The Grand reign of Roger Federer 2001 – 2010
Roger Federer has been one of the best professional tennis players in the history of the game. He has a record of winning a total of sixteen Grand Slam titles. The various championships that he has participated in have defined his magnificent career.
Federer’s claim to greatness begun at Wimbledon 2001 where he defeated the four-time defending champion Pete Sampras in their first and only match played. This match has been called by many as the “Passing of the Torch” because the champion at that time, Sampras, had been brought down by a new comer – Roger Federer. This marked the beginning of an upcoming star in the world of tennis.
The first time Roger Federer claimed a Grand Slam title was at Wimbledon in 2003. He achieved victory by defeating Mark Philippoussis 7-6 6-2 7-6 in the final. Being only 21 years old at that time, it was from here that Federer’s winning streak began.
At the Australian Open in 2004, Federer further advanced in his career not only by winning his first hard-court Grand Slam, but also by replacing Andy Roddick as the world number one in tennis rankings.
In 2004, Federer again defended his title at Wimbledon and along with this he managed to set a record of reaching twenty three straight Grand Slam semi-finals. His career just kept on getting better and better, in the same year at the US Open he defeated Lleyton Hewitt 6-0 7-6 6-0. This was one of the most lopsided finals in tennis history.
Roger Federer was ranked number one, which made the world confident that he was indeed an undisputed tennis player of that time. However, the young Spaniard, Rafael Nadal contradicted all claims of Federer being undefeated by beating the world number one at the French Open in 2005 in four sets. Federer had now met his match and it was a tough road ahead for him.
The tennis champion made his way back to the top with his most dominating performance at the Australian Open in 2007. He beat Fernando Gonzales 7-6 6-4 6-4 without losing a single set and claimed yet another Grand Slam title. He also won the 2007 Wimbledon title and by doing so he managed to equal the previously set record of five consecutive Wimbledon wins by Bjorn Borg.
2007 was a great year for Federer but 2008 brought about the worst for him. For the first time in nearly a decade this tennis superstar lost a bagel set, that is, lost a set 6-0 to none other than his rival who had beaten him before, Rafael Nadal. This happened at the French Open 2008 where Nadal was victorious over Federer and became the Grand Slam Champion. Another shock that was yet to hit the former champion was at Wimbledon 2008, where Federer had been the undefeated Lord of the Lawns for five years straight. He had never really been challenged for this title until he faced Nadal, when it all came to an end. He lost the final at Wimbledon against Nadal in one of the greatest matches of all time. Nadal prevailed 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7.
Having suffered from a relatively bad year in 2008, Federer had not won a single Grand Slam out of the first three in the year. This was the first time since 2002 that this had happened. However, he managed to end the year on a good note when he defeated the rising star Andy Murray at the US Open and bagged his fifth consecutive US Open title.
In 2009 Federer was up against Robin Soderling in the final of the French Open. Soderling was the only man to have defeated Nadal and Nadal was the only man who had defeated Federer. Who was going to be the champion of this tournament had become quite a dilemma; but Federer won this title and completed his Career Grand Slam. During this year he also managed to win at Wimbledon as well as at the Australian Open.
So far in 2010 Federer has won at the Australian Open but he was knocked out of Wimbledon in the quarterfinals. This has been a major fallback for the tennis champion. He fell to the 3rd position in world rankings which has happened for the first time in seven years.
After such a spectacular career is it possible that the end is near for this record setting tennis champion.
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