NEW YORK -- After the winning clarity of Serena and Venus Williams carried the late afternoon and early evening, the globally famous enigma turned up at night.
How would Roger Federer look Tuesday night near the end of his oft-tormented summer? Well, as it happened, he looked quite a bit like Roger Federer in a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win, partly because he benefited from a first-round draw of infinitely more mystery.
"Never saw my opponent before," Federer said. "Never saw him play, obviously, 'cause I never saw him."
To the occasion, the 118th-ranked Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina brought along his lifetime record in ATP Tour-level hard-court events: 0-0. He also brought along his record in Grand Slam main draws: 0-0.
Among the billions of people on Earth with 0-0 tour-level hard-court records, though, he probably fared better than just about any would have.
"It's unbelievable for me," he said afterward from his seat in a small interview room amid mostly Spanish-speaking reporters. "It was like a dream. I was so happy. . . . I played so good, he played unbelievable, I think, all the time. For me he's No. 1 always."
For the world he's No. 2 after a summer with a storybook loss to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final, then an uncharacteristic 4-3 record since. What's novel is, he's learning the distinct joys of No. 2 after an eternal 239 weeks at No. 1.
"The change I feel is fans are really supporting me and telling me I'm still number one and still the best, 'You're going to be there again,' and stuff. So I feel like I've got unbelievable support from the fans watching me and seeing people in the streets and stuff," he said.
Everybody loves an underdog, even that oddest kind of underdog, the four-times-defending-champion underdog. In the champions parade Monday night that feted 40 years of open-era tennis, by far the largest swell of ovation came for Federer.
"We shouldn't forget that they're supposed to scream for the Americans here," he said. "I guess I'm very close to their hearts by now."
Federer even brought back a speck of the puckish wit he has hidden for some time, saying that nowadays he has to start reading draws from the bottom.
He said this about 11 hours after a No. 1 player, Ana Ivanovic, looked as if she'd need a U-Haul to carry around the ranking.
Breathing heavily when she remembered to breathe, she weathered 57th-ranked Russian Vera Dushevina, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, in a first-round match fairly excruciating to watch.
