Federer bags Stockholm, level with Sampras
This Sunday, Swiss wonder Roger Federer silenced rumours of his lessening skill and lessened ability by defeating a player two years younger than him, Florian Mayer, in two easy sets.
The Maestro defeated German Mayer 6-4, 6-3, and came out of the event at Stockholm with the same number of Association of Tennis Professionals points as one of the all-time greats, American pro tennis player Pete Sampras.
Federer fans were concerned for the player, since he has been facing a gambling scandal with a lawsuit against his managing company and it was expected to upset his concentration. However, Federer pulled through admirably, making a return from the flat year
he has been having.
Florian Mayer, although determined, is yet to win a title and did his best to climb the mountain set up against him in a match with the current World Number 2. He attacked the Maestro’s game play at every possible opportunity, and showed his greatest prowess
around net shots. However, against Federer, a little extra push would have been needed to win the title.
When Mayer broke in the first set, Federer broke back immediately. Then the Maestro held his serve to love, before managing to break again to take the set. This was the pattern set throughout the match. Federer refused to be upstaged or taken advantage of,
and came out with a new record for himself.
With 64 titles, Federer is now tied for fourth place for the most successfully fought ATP tournaments. The Swiss also holds the record for most number of Grand Slam titles won, with 16 trophies at the Majors. However, he will probably not beat the record
for most tournaments won, players ahead of him on this scale are John McEnroe with 77 titles, Ivan Lendl with 94 wins and Jimmy Connors with 109 successes. Since the year 1968, these are the only three players to win more singles tournaments than Sampras and
Federer.
While Federer is unlikely to beat Connors’s record in the near future, he still seemed elated at his performance in Sweden, telling TV reporters, “It’s fantastic to come here, face the pressure and be able to come through at the end”. He also seems to understand
how important every tournament win at this stage is, saying, “You never know when it’s your last tournament, that’s why you want to savour every victory”.
With the Stockholm victory, Federer has now bagged three titles for the year. However, this is an unsatisfactory win for him, and 2010 will not be regarded as one of his stronger years. The 29 year old player accepts that his performance for this year has
been very inconsistent. This is backed up by the fact that this year, for the first time since his ascension to World Number 1, Federer’s ranking dropped to Number 3.
Although, his losses this year may have been unworthy of inclusion into his record of matches, Federer is positive about it, choosing to look at the bright side of things. He says, “Sure the summer was somewhat disappointing, with earlier losses at the French
and at Wimbledon. But I played amazing at the Australian Open and played great at Cincinnati. I just had a bad win-loss record this year in finals”.
When asked about whether he thinks these losses have had any effect on spectators and their opinion of him as a superior contender, Federer shrugs the criticism off, saying, “In other years maybe I would have won seven titles already but here I am only with
three and people are complaining, so it's the way it goes a little bit”.
The player, who recently fought his 900th match to win against Taylor Dent, still has plenty of fighting spirit in him, as well as just the right amount of cockiness needed to win further tournaments. For as long as Federer is playing, every player
on the court will always have a formidable opponent to face.
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