WIMBLEDON, United Kingdom — Roger Federer covered his face with both hands cheap NFL jerseys, no doubt wishing he were doing anything at that moment other than dissecting his latest earlier-than-expected Grand Slam exit.

And this one came at Wimbledon, no less — the tournament he loves more than any other, the tournament he ruled for so long.

After all the victories, all the championships, all the records, Federer now must deal with a new, unenviable sort of streak: The owner of 16 major championships, the man widely considered the best player in tennis history, has lost two consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals in the span of a month, both against opponents who have yet to win a single such trophy.

Federer arrived at the All England Club aiming to reach the final for the eighth year in a row and win a record-tying seventh title. Instead, he leaves before the semifinals, beaten 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 Wednesday by No. 12 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

On June 1, Federer lost in the French Open quarterfinals as the defending champion there, too, putting Green Bay Packers Jerseys an end to his unprecedented 23 consecutive appearances in major semifinals.

"God, I can't wait for Paris and Wimbledon to come around next year again, that's for sure, because they've been frustrating tournaments for me, even though it wasn't too bad. Quarters is a decent result," Federer said, as if trying to convince himself right along with everyone else.

"Obviously people think quarters is shocking, but people would die to play in quarter-final stages of Grand Slam play," he added, fidgeting during his news conference. "It's not something I'm used to doing — losing in quarter-finals — because it's not something I've done in the last six years."

Indeed, he used to make everything look so easy at Grand Slam tournaments. There was that semifinal streak, which dated to 2004. Starting 12 months later, he participated in 18 of 19 major finals. His dominance at Wimbledon, specifically, is even more pronounced: Until Wednesday, Federer was 51-1 at the tournament since the start of the 2003 edition.

Thanks to Berdych, that is now 51-2, although Federer placed at least some of the blame on two previously Houston Texans Jerseys undisclosed health issues: a bothersome back and right thigh.

"I couldn't play the way I wanted to play," said Federer, whose defeat guarantees he will drop to No. 3 in the rankings for the first time since November 2003, according to the ATP. "You just don't feel as comfortable. You can't concentrate on each and every point, because you do feel the pain sometimes."

He said his leg and back have bothered him since the grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, where Federer lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final a week before Wimbledon started. Before that match, Federer had won 76 of his last 77 matches on grass. Now he's lost 2 of 6.

Against Berdych, Federer whiffed on a forehand in the fourth game, but otherwise gave no obvious indication he was troubled. His comments about how he felt were relayed to Berdych, who didn't notice anything wrong.

"I mean, I don't know if he just (is) looking for some excuses after the match or something like that," Berdych said.

Cue all the questions about the 28-year-old Federer's future.

Not surprisingly, he quickly dismissed a query about whether he believes he can return to dominance, saying: "Yeah, I do think that. That's why I'm here."

Similar chatter arose when Federer went through three Grand Slam tournaments in 2008 without taking a title, losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals and Rafael Nadal in the French Open and Wimbledon finals. But Federer won the U.S. Open that year, won his first French Open title in 2009 to complete a career Grand Slam and ti Indianapolis Colts Jerseys Pete Sampras' mark of 14 major titles, then a month later, regained his Wimbledon championship to surpass it.

"When you get older and you've accomplished what Roger has, at some point — the guy's a human being — he's going to have to sort of face the fact that he's not going to win these things and that he may never win another thing. So everyone's sort of waiting, and predicting, when that's going to happen," said seven-time major title winner John McEnroe, a TV analyst for NBC. "(But) let's not forget, that was a couple of years ago, when he lost to Nadal in the final here: It was over. He was done. He's a bum."

Berdych never had been past the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam until Paris. If he's going to reach his first major final, he'll need to eliminate No. 3 Djokovic on Friday.

Robin Soderling knocked off Federer in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, and there is a common thread through the Swiss star's three most recent losses at major tournaments, including to Juan Martin del Potro in the U.S. Open final in September.

Berdych, Soderling and Del Potro are all imposing guys who absolutely pound the ball on serves andJacksonville Jaguars Jerseys drive flat forehands through the court. At six foot five, Berdych is an inch taller than Soderling, an inch shorter than del Potro — and four inches taller than Federer.

"If I'm healthy, I can handle those guys, you know," Federer said.

Perhaps. Still, the 24-year-old Berdych deserves credit for sticking to his high-risk, high-reward style, for staying focused when the going go tough, and for delivering more winners than Federer, 51-44.

"You can say that he was unlucky," Berdych said, repeating a word Federer used, "or you can say that maybe the opponent was a little bit better, and he just won the big points."