Except that recently, the world No 1 has been into the press room within 15 minutes, a touch flustered and not knowing what to expect as a question and what his answer might be. That was the case at the Pacific Life Open, after his 6-3, 6-2 defeat by Mardy Fish, the American, in the semi-finals, his worst day at the office in seven years in terms of fewest games won in a three-set match. Federer played jumpily with the microphone, much as he had done with his game on the court against Fish, a former top20 player who fell away to No 341 at the start of 2006 after a series of injuries, the worst of which, to his left wrist, required two operations the previous year. In this tournament, Fish had beaten Nikolay Davydenko, Lleyton Hewitt and, in the quarter-finals, David Nalbandian, but no one had anticipated what a destructive force he had become. He beat Federer in 63 minutes.