Blam! It was tennis' smash of the year -- the century, for that matter.

In coming years when countless great shots are mentally played and replayed by the freakiest of Key Biscayne tennis freaks, Roger Federer's smash was the one that will never be forgotten.

Federer slammed his racket to the surface of Stadium Court during his 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic in the Sony Ericsson Open.

Destroyed it.

It was Federer's best forehand of a day like no other in his adult life.

Far more, it was the most uncharacteristic implosion in the career of the 27-year-old Swiss who has won 13 Grand Slam tournaments and probably will overtake Sampras' 14.

Five times Federer has been honored as ATP Sportsman of the Year. But now he was playing so terribly he had lost 27 of 28 points across parts of the second and third sets. He had fallen behind 2-0 in the third and final set when he dipped a forehand into the net.

Then, that blam!

No dump truck on the site of this onetime garbage dump ever deposited a load that resonated so.

The sellout crowd of a little more than 12,000 instinctively whistled in tennis' traditional sign of fan disapproval. Then the crowd turned to open jeering.

But when Federer retrieved another racket and returned to the court, cheers arose, because fans know what he is about.

''That was great,'' Federer said in one of the few up moments of his news conference. ``Great, they got behind me after smashing the racket.''

He has shown tiny, momentary displays of temper across the adult years, but tennis has never known a better combination of sportsman and champion.

And this was history, and don't we all love being a party to history so long as nobody gets hurt?

That's why tens of thousands of people will look back some day and say they saw it in person when only the few more than 12,000 really did.

Surely, some day Federer will look back and berate himself for acting like a mere mortal. And he will be right, because this wouldn't be any fun for anyone if it happened more than once.

That once, though, was priceless.