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 The country is on tenterhooks to learn whether its favorite son
Federer, struggling with a back injury, can recover from injury in
time to cap his matchless individual career by joining Wawrinka and
winning a first team 'World Cup' for his nation against France in
Lille.
Everything had been going swimmingly in Federer's historic quest
until Saturday evening's semi-final of the ATP World Tour finals, in
which he ousted his equally in-form pal Wawrinka in an epic
three-setter.
Yet not only did the draining final moments of Federer's win
reawaken his old back trouble, forcing him to withdraw before
Sunday's final against Novak Djokovic, but the late tension of the
match also caused Wawrinka to offer sharp, unimpressed words toward
his opponent's support team at courtside.
John McEnroe, the former American firebrand now commentating for
ESPN, only threw more fuel on the flames with his revelations that
the two players were engaged in a long post-match debate.
"Something went on in the locker-room, there was a long talk between
the players that extended well into the night," said McEnroe.
"And the stress of that -- I can't confirm all of this -- but a lot
of this went on and I don't think that helped the situation."
Near the end of an increasingly stressful match which was only
settled by a final set tiebreak during which Federer picked up his
injury, it had appeared Wawrinka was unhappy with the exuberance of
the celebrations of Federer's camp, led by his wife Mirka and father
Robbie.
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One French TV station reported that it had picked up Wawrinka
complaining: "She did the same thing at Wimbledon." The team mates
had played there in a quarter-final in the summer.
Wawrinka, though, later downplayed the incident, saying that
"nothing much, nothing special".
"Tense match, never easy," he said.
The pair were due to travel to France on Monday to start
preparations for the final with Federer still hopeful of shaking off
the injury, even though any recurrence of the back problems which
hampered him so much in 2013 must be a long-term worry for the
33-year-old.
"The way I feel right now, there's no way I can compete at any level
really," Federer said on Sunday. "Probably in a few days it's going
to be better.
"This back spasm or whatever it might be, it's just not a fun thing
to have during the day. It's just uncomfortable. But I'm positive
and I'm hopeful that it's going to go away very soon."
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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