Roger Federer leaves the BNP Paribas Open having reclaimed his champion's aura, even after finishing as runner-up. After winning the first set of the final Sunday, the seventh-seeded Federer dropped the next two, ultimately losing, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), to number two Novak Djokovic, who claimed his third title at this Masters 1000 event in the desert of the Coachella Valley.

Serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, Djokovic became more tentative and Federer pounced, racing out to a 0-40 lead that had the crowd roaring. When he broke, the crowd rose to salute his resilience. But in the tiebreaker that ended the match, Djokovic reasserted himself. He won two of the first three points on Federer’s serve in the tiebreaker to take a 5-1 lead and eventually sealed the match at 7-3. When Federer’s final backhand hit the net, Djokovic calmly removed his hat and raised his fist toward his player’s box as he walked to the net.

“I stayed mentally tough, and that, for me, is . . . a confidence boost for the rest of the season,” said Djokovic of his late-match recovery. Both players dressed in shades of gray and there was little to distinguish them statistically, either. Each man struck the same number of winners as unforced errors – 34 in each category for Federer, 28 for Djokovic. Djokovic won just one more point, 99 to Federer’s 98.

Big four dominance
Though the tournament began with several upsets

– Djokovic was the only one of the top six seeds to reach the quarter-finals – it ended in a familiar battle between two of the most dominant players of this era. The Big Four – Djokovic, Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray – have won 28 of the last 29 Masters 1000 events.

Federer’s continued presence in that ruling elite has been shaky over the past 10 months. His streak of 36 consecutive appearances in the quarter-finals of Grand Slam events ended in June with a second-round loss at Wimbledon to number 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky. His listless fourth-round exit at the US Open to 22nd-ranked Tommy Robredo was perhaps more unsettling.

During that time Federer (32) had back problems. He doubted his racket, switching to a larger model, only to switch back. He had a stretch of nine months without defeating a top-10 player. His pretournament ranking of number eight was his lowest since 2002.

But in 2014, Federer has looked like his old self. With a healthier back, a larger racket and a new adviser, Stefan Edberg, he has gone 19-3, and he beat Djokovic and sixth-ranked Tomas Berdych to win in Dubai last month. By reaching Sunday's final, he will re-enter the top five at number five.

After the match, Federer said critics might have rushed to bury his career without seeing his slump in perspective. “You have to look at the overall case, he said. “What’s been happening, what are the reasons for maybe not playing so well, or for playing well? You don’t just forget how to play tennis, you know. Age is just a number. It’s nothing more, really. That’s how I see it, anyway.”

For Federer, whose back problems began at this tournament a year ago, the second-place finish had a silver lining. “If you see the angle that last year was difficult – especially this time around last year in Indian Wells – I’m able to turn it all around now, and I’m really playing nice tennis,” said Federer. “You know, that’s also what I said out on the court. And I truly believe that I’m playing good tennis, and then it’s maybe sometimes a little easier to lose this way.”

Though Federer leaves Indian Wells technically a loser despite the boost to his confidence, another 32-year-old leaves the desert with a trophy. Flavia Pennetta, an Italian veteran who acknowledged contemplating retirement last year when her ranking fell outside the top 100, beat second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2, 6-1, for the biggest title of her career and her first in four years.

Radwanska's injury
Pennetta's ranking will move to 12th, from 22nd.

Radwanska, who began the match with her left knee taped, struggled with the injury throughout and barely ran for balls as the second set wore on. Several visits from the trainer provided little relief. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't run as much as I could," she said later. For Pennetta, there were only smiles. "Thirty-two, okay, we are old," said Pennetta, using air quotation marks with the adjective. "But we're still good athletes."
New York Times