The day Roger Federer couldn’t stop laughing at CNN correspondent’s Spanish phrases and got into a fight with the anchor of his native country’s sports channel. For those who don’t know, CNN has a huge following in Spain and the US is among the favourite destinations for foreign correspondents.
But that’s not the only reason I’m writing about this.
I’m talking about this, because it’s the first time I’ve ever really made it to a top ten on my own in the ATP 500 singles rankings before the start of the season.
After the first round of the US Open, I’d lost my opening match to David Ferrer on a tie-break (with which I was not displeased) – and had come within three points of coming out on top of a two-week wait for my next top eight.
So I decided to use the week that followed to get my ranking position on the back of a strong two-month period. I had a strong start and ended up second in the world and top 100.
If I didn’t beat Federer (or anyone else) at the French Open the week before, I probably would have won the US Open title. It’s not often I’ve been in a final of a grand slam in the same week. I was feeling good and played so well in the Davis Cup final against Spain.
I was very proud of that, but it was also part of why I lost in the first round of the US Open to David Ferrer today on Sunday.
After losing to Federer, I didn’t even feel good enough to talk about my match against Ferrer (though I might have, if the French coach, Christophe Rochus had been kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time and I would have wanted to tell him I thought he played well).
But this week felt like an important step in my career, one that I will hopefully take to another level in the upcoming months.
I still think it’s a long way off, but I’d like to think I have more to give.
At the start of the month, I was in a very good position