Federer, Djokovic ousted by tennis young guns in Shanghai

Roger Federer joined Novak Djokovic in being dumped out of the Shanghai Masters tournament on Friday by tennis young guns.

Both tennis long reigning stars were beaten in three sets each in the quarters finals of the championship. Djokovic, the first to fall was beaten by Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas while Federer was thrashed by Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic and Federer were seeded Number one and Number two.

With their ouster, the young guns may well be serving notice to Federer and Djovovic, that their time of dominance in the game may be coming to an end soon.

Djokovic, the defending champion was the first to fall on Friday, losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

The 21-year-old Greek has now defeated Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal this year to burnish his fast-growing reputation.

Zverev who has not been consistent since hopes were pinned on him as Next Generation tennis champions, followed up by also sending veteran Federer home, in a match watched by Federer’s parents.

As in the Djokovic-Tsitsipas match, the Zverev-Federer scoreline was similar. Federer lost 3-6 7-6 3-6.

Federer, playing out of sorts, made too many errors and even at a stage snapped, arguing with the umpire, who slammed a point penalty against him.

The German took his head-to-head record against the 20-time grand slam champion to 4-3 with a display of immense quality and huge character.

Federer was winner of the title in 2014 and 2017, frequently showed his displeasure and repeatedly argued with the umpire, even landing a point penalty after hitting the ball into the crowd in anger.

But his unrest was largely down to the brilliance of Zverev, who defiantly overcame the setback of missing out on five match-point openings in the second set.