Federer and Roddick Lose in the Third Round at Rome

UPDATE at the bottom.

Today Roger Federer played poorly and lost in the third round at Rome to a local wildcard named Filippo Volandri, ranked No. 1 in Italy. This is the second time Volandri has made it into the quarterfinals at Rome.

Roger made 44 unforced errors, as opposed to only 12 winners, getting less than half his first serves in.

Likewise the No. 3 seed, Andy Roddick got beat today, 6-2, 6-4, by Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

First and foremost he just played better than I did. You maybe start questioning things if it was a close match, but not today. I didn't actually hit the ball that badly today. I just wasn't constructing on the points all the way through. I constructed to a certain point and then missed bit. But as far as making contact with the ball and hitting it decent, it wasn't horrible. Like I said, I made it really tough for myself. I served 50% and so he's getting looks at rallies every time. When I'm not doing what I do best, and then you're fighting the other challenges it's going to make for a tough day. So I kind of banging my head against the wall a little bit today.

UPDATE: Read Federer's presser. Beginning to sound like a White House press briefing. These reporters are digging for something they wanna find . . . to hype the story with, and they just won't see that it ain't there. They act like there's something unusual about even the world's best player playing badly now and then. Everything Roger says bounces right off their forehands, as they virtually reply with, "No, I don't want that answer. Let me put words in your mouth for you. Isn't this what really happened instead? Blah, blah, blah."

If this were a work of fiction, he'd probably hire you artists to do that (= write the plot) for him.

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