New York • Even with all the times Roger Federer held the U.S. Open trophy, he still can’t forget the time it slipped through his fingers.
He had won five titles in a row in Flushing Meadows and was a game away from a sixth in 2009 when Juan Martin del Potro pulled out a fourth-set tiebreaker, then won the fifth set.
He’s never been that close to winning the U.S. Open since, just once even reaching the final.
That would have been hard to imagine then, when Federer would steamroll into New York at the tail end of some of the greatest seasons in tennis history.