Roger Federer could not cope with the tag of being favourite for the ATP Finals and that led to his semi-final defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
That is the view of former British No 1 and Amazon Prime pundit Greg Rusedski.
There was a 17-year gap in experience between Federer and Tsitsipas but the young Greek played nerveless tennis as he saved 11 out of 12 break point chances and converted on three of his four opportunities to stun the six-time champion.
After a flawless performance against Novak Djokovic on Thursday, Federer leaked errors against Tsitsipas and in his analysis of the match, Rusedski felt the weight of pressure got to the 38-year-old.
“There was expectation,” Rusedski said. “All of a sudden he played that magical match against Novak Djokovic, played his best match ever and everybody is saying ‘Roger Federer is going to win the title’.
“There is pressure put on you and the older you get, to deal with pressure becomes difficult.
“There is nobody who’s played ever as well as Roger Federer at 38.
“[But] he’s human and the break point chances were the key, the big points.
“One for 12 for Federer, Tsitsipas was three for four and that was the huge difference.”
Speaking after the match, Federer admitted he threw away too many chances against Tsitsipas which ultimately cost him.
He said: “Look, I’m just — I’m frustrated I couldn’t play better, and when I did and fought my way back, I threw it away again.
“Again, like I said, it was also parts of him. He did come up with the goods when he had to, and he was better than me today.
“It’s the year-end. It’s over now and I can’t make it better. I tried everything I could, to be honest, you know.
“I tried to chip it eventually, tried to stay back and hit some. I tried to come forward. And for the most part I actually tried to play up in the court and tried to play aggressive.
“But of course with his aggression, it’s not always easy because he always takes the ball very early himself too.
“I knew he was going to be incredibly athletic. He was just a little bit better today at all those little things.”
