Top seed Roger Federer refuses to become flustered as he heads into a title defence beginning on Tuesday at his home Swiss Indoors.
BASEL: Top seed Roger Federer refuses to become flustered as he heads into a title defence beginning on Tuesday at his home Swiss Indoors.
The former ballboy at the St Jakobshalle says he won't carry any lingering bad memories forward into his opening match Tuesday against 56th-ranked German Michael Berrer after losing his grip on Sunday's Madrid Masters final and going down 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to David Nalbandian.
"Usually I play better in finals, but I didn't have my best day," confessed the 12-time Grand Slam champion, who won both Madrid and Basel a year ago.
"It must have had to do with his great game."
And the winner of a leading total of six titles on the ATP this season added: "I play two or three indoor events a year, not a lot.
"It's not a worry at all that I lost, I'm not concerned for Shanghai."
Federer leads the field at the November 11 start of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, the last place he lost indoors, when he was beaten in the 2005 final by Nalbandian.
Nalbandian has added his name as a long-odds possibility for a return to Shanghai with his Madrid heroics over the Swiss.
The Argentine joins 17 of the 20 players still mathematically in the hunt for a spot - they range from from number six David Ferrer to number 25 Ivo Karlovic.
Nalbandian lurks as an unseeded danger in Federer's half of the home draw. Swiss Stan Wawrinka would do his Davis Cup teammate a great favour were he to knock out Nalbandian in the first round.
The Argentine enters Basel after rising from 33rd to 25th in the point race to the season-ender.
He trails number eight Tommy Haas by 74 points and would collect 50 points if he wins Basel. But Haas's chances could be fading after the German withdrew ill from this week's Lyon tournament.
Nalbandian has lost to finals here and is not out of chances. But he has other race contenders in his quarter of the 32-man draw including James Blake, Tomas Berdych and compatriot Ignacio Chela.
Other Shanghai hopefuls out to improve their standing with two regular season ATP weeks remaining are Fernando Gonzalez, the 2005 winner and 2006 runner-up, David Ferrer, Guillermo Canas, Marcos Baghdatis and Paul-Henri Mathieu.
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