Federer Falls at Wimbledon, Loses Despite Two-Set Lead

The 2011 Wimbledon results had been quite conventional in the men's bracket until Wednesday. In fact, Wednesday's results were quite predictable, but for one glaring exception, as the greatest champion in the tournament's history went down. Roger Federer went down like never before, losing his first ever two-set lead to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, according to the Associated Press. However, early losses like this aren't that rare for Federer anymore.

Although Federer has made 29 straight Grand Slam quarterfinals, he is starting to lose a lot earlier lately. In fact, he hasn't won a major since the 2010 Australian Open, and has been eliminated in the last two Wimbledon quarterfinals. Since he is pushing 30, and Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been more dominant lately, many are eager to proclaim the Federer era over.

It looked like he turned a corner at the French Open after snapping Djokovic's long winning streak in the semifinals and challenging Nadal in the finals. But there will be no Federer-Nadal final this time, as Nadal and Djokovic are now favored to reach the championship and cement themselves as the new first- and second-place players in the world.

Given Federer's first ever blown two-set lead, it would seem to be another sign of his downfall. But as Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim pointed out, the loss was more about Tsonga's rally than Federer's collapse. This match alone may not be the "jumping off point for the Federer obituary," although it has seemingly been in the works since Nadal's classic triumph in the 2008 Wimbledon final.

This has been hailed as a new golden age for men's tennis, with Nadal and Federer now joined at the top by Djokovic. Because Federer is still very much in this Big Three, he cannot be counted out as a threat just yet. But once he fails to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal at long last, he will probably be officially written off.

At the least, tennis isn't a one-man show, as it used to be when Federer was at his most dominant. Nadal eventually closed the gap, and Djokovic has been doing the same throughout this year. In addition, Andy Murray is still looking to get over the hump, while Tsonga hopes to capitalize on his breakthrough and Mardy Fish is trying to bring America back to the tennis limelight.

The game is getting tighter and more competitive, but it is still lacking something without Federer. For most of Wimbledon, it appeared the results would be exactly like those at the French Open, with the top four seeds in the semifinals and a Federer-Nadal final.

Now that none of that will happen, it takes away a bit of anticipation for the final weekend. Yet tennis still has a Nadal-Murray semifinal and a potential Nadal-Djokovic final to hype up even with Federer gone.

Sources

Yahoo Sports- "Federer can't hold on at Wimbledon against Tsonga"

SI.com- "Shocker more than Tsonga than Federer"