Big picture-wise, Federer's legacy is attached SOLELY to No. 16 AND the 'impossibility' of anyone coming even close to it - forget about passing - specially with the backdrop of all the negative inserts calling for attention from Nadal's H2H, suspect mental fortitude, weak competition etc. Federer winning another Slam is not going to make any significant wave to alter that dynamic.
Nadal reaching close to No. 16 will - leave alone eclipsing it. So with that being the 'concealed' objective, Federer may have ensured Nadal is NOT getting No. 11 with this lapse - if Roland Garros holds any water as a dependable precedent, Djokovic's winning streak does not become an aberration, Murray's resurgence of late is not fake, Nadal's injury gets worse progressively etc. Why?
Because the likelihood of Nadal beating Federer in the final is far greater than Nadal beating Djokovic. Duh!!!! Add the strong possibility of a dog fight in the semis against Murray and the injury and it may very well be a Slam dunk.
On the loss to Tsonga, it has to be blamed on the pattern I talked about earlier where Federer has had relative easy draws AND has managed to not drop a set leading to an elevated degree of competition and eventual loss. Youzhny winning a set was clearly an aberration here. Additionally, even though Federer didn't fade miserably at the latter stage of the match, as he had done at most of his losses this year, it still brings up the 'three set, three hour' rule, allowing younger opponents to weather the storm and then capitalize on age and endurance.
On the intensity issue, when being down and facing a very real possibility of elimination, Federer, it appears, begins to work on the following premise:
His ego blocks that route like a water tight bottle. It's beneath him to look desperate and risk even greater humiliation if even after that open display of emotion he loses. His results this season back that assumption. But it's hard to produce greater form without appropriate emotion preceding the tangible matter. It does not work in reverse. You cannot sport sloppy or neutral shoulders and expect to produce. Horse HAS to come before the cart.
