New York - Novak Djokovic now has another reason not to doubt the recovery powers of Roger Federer after collapsing to a four-set loss against the Swiss to exit the US Open. The pair, who played last year's final, got in their semi-final before torrential rain swept the grounds at Flushing Meadows, throwing the weekend schedule into panic mode.
Djokovic stands a modest 2-7 against the Swiss world No. 2, one of his wins coming in this year's Australian Open semis with Federer suffering the effects of glandular fever.
"He's been very dominant in the last four years, he's been the best player in the world," said Djokovic, making the obvious point. "This year you have to give credit to (Paris, Wimbledon and Olympic champion Rafael Nadal), because he's playing the best season, best year so far, and he's been winning so many matches."
But Djokovic, who could have surpassed Federer to take over the No. 2 ranking had he gone onto win the tournaments, added: "Roger is still there.
"And even though people are talking about him not playing so well this year, he's still very consistent. All Grand Slams he was in semis, finals.
"He played well against me even though throughout this tournament he had some difficulties. But that's his strength, Whenever he needs to play well, he plays his best."
************************** NOTEBOOK: Open officials defend Monday's delayed men's final =
New York - US Open officials said they have no regrets about postponing the men's final to an unprecedented Monday night - but failed to note that the timing was determined by television scheduling needs.
Torrential rain on Saturday left Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal hanging in their semi-final and the women's title match between Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams unplayed.
Four-time holder Roger Federer was resting easy after beating Novak Djokovic to go through before the weather moved in.
But with TV bosses helping to pull the strings behind the scenes, the unorthodox schedule at the New York event looks set to conclude in an even more bizarre fashion.
Already the only Grand Slam to leave no rest days between semi- finals and finals for men, it also traditionally crams both men's semis and the women's final in on the last Saturday at the behest of broadcast paymasters.
One slip in the weather forecast can lead to the chaos currently unfolding.
Officials remain defiantly unapologetic: "We cannot control the weather," said one, defending the decision to delay the Saturday start of the Murray-Nadal match for nearly two hours.
"We were told we had a window of clear weather until 5 p.m." Instead, torrential rain arrived two hours earlier.
