediocre period behind him, reclaim the Nr. 1 spot and reach the final at all four Grand Slams, winning three of them.

The King of Wimbledon may not be dead but, for 12 months at least, he has been overthrown.

And with a gaggle of aspiring heirs apparent snapping in line - yesterday's conquering hero Tomas Berdych for one - Roger Federer may never regain his crown.

At 28, with 16 Grand Slam titles and oneyear- old twin daughters tugging him in different directions, time is not on his side.

Like the rest of the sporting world, it seems that even Roger Federer cannot fathom that he actually lost at Wimbledon before the final.

As he has done for the last seven years, the Swiss maestro rolled up at the players’ entrance on the second Thursday of the championships in his courtesy car.

Except this time there will be no gentle practice session on the eve of the men’s semi-final.

Roger Federer was bullied off court for the second time in a month on Wednesday but his Wimbledon exit at the hands of Czech Tomas Berdych could do much more significant damage to his psyche.

For seven years at the All England Club the 28-year-old Swiss has been virtually unbeatable with only an inspired Rafael Nadal getting the better of him in an epic 2008 final.

This year, however, Federer has looked strangely vulnerable from the opening round when he came within three points of defeat by Colombian journeyman Alejandro Falla.