Federer leans on U.S. Open success after tough year

NEW YORK – His Wimbledon reign and No. 1 ranking surrendered, Roger Federer has one trump card left in his competition with Rafael Nadal: four straight U.S. Open titles.

He figures that counts for something heading into the start today of the year’s final Grand Slam.

“I still believe it’s an advantage if you know how to win a U.S. Open,” said Federer, shut out so far this year on the game’s biggest stages. “It’s a tough tournament to win.”

There were questions during media day Saturday about a “different” Federer and whether Nadal was a clear favorite even though the Spaniard has never been past the quarterfinals here.

That’s what happens when you’ve beaten your rival in two Grand Slam finals this year and won an Olympic gold medal that both players flew halfway around the world to pursue just two weeks before the Open.

American James Blake squashed Federer’s Olympic hopes in the quarterfinals in Beijing, beating the Swiss star for the first time after winning just one set in eight previous matches.

Federer didn’t seem too disappointed to hand the No. 1 mantle to Nadal, at least for now. Federer spent 237 weeks at No. 1 – basically 4 1/2 years – before Nadal replaced him last week.

“Rafa will now feel what I had to feel for a very long time,” Federer said. “So it will be interesting to see how he handles it, but so far he’s been great and he’s played so well on all surfaces now. Maybe it’s nice to go into a Grand Slam for a change not having No. 1 next to me, and it should be interesting.”