Kokkinakis 177th ranked player beats Federer in Miami

Federer will look to regain the illustrious form that preceded him at the Miami Masters on Saturday afternoon when he faces Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the Round of 64.

The 36-year-old Federer, the oldest man to be ranked world No.1, will lose that spot to Rafael Nadal when the new rankings are released on April 2.

Federer said he had already moved on from Sunday’s loss to Del Potro in Indian Wells, saying he was due a loss after a successful 2017. The ball, I wasn’t feeling.

After starting the season at 17-0, Federer has lost his last two matches – the final of the BNP Paribas Open and Saturday’s second round match.

“It’s disappointing”, Federer said. “You have to be able to serve well”. You probably have to break it down to the key moments.

“Wrong decision-making by me, good decision-making by him”. He was a bit more relaxed.

Kokkinakis had practiced with Federer in Dubai on several occasions, so the two knew each other well, though they had never faced each other on tour.

‘I know that you can’t be the person that you were yesterday, and the player [you once were].

Kokkinakis is the lowest ranked player to topple a world No. 1 in 15 years.

Not so lucky though was young Australian qualifier Alex De Minaur. “If I play well, I think I can do some good things”. I have time now. “I don’t want to sit here and whine about my last couple of years”, he added.

“He’s been real supportive”. Asked what symptoms she had, she said: “Like I need to throw up a lot”.

Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia celebrates beating the world No 1. “Inside I was pretty happy, I was excited, but I kept pretty calm”.

“Winning a lot of baseline rallies and dictating with my forehand, I think when I’m playing like that off the ground, I can be very risky”, said Kokkinakis after the win. We have worked very hard together. “I just needed to play my game and aggressive tennis”. Nadal won 24 of his 25 matches on clay last season, including winning a 10th French Open title, and has 4,680 points to defend and if he has an early exit at any of the events on the clay circuit then Federer will leapfrog him.

‘I’m a positive thinker. I felt like the third (set) could be a tricky one, of course. Especially after losing one, clearly, I am down right now. I like to go into the tournaments with little bit of stress. “It is unfortunate how it goes”. Are you ever going to come back?

Kokkinakis had Federer wobbling in the second set when he broke in the fourth game, and had break points in the sixth, before going on to level the match.