Roger Federer crashed out in the opening round of the Italian Championships Tuesday, falling to No. 40-ranked Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. The world No. 1, playing in his first clay-court match of the year, was playing his first match since losing to Tomas Berdych in the round of 16 of the Sony Ericsson Open on March 30.
“My game was definitely not up to speed,” Federer said. “My serve was not working at all.”
Federer last lost in his opening round match at a tournament at the BNP Paribas Masters indoors in Paris last November. He has never won the title in Rome, one of the few prestigious trophies in tennis that the Swiss does not have in his collection. He will next play the smaller clay court event in Estoril, Portugal, then Madrid, where he is defending champion, before defending his French Open title in Paris.
“I hope I can come back from this. That’s usually what I do after a loss like this,” Federer said. “Sometimes it takes a loss to wake up and shake you up for your approach the next week. When you always win, sometimes you forget how hard it is. That’s why today I don’t get too worried about this loss.”
Gulbis converted on his seventh match point after failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the final set, fighting off nerves and the vocal Italian crowd that did want to see Federer exit the tournament so suddenly.
“He looked rusty,” said tennis commentator Robbie Koenig following the match. “Perhaps he (Federer) had too much time off in the end.”
Federer, who has won 16 major singles titles, is still in the double competition as he and partner Yves Allegro won their first round match Monday.