Federer tops Nadal for season-ending title

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/28/AR2010112803809.html
Federer tops Nadal for season-ending title
Monday, November 29, 2010

Roger Federer turned his high-profile, season-ending match against Rafael Nadal into little more than an exhibition.

Federer gave his rival little chance to mount a challenge in the 22nd meeting between two of the greatest players of all time, winning his fifth season-ending title, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, at the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday in London.

Federer won an incredible 92 percent of the points played on his first serve in the final, and lost only 13 points on serve in the entire match.

Nadal, the top-ranked Spaniard who won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open this year, was able to break Federer once in the second set, but he appeared to tire as the match wore on. On Saturday, Nadal spent more then three hours and three sets beating Andy Murray to reach the final of the tournament for the first time in his career.

The win cut Nadal's career record to 14-8 against the second-ranked Swiss player. In Grand Slam finals, Nadal is 5-2 against Federer, but Federer has won all three times they have played in the season's final tournament.

Rafael Nadal Wins U.S. Open, Completes Career Grand Slam

http://tennis.fanhouse.com/2010/09/13/rafael-nadal-wins-us-open-completes-career-grand-slam

Rafael Nadal Wins U.S. Open, Completes Career Grand Slam
9/13/2010
Hal Spivack

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain made history on Monday night, defeating No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to claim his first career U.S. Open title at Flushing Meadows and complete the career Grand Slam. Nadal joins the group of Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry to complete the career Grand Slam.

The match had to withstand an approximate two-hour rain delay on Monday in the second set when Nadal was leading 6-4, 4-4 (30-30). This came after rain wiped the match out on Sunday, forcing the tournament to be completed on a Monday for the third straight year.

Finally, the 24-year-old Spaniard completes his trophy case, claiming the only Grand Slam that eluded his young and unrivaled Open Era career. Nadal is only the seventh player in the history of men's tennis and the second youngest to attain the career Grand Slam. Other than Nadal, only Andre Agassi and Roger Federer have completed the career Grand Slam in the Open Era. Nadal is also the first male player since Rod Laver's calendar-year Grand Slam in 1969 to win the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in the same year.

Arguably playing the best tennis of his life, Nadal only dropped one set all tournament, which came in the second set of the final against Djokovic. Nadal's serve was fantastic all tournament, only dropping five service games with three of them coming in the final against the 23-year-old Serb.

Djokovic, who was making his second career U.S. Open final appearance, played well at times and gave Nadal his toughest match of the Open. However, the Spaniard proved too tough -- eventually breaking Djokovic at crucial moments in the match to prevail.

"I think for the first time in my career I played a very, very good match in this tournament," Nadal said. "That's my feeling. I played my best match in the U.S. Open out there at the most important moment."

Nadal took the first set, and Djokovic came out powerful to claim the second set after the rain delay. But Djokovic played his best tennis to close out the second set and didn't have enough energy left to compete with the fitter Nadal. When Djokovic began going on the offensive in the end of the second set, it looked like it was working to his advantage until Nadal toughened his defense up to start the third set.

Djokovic started to pull his groundstrokes wide and Nadal's defense was impenetrable to start the third set. Djokovic's barrage of unforced errors allowed Nadal to claim a crucial break and go up 2-1 in the third set. Nadal eventually took the set off that crucial break 6-4.

The fourth set unfolded in a similar fashion. Nadal's serve was too tough and Djokovic was never able to garner any constant momentum. Nadal broke Djokovic in the third game of the fourth set to go up 2-1. The Serb was overpowered and exhausted by the end of the match. Nadal did not relinquish and finished Djokovic off in four sets, ending the match with only 31 unforced errors, 16 less than his opponent. Nadal won championship point, fell down, and embraced the hard court on Ashe that frustrated him for so many years.

Nadal has now won nine Grand Slam titles -- including this year's French Open and Wimbledon -- as he inches closer to Roger Federer's record of 16 Grand Slam tournaments.

Djokovic chimed in on the Federer-Nadal debate following Monday's loss, "Yeah, look, we cannot judge who is better on one tournament, you know. At this point there is, you know, five, six years' difference between them, and basically Federer had more years on the tour, he had more success; he has more trophies. He's definitely somebody who made history in this sport. He's still playing as one of the best players in the world."

In fact, Nadal now has three more majors than Federer -- arguably the greatest tennis player of all time -- had to his name at Nadal's age.

Djokovic did not get into details after his semifinal win against Federer regarding Nadal one day being the best of all time. But he did speak to the topic after the match on Monday, "Definitely. He has the capabilities already now to become the best player ever. I think he's playing the best tennis that I ever seen him play on hardcourts. He has improved his serve drastically. The speed, the accuracy, and of course his baseline is as good as ever."

Nadal has reworked his serve's grip over the year, now serving both his first and second serve with more speed, spin and precision than ever before.

Federer, still playing at a high level at 29 years of age, will continue to try and build on his 16 Grand Slams. Federer noted earlier in the summer that he is targeting 20 Grand Slams before he retires. He had a successful summer on hard court, winning the Cincinnati Masters and finishing runner-up at the Toronto Masters. He also won this year's first major in Australia and finished a semifinalist at the U.S. Open.

Although Nadal doesn't get caught up with trying to catch Federer, he leaves Flushing Meadows with a full trophy case and only Federer's total tally to chase now.

Roger Federer: By The Numbers

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/tennis/07/05/federer.by.the.numbers/

Sunday July 5, 2009
Roger Federer: By The Numbers
Simply the best: Roger Federer has won 15 of the past 25 major championships.
Simon Bruty/SI

With his epic 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 victory over Andy Roddick in Sunday's Wimbledon men's final, Roger Federer bagged his 15th major championship. The victory propelled the 27-year-old Swiss past Pete Sampras atop the all-time Grand Slam leaderboard, further bolstering his argument for Greatest Of All-Time status.

Here's a numerologist's-eye view of Federer's unsurpassed greatness.

0 -- Losses in Grand Slam tournaments since Wimbledon 2004 in 119 matches against players outside the top five. Federer's last such loss at a major came against No. 30 Gustavo Kuerten at the '04 French Open.

1 -- Opponents who have defeated Federer in a Grand Slam final (Rafael Nadal).

2 -- Men who have achieved a career Golden Slam, winning each of the four majors plus an Olympic gold medal. Federer is one. Andre Agassi is the other.

3 -- Seasons where Federer has won three of the four Grand Slams (2003, '04 and '07).

4 -- Different surfaces where Federer has won Grand Slams: grass, clay and two different kinds of hard courts. Only Agassi has equaled the feat.

5 -- Consecutive U.S. Open victories from 2003 through 2008, an open era record.

6 -- Years without losing a match on grass. Federer won 65 straight matches on his favorite surface between a first-round loss at Wimbledon 2002 and last year's final.

7 -- Consecutive years with at least one Grand Slam title. Only Borg (1974-81) and Sampras (1993-2000) have longer runs, which Federer can match in 2010.

8 -- Losses suffered throughout his streak of 21 consecutive appearances in Grand Slam semifinals.

9 -- Career ATP singles titles on clay, traditionally his weakest surface.

10 -- Consecutive Grand Slam finals reached between Wimbledon 2005 and the '07 U.S. Open, a record. Federer also owns the second-longest streak, his current run of six from the '07 French Open through Wimbledon '09.

11 -- Grand Slam titles won from 2004 through '07, an all-time record for major titles in a four-year span (male or female).

17 -- Countries where Federer has won ATP singles titles: Australia, Austria, Canada, People's Republic of China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

18 -- Consecutive Grand Slam tournaments where Federer was seeded No. 1 from the '04 French Open through '08 Wimbledon, a record.

20 -- Appearances in Grand Slam singles finals, where he's 15-5. Ivan Lendl (19) held the all-time mark until this year.

21 -- Consecutive appearances in Grand Slam semifinals, perhaps the most extraordinary metric of Federer's otherworldly consistency.

24 -- Appearances in the finals of ATP Masters Series events, a record. His 15 victories in these prestigious tournaments ranks second all-time to Agassi (17).

26 -- Consecutive matches won against opponents in the top 10 from October 2003 through January 2005, a record.

34 -- Consecutive victories at the U.S. Open from 2004 through last year, an open era record. Federer is the only player in history to win 34 or more consecutive matches at two different Grand Slam tournaments (in addition to his Wimbledon streak from '03 through '08.)

56 -- Consecutive wins on hard courts during 2005 and '06, an open era record.

94.3 -- Percent of singles matches (247-15) won from 2004 through '06.

182 -- Victories in major tournaments (against 26 losses), a win percentage of 87.5 percent. The only other men's players in the open era with winning percentages above 80 are Bjorn Borg (89.8), Rafael Nadal (85.7), Pete Sampras (84.2), Jimmy Connors (82.6), Ivan Lendl (81.9), John McEnroe (81.5), Andre Agassi (80.9) and Boris Becker (80.3).

237 -- Consecutive weeks spent at No. 1, a record. Federer is the first player to reign atop the ATP rankings for four consecutive years from Feb. 2, 2004, through Aug. 18, 2008.

$48,072,634 -- Career earnings as of June 2009 according to ATPWorldTour.com, an all-time record.

Roger Federer’s win stirs debate about best ever

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=txfrenchopen

Roger Federer’s win stirs debate about best ever
6-8-9
By STEVEN WINE AP Sports Writer

PARIS(AP)—With his first French Open title, Roger Federer strengthened the argument he’s the best tennis player ever.

He completed a career Grand Slam, something only five other men have done. He won his 14th major title to tie Pete Sampras’ record. He played in his 19th Grand Slam final to match Ivan Lendl’s record.

The stylish Swiss caught a break in Paris and made the most of it, winning the title by beating the man who beat Federer’s nemesis, Rafael Nadal. Federer swept surprise finalist Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Sunday.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever know who was the greatest of all time, but I’m definitely happy to be right up there,” said the 27-year-old Federer, who plans to play into his 30s. “I think it should be judged at the very end, you know. How well did I do? Good? Great? Very good? Or medium? I don’t know. It’s for other people to decide.”

On his fourth try in a Paris final, and first against someone other than Nadal, Federer came through. The list of Grand Slam champions who never won the French Open includes Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Sampras.

“I’m obviously happy for Roger,” Sampras told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he lives. “Now that he has won in Paris, I think it just more solidifies his place in history as the greatest player that played the game, in my opinion.”

But is Federer - who acknowledged relief to avoid facing Nadal in the final - even the best player of his generation?

With the career Slam complete, the biggest blemish on Federer’s resume is a poor record versus Nadal. Federer is 7-13 against the Spaniard and has lost the past three times they’ve met in Grand Slam finals.

Soderling, a Swede seeded 23rd, eased Federer’s title path at Roland Garros by upsetting four-time defending champion Nadal in the fourth round.

“I knew the day Rafa won’t be in the finals, I will be there and I will win,” Federer said. “I always knew that, and I believed in it. That’s exactly what happened.”

Andre Agassi, the most recent man to complete the career Grand Slam when he won at Roland Garros 10 years ago, presented Federer with the trophy. The other men to win all four major titles were Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry.

The championship came after Federer lost to Nadal at the French Open and Wimbledon last year, and at the Australian Open in February. Federer also lost the No. 1 ranking to Nadal last August.

“Sounds like an Achilles’ heel, but at the same time, what (Federer) has done is unmatched,” Agassi said. “We’re watching two guys in the prime of their years compete against each other - and Nadal has an answer for him. But what criteria do you use to judge best ever? Roger’s numbers - it’s hard to disagree with. His domination on different surfaces - hard to disagree with.”

Federer was in top form Sunday, gliding across the court and whacking winners from all angles as he raced to a quick lead. Soderling’s strokes steadied, but Federer played a brilliant tiebreaker, hitting aces on all four serves.

“One of greatest tiebreakers in my career,” Federer said.

He broke again to start the third set and kept that lead the rest of the way, although it wasn’t as easy as he made it look.

“It was very hard mentally for me to stay within the match during the match, because my mind was always wondering, `What if?”’ Federer said. “`What if I win this tournament? What does that mean? What will I possibly say?’

“I was very nervous at the beginning of the third set because I realized how close I was. The last game, obviously you can imagine how difficult that game was. It was almost unplayable for me.”

Still, Federer managed to hold in the final game. When he hit a service winner on championship point, he fell to his knees and was teary by the time he met Soderling at the net.

Debates about the greatest player ever usually include Laver, who swept the Grand Slams in 1962 and 1969. Sampras is another contender, even though he never reached the French Open final.

Soderling’s vote: Federer.

“I never played anyone playing that fast,” said Soderling, who is 0-10 against Federer. “He doesn’t have any weaknesses at all. He really deserves to be called the best player of all time.”

Federer beats Murray for 5th U.S. Open, 13th major

http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/8537542/Federer-beats-Murray-for-5th-U.S.-Open,-13th-major

Federer beats Murray for 5th U.S. Open, 13th major
Associated Press
September 8, 2008

No matter what anyone else said or thought, Roger Federer knew he was still capable of elite tennis.

Knew he was still capable of winning Grand Slam titles.

Knew he was still Roger Federer.

Back at his best, back at the top of tennis, Federer easily beat Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 Monday to win his fifth consecutive U.S. Open championship and 13th major title overall.

Federer is the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win the tournament that many times in a row. He also moved within one major championship of tying Pete Sampras' career record of 14.

The victory might have come as a bit of a relief to Federer, who has struggled during a lackluster-only-for-him season. He lost in the semifinals at the Australian Open, and to nemesis Rafael Nadal in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, meaning Federer was on the verge of his first year since 2002 without a major title.

But Murray upset Nadal in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows to reach his first Grand Slam championship match, and Federer had no trouble this time.

"I'm not as nervous any more, like in my first final," Federer said during a prematch TV interview.

Perhaps he was trying to plant a seed of doubt in Murray's head. The youngster was standing around the corner, waiting to walk out onto the court, probably already thinking about what it would feel like to be on that stage, with those stakes, against that opponent.

With his bushy hair peeking out from under his gray-and-white baseball cap, unshaven whiskers on his face, and that loping gait, the 21-year-old Murray looks much like the college student he otherwise might be if not so talented at tennis.

Federer, coincidentally, was the same age when he played in his first Grand Slam final, back in 2003 at Wimbledon. Except Federer won that, and has kept winning major championship matches against everyone except Nadal.

On Monday, Murray stood about 10 feet behind the baseline to return serves, exactly the way he did in upsetting Nadal in their two-day, rain-interrupted semifinal over the weekend. And Murray did display flashes of the get-to-every-ball defense he used against Nadal, including one pretty flick of a lob by Federer with his back to the net.

But Federer, who might have benefited from an extra day to rest because his semifinal wasn't affected by Tropical Storm Hanna, was simply too much for Murray.

Too good.

Too smart.

Too experienced.

Too, well, Federeresque.

At only one juncture did Murray really throw a scare into his opponent on this day, taking 11 of 12 points to go from 2-0 down in the second set to 2-all and love-40 on Federer's serve.

Federer saved the first of those break points, and on the second, they engaged in a 14-stroke rally that ended with Murray missing a backhand. TV replays, though, showed one of Federer's shots during the rally should have been called out — and had it been, Murray would have had a break and a 3-2 lead in the set.

But there was no call, and no reprieve, because Federer stayed steady enough to save the third break point there and go on to hold serve.

In the next game, Murray began flexing his right leg, clutching at that knee and looking up at his substantial support group in the guest box, a gathering that included his mother, his two coaches and his two fitness trainers.

Federer went on to break Murray at love in the last game of the second set, closing it on a 10-stroke point that was a thing of beauty. First, Federer extended the point with some superb defense, and then he ended it with a forehand passing winner.

Federer turned to his guest box and bellowed, punching down with his right fist.

This is how he is supposed to play.

This is how these Grand Slam finals are supposed to go.

Federer then won nine of the first 10 points in the third set, including a break at love, en route to a 5-0 lead.

Only when Federer served for the match, at 5-1 in the third, did he show a modicum of mediocrity, getting broken when he dumped a backhand into the net.

It turned to merely delay the inevitable.

Federer broke right back in the next game when Murray put a forehand into the net. Federer dropped his racket and fell to the blue court and rolled around with glee.