Indian Wells According to Iron Man … aka Roger Federer

Roger Federer has been scoping out the #NextGen challengers for some time now. He’s also thrown some shade towards them not being ready to take on the Powers That Be in any meaningful way. And well…dude sometimes gets bored out there.
 

Stomping into the semifinals, Federer was feeling pretty good about his game, though careful observers had noted the dodgy stretches in most of his matches–plus the way Chung had at times made Olderer look a bit….slow.

Borna Coric appeared to be one of those careful observers. He came to play.
 

 
A subtly cunning player like Gilles Simon, Coric is known for his defense but as yet underappreciated for his thoughtful tactics on court. The ESPN commentators, having eviscerated Borna’s lack of the lauded “BIG FOREHAND” in a previous match, were not expecting much from him against ze Maestro.
 

Federer seemed to be operating under the same assumption, that Borna wouldn’t offer up much that could hurt him. He was perhaps listing in his head the number of #NextGeners that he’d delivered some bakery to when things started to go horribly awry…
 

 
After Borna took the first set 7-5, Fed realized he was gonna have to science the shit out of this match, and find a way to counter his opponent’s repeatedly surprising attacks. And how to get his damn serve to actually work on this flypaper court.
 

 

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Coric had his chances at that second set, but it’s tough to out-science the GOAT…
 

…and Federer took set two, 6-4.
 

Past tennis precedent hinted that this final set could go very, very badly for Baby Borna, but he kept up the fight, keeping the set close.
 

Point of the match!

Federer earns himself a break point at 30-all and he converts, drawing back even in the third vs. Coric.

He then holds, so we're back on serve — *1-2 Borna serving. #BNPPO18

🎥 @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/xRNsEjxAYr

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 17, 2018

All of that emotional and physical tension, however, eventually took its toll.
 

Once again the Elder Statesman waved a bigger wand and took the 3rd & final set, 6-4.
 

 

The Maestro is generally quite blunt about his assessments of his opponent’s and his own strategies in his post-match press conferences. He often gives extremely complex and interesting responses, and he bestowed a heavy dose of respect on Coric after their hotly-contested semifinal. He even indicated this may have been the toughest match he’d played all year.
 

 
Coric was also very thoughtful in his remarks to press, finding much to be proud of in his own game while still acknowledging the reasons why Fed won the match and why he’s a “champion.”
 

And if you look realllllly, reallly closely, you can see the tiniest flicker that he’s pleased that Fed spoke highly of him.
 

 

***BUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FINAL???? CLICK HERE TO GO TO PAGE 3 AND FIND OUT!!***