Roger Federer says conditions were tough during his doubles match at London Olympics

Swiss Maestro Roger Federer believes that playing conditions were tough than usual during the doubles match that he and his team mate Stanislas Wawrinka lost to Israel’s Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

Federer and Wawrinka had made a fine start but the level of their game dropped drastically. The Swiss team had captured the first set but they went on to drop the next two, losing the contest 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

The match was being played on Court no. 18 of the All England Club, where Federer has not played any match in the last 10 years. Since winning the 2003 Wimbledon title, Federer has played all of his matches on the show courts i.e. Centre Court and Court no. 1.

Talking to media people after the match, Federer said, "Conditions were tough. They were breezy, a lot of shadow on the courts. But that didn't disrupt our play. Honestly, I thought they struggled a lot with that (the shadows). I thought they had virtually no chance on our service games and on the returns we were making all the play.”

The Swiss star added, "They definitely played better once the shadows went, all the flags, all the spectator shadows were gone. It was more clean tennis. Overall I thought we played a good tournament. It just wasn't meant to be today."

Federer and Wawrinka were defending the title they had won four years ago in Beijing. Currently at the first position in singles ranking, Federer has never won a medal in singles. Before the start of Beijing Olympics, the 17-time Grand Slam champion had shared his desire to retain the doubles title. Federer has said that winning doubles Gold in Beijing gave him one of the happiest moments of his career.

That title was special from the fact that Federer was upset by James Blake in straight sets 4-6, 6-7(2) in the quarter-finals. At a time when he was really disappointed that victory in the doubles category provided him relief from criticism.

Nevertheless, Federer’s journey towards Gold Medal in singles category continued at the London Olympics. The Swiss legend toppled Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Federer entered London Olympics on the top of his form. Just three weeks back, Federer downed Great Britain’s Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final to capture his 17th Grand Slam title.