Indian Wells According to Iron Man … aka Roger Federer

Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, has some thoughts about how that whole Indian Wells thing went down. He’s going to share them with you below, but we just wanted to let you in on a little secret, first: Tony, in all his gloriously intelligent, sinfully skillful, sickeningly wealthy and egomaniacal greatness, is so totally Roger Federer. (I mean, just think about it…how much would Tony love being called “The Maestro”?)
 

So, some backstory: Roger Federer’s miraculous 2017 kicked off with his first Slam win since Wimby 2012, and the rarely achieved “Sunshine Double” — winning both the Indian Wells and Miami Masters. Fed himself wasn’t expecting 2018 to reach those same lofty heights, yet he started off rather admirably by winning the AO again for his 20th overall Slam win. Then he checked those ranking numbers and realized….holy shit! He could reach number 1 again at the ripe old age of 36.
 

Which…of course he did, after winning the title in Rotterdam. But here’s where things get tricky — he knew he had a buttload of points to defend coming up on that Sunshine Double again. So, the pressure was on to get as far as possible in both tourneys and hold on to that Numero Uno distinction.

So here we are, at Indian Wells 2018. Federer’s opening round was delayed before it even started, as an annoying misty rain settled on the proceedings. We all know how much Fed loves rain delays.
 

Not happy 😐🌧️ pic.twitter.com/e0XAvQqC6S

— Dinora (@norinchi_df) March 11, 2018

The Maestro was crabby and he wasn’t that comfortable on the court yet, but despite having to play the match over two days, he took out Federico Delbonis, 6-3, 7-6(6).

Next up was Filip Krajinovic, who’s been on a run of good form lately. Fil and his crafty skills were down 0-2 when he surprised Herr Federer and broke him right back, then consolidated for 2-all in the first set. Fed was not happy that Fil’s volleys seemed to be landing a lot better than his own.
 

Despite being even tetchier than in his last match, and suffering some ups and downs in his level of play, he bulldozed the scoreline the rest of the way, finishing with a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline.

It wasn’t until the Round of 16 match against Jeremy Chardy that Federer truly looked like his smooth, artistic self on the slow-ass Indian Wells court.
 

As you can see in the clip above, both men were enjoying the tennis on this one, crazy tweeners and all. Ultimately, the Fedster enjoyed it more, winning with a 7-5, 6-4 scoreline.

He was feeling so relaxed after the match, in fact, he took up tweeting with his fans later that day.
 

Can’t wait to visit #Chicago for the first time next week. What shall I do while I am in town? #LaverCup 🤔 pic.twitter.com/OMFSu04mXK

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) March 15, 2018

Mirka when she sees @rogerfederer is tweeting again at midnight instead of sleeping pic.twitter.com/GQXX5uCHT1

— Sascha Hardcourterer 🐍 (@samtennis189) March 15, 2018

His PR duties for Laver Cup (and a promo day in Chicago that was likely already carefully planned a year ago) done for the night, it was time to focus on his buzziest match so far — a rematch against #NextGen star Hyeon Chung.

(Article continues below.)

The two had played a majorly-hyped semifinal at the Australian Open, which ended rather disappointingly with a retirement for Chung, down 1-6, 2-5. The youngster later posted graphic pics of his horrifying foot blisters on social media…
 

At Indian Wells, Chung was ready to rumble. He came out swinging hard, and his quick reflexes and powerful shots often left Rog swinging at air as the ball whizzed past him for a winner.
 

By the end of the set, however, Rog decided it was time for super intimidation mode…
 

He broke for 7-5, first set in the bag. And after a rough start to the second set, saving 4 BPs to finally hold, Federer brought out the BIG guns.
 

Fed dished the breadstick, and it was on to bigger and better things, like harassing his BFF Tommy Haas during the former player-now-tournament-director’s retirement ceremony.
 

When your mate have an important speech, but you can't stop laughing 😁 pic.twitter.com/tJ3w8SkymY

— Inspired 🦁Tennis (@inspiredtennis) March 16, 2018

These two.. #Federer #TommyHass #Bromance pic.twitter.com/IrLYusz7Ac

— Kishore Sharma (@KishoreRF) March 16, 2018

Dark times were ahead, though, as two other foes still stood between him and the Indian Wells trophy, and were already plotting his demise…
 

***GO ON TO PAGE 2 to see how Loki and Thor fare!***