Even though his trademark aces helped the Croat to fight them off, Serra continued to play with confidence, keeping Karlovic at the baseline and winning his service games just as easily as his hard serving opponent. The first set was decided in a tiebreak when Karlovic failed to return a loopy 133 km/h (83 mph) serve. His forehand started to let him down more and more in the second set while his backhand had been a liability throughout. Down a break point at 4-4, Karlovic came to the net behind yet another weak backhand slice and Serra’s passing shot secured the Frenchman the lone break of the match.



Intermezzo

In just his fourth ATP match of the year, Swiss Wild Card Stéphane Bohli got off to a good start against Andreas Seppi, breaking the Italian in the first game of the match and then again to edge out the opening set 6-4. Seppi came back strong and stormed through the second set 6-1, then continued his dominance to lead 4-1 in the third. By then, the proximity of the scheduled start of the Opening Ceremony had helped to fill the ranks at Center Court, and the spectators were ready to support their compatriot. Bohli visibly enjoyed the cheers from the crowd and pushed himself to fight back to 4-4. Serving at 4-5, he saved a match point with a nice drop-shot volley. However, two games later, Seppi was through to the second round when Bohli’s forehand sailed long.


Aria

The Opening Ceremony was stipulated as the highlight of the day. And, thanks to the excellent Basler Festival Orchestra, the Choir of the Basel Theater, and, of course, the great Montserrat Caballé, it certainly was. The choir and orchestra opened with pieces by Richard Wagner, Guiseppe Verdi, and Carl Orff. Orff’s Carmina Burana prompted the first standing ovation of the day.

The President of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors, Roger Brennwald, then introduced both of the promised “world stars,” presenting Caballé with a check for 82 900 CHF for a charity she supports and Federer with replicas of the three trophies he had previously won in Basel. While the hometown champion then went to prepare for his upcoming match, Caballé took the stage with “Habanera” (from Bizet’s Carmen) and “March with Me,” a song to which she wrote the lyrics.


Grand Finale

Judging by the applause and enthusiasm of the crowd as Roger Federer took the court, you wouldn’t have noticed that this was a first round match. Though he has had tough matches against Olivier Rochus, in the past, Federer didn’t have much trouble when he faced the Belgian today. The Swiss dominated his service games, didn’t allow a single break point and, while he missed a few opportunities on Rochus’ serve, managed to do just enough to break the Rochus once per set.

Federer’s on-court interview seemed to entertain the Swiss crowd just as much as the match itself. Federer was as relaxed as ever, talking about winning the Wimbledon Junior Doubles title with Rochus in 1998, joking about his past break being longer than the off-season, and that playing doubles is his way to get out of diaper duty.

In contrast, the top seed’s post-match interview was rather serious. Asked about Andre Agassi’s revelation about crystal meth use and lying to the ATP, Federer expressed his disappointment. The news, he said, came like a “dark cloud” over the sport and hurt its image. He also noted that, diaper changes aside, playing doubles with childhood friend Marco Chiudinelli on the Center Court in Basel will be a dream come true.

Exit Music

As journalists were rushing to catch Federer in the Interview Room and the public started filtering out, still humming a mash-up of “Habanera” and Carmina Burana, Radek Stepanek quietly won against Reiner Schuettler, 6-2, 6-0, handing the German veteran his 15th first round loss of the year.


More photos from the 2009 Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel.
Photos: Tina van Eickels