It’s been almost a month since we saw Roger Federer last but he made sure we got more than just a glimpse of him on his first match back on the hardcourts of Shanghai. Federer faced off against the fast rising Argentinean player Leonardo Mayer. Mayer was ranked 94 at the beginning of this year but has since raced through the rankings to being the current world #25. This was their first meeting. On paper it seemed this should have been a straight sets win for Roger. But Leonardo, who had cited Roger as his idol before, had other plans.

Mayer burst out of the gates in the first set with a very high level of play from the start. He had a clear game plan in mind and executed it very well while Roger was definitely rusty. Roger got broken in just his second service game while Mayer continued…