It was perfect weather to brew a perfect storm in Montreal. However, Roger Federer’s lackluster performance and the lack of any visible attempt to put up a fight to meet Zverev's challenge made it quite anticlimactic.
Zverev played as best as he could and did not make it any easier for Federer.
Little worked for Federer, and nothing went wrong for Zverev.
Alexander Zverev played well by swinging for the fences and delivering super-sonic second serves ever so often. Nothing seemed to go wrong for him.
The first game of the set showcased the best tennis that Roger Federer played in the entire match and even in that Federer made far too many mistakes.
On Zverev's serve at 40-15 down, Federer came up with a down the line shot for 40-30 and then, on the next point, delivered a winning forehand service return for deuce. The next point saw Zverev's shot barely clipped the line, thereby giving him the advantage and the game after a few more points. Not only was Federer’s service broken in the fourth game of the first set but he also seemed unable to tame the tide of unforced errors and easy misses emanating from his racket.
Federer did not put up a fight to Zverev.
The second set wasn't any different than the first, and Federer's serve was broken again in the seventh game, of that set, for a 4-3 lead by Alexander Zverev. Federer made enough effort to keep the score respectable and achieved just about that at the end.
Little worked for Roger in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, and his attempts at playing serve and volley were either negated by Zverev’s passing shots or rendered ineffective by Roger’s sluggish movement and unforced mistakes.
Was Roger Federer injured?
Was Roger Federer injured? Even Zverev acknowledged that Federer’s serve not quite as hard.
However, Federer denied such speculations, in his post match interview, while acknowledging minor aches and pains as a result of playing the first hard court tournament of the summer season; but something was amiss with the way Roger played the match. He was making far too many errors, and even not trying to reach for balls which ordinarily he’d attempt to return.
Zverev was able to capitalize on a few significant opportunities that he was given by Federer.
Alexander Zverev won his second Masters 1000 tournament of the year 2017 and received a check for $894,585 for his efforts in Montreal, and Roger Federer, for his part, missed an opportunity to tie Lendl’s record of 94 career tournament win.
