DATE WITH DESTINY

Federer had his aura of invincibility shattered, but this time the Swiss is determined to win one Grand Slam to cement his legacy as the greatest player of all time.

Just a year ago, Roger Federer arrived at the Australian Open as the undisputed king of the courts, ready to kick off another season of domination with his third successive title. A trifling virus couldn’t stop the Swiss maestro, right? Wrong. The debilitated Federer went down in the semis to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, ending a record run of 10 straight Grand Slam finals and setting in motion the toughest period of his career.

This year, Federer comes to Melbourne with a few questions to answer. Can he regain the number one ranking? Does he still have the mental edge? Can he beat Pete Sampras’s Grand Slam record before age catches up with him? He can start to answer at least one of those straight away. “I have high hopes and aim to play well from the start,” he said this week. “Of course I’m trying to beat the record of 14 from Sampras so we will see how it goes.”

NEW PHASE
Federer, who begins the year without the top ranking for the first time since 2004, is entering a new phase of his career.

He has already announced a slimmed-down schedule, dropping clay-court events to stay fresh for Wimbledon where he is desperate to win back the title from Rafael Nadal.

If all goes to plan, Federer will win here and overhaul Sampras’s 14 Grand Slam titles in London, cementing his legacy as the greatest player of all time. That career, with 57 titles and counting plus 44 million US dollars in prize money, stems from humble beginnings when he was born in Basel, Switzerland, on August 8, 1981.

SAMPRAS EFFECT
Federer first picked up a racquet aged eight, inspired by the exploits of Sampras and Boris Becker and an outstanding amateur career followed, including the junior Wimbledon title in 1998.

After turning pro, he ended 1999 as the youngest player in the top 100 and reached his first ATP final in Marseille the following year. But it was in 2001 that he made his entrance, famously ending Sampras’s 31-match Wimbledon winning streak in the fourth round.

He stalled briefly, losing a number of finals in 2002 when he was staggered by the death in a car accident of his first coach, Peter Carter.

MAIDEN SLAM
Rock-bottom, and the careerdefining moment, came at the 2003 French Open with a firstround defeat to Luis Horna. One month later the chastened Federer took Wimbledon by storm for his first Grand Slam title aged 22. It set the stage for a spell of unprecedented dominance. Federer reached number one in February 2004 and racked up 11 titles that year, repeating at Wimbledon and winning the US and Australian Opens. Tennis had rarely seen anything like it but Federer matched the exploits in 2005, winning another 11 including successful defences at Wimbledon and the US Open in a season he finished 81-4.

INCREDIBLE RUN
Only the French Open eluded him in 2006 and 2007 as Federer extended his incredible Grand Slam run which left most of his rivals, except Nadal, at a loss. It was a bout of mononucleosis which finally stopped him when he went out in the semis here last year, beginning his worst season since becoming number one. He was hammered by Nadal in the French Open final but recovered for Wimbledon, only to lose his five-year unbeaten run to the Spaniard in an epic showdown.

LOSING THE STATUS
Suddenly, Federer was vulnerable and he lost his number one ranking after a record 237 weeks. Now world number two, and in danger of slipping to third behind Djokovic, Federer remains his phlegmatic self. “I felt the most (pressure) when (I) reached six or seven slam titles and everyone was expecting me to win every match I played. That’s gone away and it’s a relief,” he shrugged. “But I’m very motivated and will remain so for a long time. I just don’t feel a lot of pressure now.”

AUSTRALIAN OPEN BOSS DEFENDS TIMING OF TOURNAMENT

SYDNEY: Australian Open organisers have dismissed suggestions from Roger Federer that the first Grand Slam of the year should be switched from its usual January time slot to February.
Fededer, president of the ATP Player Council, said he would like to see the Australian Open moved back a few weeks so the top players could enter warm-up events in the Middle East and Australia. Under the current schedule, players often choose between events but Federer, one of a handful of players who played at both regions, said changing the dates of the Australian Open would give all players the chance to play both.

“The calendar is always something we do talk about,” Federer told reporters in Melbourne. “I guess to fix the Australian Open problem, having more tournaments beforehand it, is to move it backwards a couple of weeks so you have more of an Australian swing coming, and maybe also the middle eastern tournaments.” A number of top players, including world number one Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, as well as Venus Williams played warm-up events overseas instead of the Australian circuit. Australian Open organisers have long faced complaints from players about the timing of their summer circuit but Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said there was nothing wrong with the lead-up events.

Return of the King

Shocking it wasn’t to see Roger Federer eagerly await the descent of Andy Murray’s desperate lob, fire off one last overhead, sink to his knees and roll over onto his back, a United States Open champion for the fifth straight year. Surprising? Well, yes, to be honest, a little bit, because this was the Federer who had not won a meaningful title this year, who was blown out in March on a California hardcourt by Mardy Fish, who was beaten in July by Gilles Simon, who was a dispirited Olympian last month while losing in singles to James Blake in Beijing.

Here in New York, Federer’s game freshened with the late-summer weather. He said he would have preferred the chance to even a score with Rafael Nadal, but something tells me Murray’s first Grand Slam final, a jittery 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 trouncing on Monday, suited Federer just fine.

The reverberation of the Orlean’s classic Still the One applied only to his standing in New York; Nadal still holds the top ranking. But with 13 Grand Slam titles back in the race with Pete Sampras, as Federer said he is again being primarily measured against the history book.

Fascinated by Federer’s pursuit of Sampras and by Nadal’s of Federer, I might have watched more tennis this year than any other American, with the exception of Bud Collins, beginning with a 5 am wakeup for Federer’s straight-sets loss to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Later, the expanded programming at Tennis Channel brought the exotic clay-court locales of Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Hamburg and Rome into my den many a spring morning. I took a late train to Boston one Saturday night for an NBA finals game the next night in order not to miss what turned into Nadal’s astonishing rout of Federer in the French Open final. I might have missed a stroke or two of their daylong Wimbledon epic.

The pop psychologist in me came to believe that Nadal methodically wore out Federer in the spring, sapped his belief in strokes that were magical for four-and-a-half years. Nadal would spot Federer a break of serve, sometimes two, and still win the set.

He had an attitude of defiance, an air of indefatigability, and that is why the most startling tennis sight of all in 2008 came on Sunday, when Nadal bent over after a long rally that ended with a Murray volley into the open court, setting up match point.

How strange and, yes, sad it was to see Nadal so spent (and how uplifting to see him sign balls and programs on the way out) with the finish line of his marathon just ahead.

It reminded me of what John McEnroe said on Saturday after Federer had taken out Djokovic, who did not help himself by making the crowd a second opponent. “You realize he’s only 21,” McEnroe said of Djokovic, “the way you realized the last few months that Federer is human.”

We know these athletes are not machines, but we sometimes forget the baggage they carry into the office. Federer made domination of the men's game look easy, but that was always destined to change.

“He always said you can’t always be 2,000 points ahead,” Robert Federer, the champion’s father, said, stepping out of a Champagne celebration in the locker room. For Federer and his entourage, this might have been the sweetest of all 13 titles, given the growing news-media concern that the family mistakenly interpreted as criticism.

“Crazy people” were calling, Federer said, telling him he needed psychological help. In his own affable way, Robert Federer lumped reporters and the former Open champion Mats Wilander into that group.

“Some of you guys were writing negatively of him, saying Federer was gone,” Robert Federer said. “Wilander also said that Federer would never win another Grand Slam title. Federer proved them all wrong today.”

Federer and Nadal, with help from Djokovic, proved something else these past few months: Americans do not need an American in the mix to appreciate what this sport has to offer.
This Grand Slam season concluded with Federer’s telling Mary Jo Fernandez of CBS, “Tennis is in a great place right now.” He meant the men’s game, currently blessed with three gifted players, charismatic in their own way. The talented Murray could make it a foursome if he can build on his breakthrough here.

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic made their countries proud with a good show in Beijing. They raised the sports profile and its television ratings across the long year, which, believe it or not, continues on into fall with the Davis Cup semifinals (United States at Spain) and the European indoor season.

No wonder the leading men have banded together, spoken out for more rest and less of a grind. For longevity’s sake, they could use some extra time off, a few distractions from tennis.

CRUNCHING NUMBERS

1
The number of players in 84 years, since Bill Tilden, to capture five straight US Open titles. Federer also became the first player in history to win two Grand Slams (Wimbledon being the other) five consecutive years.

3

Titles won by Federer this season: Estoril, Halle and US Open. The last player to win the US Open without winning a hard court title during the year was Pete Sampras in 2002.

4

Men have the distinction of reaching 17 Grand Slam finals, with Federer becoming the latest to accomplish the feat. The others are: Ivan Lendl (19 appearances, won—8, lost—11); Pete Sampras (18,14,4); Rod Laver (17,11,6).

6

Successive years that Federer has extended his streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title. Pete Sampras (1993-2000) and Bjorn Borg (1974-1981) are the co-leaders with eight straight years of winning at least one Grand Slam crown.

12

Times Federer has tasted defeat in singles tournaments this year. The last time his losses reached double figures was in 2003

13

Grand Slam titles bagged by Federer. He became the second highest title winner after Pete Sampras’ tally of 14 championships. Federer has so far won three Australian Opens, five Wimbledons and five US Opens.

34

Consecutive matches won by Federer in the US Open. The last time he lost at this championship was in 2003 to David Nalbandian in the fourth round.

10

Opponents he has had to beat over the last five years to win 13 of his 17 Grand Slam finals

4

Grand Slam finals lost to Rafael Nadal, thrice at Roland Garros and one at Wimbledon this year

6

Number of times Federer and Nadal have come face to face in Grand Slam finals. In head to head clashes, Nadal is way ahead of Federer winning 12 of the 18 times the duo have met which includes a dominating 9 out of 10 wins in clay courts.

GRAND SLAM TITLE WINNERS AT 27

Roger Federer, at 27, became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam since Andre Agassi (32) captured the 2003 Australian Open. Federer is the 17th player in the Open Era (since 1968) to win a Grand Slam singles title at the age of 27. Here are the players 27 and older with at least one Slam title:

Grand Slam titles at 27 and older

Andre Agassi 5

Rod Laver 5

Ivan Lendl 4

John Newcombe 4

Ken Rosewall 4

Jimmy Connors 3

Pete Sampras 3

Nadal is the only player to take Federer to five sets, in the last two Wimbledon finals. Nadal is also the only player to beat Federer in straight sets, at the French Open this year. Rafa conceded only four games to hand Federer his worst Grand Slam rout.

Federer’s Grand Slam finals:

Won 13, lost 4

2003 Wimbledon: Beat Mark Philippoussis, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (3)

2004 Australian Open: Beat Marat Safin, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-2

2004 Wimbledon: Beat Andy Roddick, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

2004 US Open: Beat Lleyton Hewitt, 6-0, 7-6 (3), 6-0.

2005 Wimbledon: Beat Andy Roddick, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

2005 US Open: Beat Andre Agassi, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1.

2006 Australian Open: Beat Marcos Baghdatis, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2

2006 French Open: Lost to Rafael Nadal, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

2006 Wimbledon: Beat Rafael Nadal, 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3.

2006 US Open: Beat Andy Roddick, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

2007 Australian Open: Beat Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4

2007 French Open: Lost to Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

2007 Wimbledon: Beat Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-2.

2007 US Open: Beat Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4

2008 French Open: Lost to Rafael Nadal, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0

2008 Wimbledon: Lost to Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7

2008 US Open: Beat Andy Murray, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.