5 Instances when Roger Federer's serve deserted him completely

#2 2011 US Open semifinal - Serving for the match at 5-3 in the fifth set vs. Novak Djokovic

2011 US Open - Day 13

2011 was the first Slam-less year for Federer since 2002. He reached the semi-final of the Australian Open where he lost to Djokovic in three sets, the French Open final where he lost Nadal in four and the quarterfinal of Wimbledon where he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets.

This was the second consecutive year in which both players would lock horns at the 2011 US Open semifinals. Both players before this bout had a tight match at the 2011 French Open semi-final, which Federer won in four sets.

Federer won the first two sets, but Djokovic won the next two in quick succession to level the match and force into a decider.

The drama unfolded in the fifth set at 4-3 when Federer broke the Serb’s serve to love to take a crucial 5-3 lead. Serving for the match at 40-15, the Swiss Master looked well on course for another showdown with Nadal—their possible maiden encounter at Flushing Meadows. But as in the previous encounters against Federer, Djokovic was at his unflappable best.

Djokovic saved the first match point by smashing a return that flew past Federer even before he could react. It was 40-30 and Federer still had a chance to close out the match on his serve. However, an unforced error, which saw Federer’s forehand hit the net cord, made it 40-40, and Federer double-faulted to surrender the game back to Djokovic.

Federer couldn’t recover from the zenith of Djokovic’s resurgence and dropped the next three games and the match.

This was another golden opportunity to get a victory on his new nemesis but Federer's serve botched at the penultimate moment.

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Match result – Djokovic won 6-7 (9-7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5

Match duration – 3 hours and 51 minutes