CHICAGO — Day was breaking in the California desert, and Roger Federer was yawning on the tarmac.
How much sleep?
“Five hours,” he said. “Not enough after a match like that.”
The final of the BNP Paribas Open had indeed been quite a test: a 2-hour-42-minute duel with Juan Martín del Potro that was out of tune with Federer’s crescendo season. He ended up losing in a lopsided third-set tiebreaker after serving for the title and holding three match points at 5-4 in the final set.
“It’s always disappointing when you lose having had match points,” Federer said.