DoubleDeuce
Hall of Fame
PARIS — Men without any Grand Slam singles titles have made Roger Federer work long and hard here for the chance to win his 14th and for the chance to stake a claim to being the greatest tennis player ever.
Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press
Roger Federer after advancing to the final at the French Open. With a win, Federer would tie Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles.
After Jose Acasuso and Tommy Haas, the latest would-be spoiler at this unpredictable French Open was Juan Martín del Potro, a fast-rising Argentine seven years younger and five inches taller than Federer.
Del Potro, seeded fifth at age 20, frequently made Federer look underpowered and overwhelmed in their semifinal on Friday. But Federer, lunging into the corners, still found a way to solve the big riddle: employing just about every tool on his Swiss army knife of a game to break del Potro’s rhythm, including drop shots in abundance.
After five sets and 3 hours 29 minutes, Federer leaned on the net looking as relieved as he was content after his 3-6, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Now, his opponents in Sunday’s final will be Robin Soderling of Sweden and Pete Sampras.
Sampras played and won his last tournament at the 2002 United States Open and holds the record with 14 major singles titles.
“It’s always fun to see people try to break records,” said Paul Annacone, Sampras’s longtime coach, in a telephone interview from London on Friday. “Obviously, I didn’t think Pete’s record would be caught so quickly. But Roger has just had such an amazing run. He’s such a class act, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy.”
Annacone said that view is shared by Sampras, who has become friendly with Federer in retirement through playing exhibitions. “I talked with Pete two weeks ago in L.A., and he said he didn’t think the record would be caught that quickly either, but he said, ‘Roger is a great guy and great player, so hats off if he gets there and passes it because I know how hard it was to do.’ ”
If Federer beats Soderling, he will have accomplished one feat that Sampras never quite managed: a complete set of Grand Slam singles titles. Sampras, despite occasional triumphs on clay elsewhere, advanced to only one semifinal at the French Open and never reached the final.
This will be Federer’s fourth straight final in Paris and the first in which he will not have to worry about Rafael Nadal’s left-handed topspin forehand kicking high to Federer’s one-handed backhand.
“Maybe you’ll miss him, but not me,” Federer said to reporters. “I’ve played him 20 times. It’s nice to play someone else, too. I know that I’ll be playing him plenty more times in the future.”
Without Nadal, Federer might already have won multiple titles in Paris, but without Federer, Nadal might already have won Wimbledon more than once. Playing the game of what-if in tennis is diverting but far from conclusive, which is also true of comparing greatness across eras.
“I think if he wins, you’d have to say Federer’s record is the greatest of the Open era,” said Brad Gilbert, the American commentator and coach. “But the greatest of all time? I really don’t think you can say that. Too much has changed to really compare.”
The Open era began in 1968 and allowed professionals to compete without restrictions in the four Grand Slam tournaments, which had been open only to amateurs, or at least to those who were able to hide their tennis revenue.
In the two decades after World War II, many top amateurs made their names and then quickly turned professional to join barnstorming tours like those run by the American star Jack Kramer. The result was that until 1968 very few players had the opportunity to amass large numbers of Grand Slam singles titles, with Roy Emerson of Australia, who remained amateur, being one of the exceptions by winning 12 over all.
Rod Laver, the Australian left-hander nicknamed Rocket, is often considered the greatest player because he was the only man to complete the Grand Slam twice by winning all four major singles titles in the same calendar year. Laver did it in 1962 as an amateur and in 1969 as a professional.
He won 11 major singles titles in all but was ineligible to play them as a professional from 1963 to 1967. Many argue that Laver would ultimately have won far more than 14 if he had been eligible to play Grand Slam events during that five-year period, but the flip side is that he would have faced stiffer competition if other professional stars had also been eligible.
Even in the professional era, there are pitfalls to comparisons, because the Australian Open was once undervalued and regularly snubbed by leading players because of logistics and its Christmas-holiday time slot. Bjorn Borg, the five-time Wimbledon champion and six-time French Open champion, played the Australian only once in his career, losing in the third round in 1974. Jimmy Connors played it twice, winning in 1974.
Sampras played it 11 times, winning it twice. Andre Agassi, Sampras’s longtime American rival, played it nine times and won it on four occasions. Federer has played it 10 consecutive times and won it three times.
The comparison game is indeed tricky, and it also bears mentioning that the Davis Cup, the men’s team competition that began in 1900, was long considered a must for a great tennis player. Federer has yet to win it for Switzerland while Sampras won it twice for the United States.
What is clear is that if Federer wins on Sunday, he will belong on every short list of Grand Slam tennis greatness. Only five men have won all four major singles titles during their careers: Fred Perry of Britain, Don Budge of the United States, Emerson, Laver and Agassi. Budge and Laver are the only men to have completed true Grand Slams, and Agassi is the only man to have won his titles on three different surfaces, because he played after the Australian Open and the United States Open switched from grass to hardcourts.
If Federer wins, his achievement at all four majors will be without equivalent. He has won three titles and reached four finals in Australia. He has reached the final four times in Paris. He has won five titles and reached six finals at Wimbledon. And he has taken five titles at the United States Open.
He has achieved all this in a seven-year span and is still just 27.
“It is amazing,” Annacone said. “If he wins in Paris and someone tells me he’s the greatest ever, I can totally understand why they would say that. But the most exciting part is it’s still an unfinished book. Let’s enjoy the rest of the book.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/sports/06federer.html?hp
Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press
Roger Federer after advancing to the final at the French Open. With a win, Federer would tie Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles.
After Jose Acasuso and Tommy Haas, the latest would-be spoiler at this unpredictable French Open was Juan Martín del Potro, a fast-rising Argentine seven years younger and five inches taller than Federer.
Del Potro, seeded fifth at age 20, frequently made Federer look underpowered and overwhelmed in their semifinal on Friday. But Federer, lunging into the corners, still found a way to solve the big riddle: employing just about every tool on his Swiss army knife of a game to break del Potro’s rhythm, including drop shots in abundance.
After five sets and 3 hours 29 minutes, Federer leaned on the net looking as relieved as he was content after his 3-6, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Now, his opponents in Sunday’s final will be Robin Soderling of Sweden and Pete Sampras.
Sampras played and won his last tournament at the 2002 United States Open and holds the record with 14 major singles titles.
“It’s always fun to see people try to break records,” said Paul Annacone, Sampras’s longtime coach, in a telephone interview from London on Friday. “Obviously, I didn’t think Pete’s record would be caught so quickly. But Roger has just had such an amazing run. He’s such a class act, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy.”
Annacone said that view is shared by Sampras, who has become friendly with Federer in retirement through playing exhibitions. “I talked with Pete two weeks ago in L.A., and he said he didn’t think the record would be caught that quickly either, but he said, ‘Roger is a great guy and great player, so hats off if he gets there and passes it because I know how hard it was to do.’ ”
If Federer beats Soderling, he will have accomplished one feat that Sampras never quite managed: a complete set of Grand Slam singles titles. Sampras, despite occasional triumphs on clay elsewhere, advanced to only one semifinal at the French Open and never reached the final.
This will be Federer’s fourth straight final in Paris and the first in which he will not have to worry about Rafael Nadal’s left-handed topspin forehand kicking high to Federer’s one-handed backhand.
“Maybe you’ll miss him, but not me,” Federer said to reporters. “I’ve played him 20 times. It’s nice to play someone else, too. I know that I’ll be playing him plenty more times in the future.”
Without Nadal, Federer might already have won multiple titles in Paris, but without Federer, Nadal might already have won Wimbledon more than once. Playing the game of what-if in tennis is diverting but far from conclusive, which is also true of comparing greatness across eras.
“I think if he wins, you’d have to say Federer’s record is the greatest of the Open era,” said Brad Gilbert, the American commentator and coach. “But the greatest of all time? I really don’t think you can say that. Too much has changed to really compare.”
The Open era began in 1968 and allowed professionals to compete without restrictions in the four Grand Slam tournaments, which had been open only to amateurs, or at least to those who were able to hide their tennis revenue.
In the two decades after World War II, many top amateurs made their names and then quickly turned professional to join barnstorming tours like those run by the American star Jack Kramer. The result was that until 1968 very few players had the opportunity to amass large numbers of Grand Slam singles titles, with Roy Emerson of Australia, who remained amateur, being one of the exceptions by winning 12 over all.
Rod Laver, the Australian left-hander nicknamed Rocket, is often considered the greatest player because he was the only man to complete the Grand Slam twice by winning all four major singles titles in the same calendar year. Laver did it in 1962 as an amateur and in 1969 as a professional.
He won 11 major singles titles in all but was ineligible to play them as a professional from 1963 to 1967. Many argue that Laver would ultimately have won far more than 14 if he had been eligible to play Grand Slam events during that five-year period, but the flip side is that he would have faced stiffer competition if other professional stars had also been eligible.
Even in the professional era, there are pitfalls to comparisons, because the Australian Open was once undervalued and regularly snubbed by leading players because of logistics and its Christmas-holiday time slot. Bjorn Borg, the five-time Wimbledon champion and six-time French Open champion, played the Australian only once in his career, losing in the third round in 1974. Jimmy Connors played it twice, winning in 1974.
Sampras played it 11 times, winning it twice. Andre Agassi, Sampras’s longtime American rival, played it nine times and won it on four occasions. Federer has played it 10 consecutive times and won it three times.
The comparison game is indeed tricky, and it also bears mentioning that the Davis Cup, the men’s team competition that began in 1900, was long considered a must for a great tennis player. Federer has yet to win it for Switzerland while Sampras won it twice for the United States.
What is clear is that if Federer wins on Sunday, he will belong on every short list of Grand Slam tennis greatness. Only five men have won all four major singles titles during their careers: Fred Perry of Britain, Don Budge of the United States, Emerson, Laver and Agassi. Budge and Laver are the only men to have completed true Grand Slams, and Agassi is the only man to have won his titles on three different surfaces, because he played after the Australian Open and the United States Open switched from grass to hardcourts.
If Federer wins, his achievement at all four majors will be without equivalent. He has won three titles and reached four finals in Australia. He has reached the final four times in Paris. He has won five titles and reached six finals at Wimbledon. And he has taken five titles at the United States Open.
He has achieved all this in a seven-year span and is still just 27.
“It is amazing,” Annacone said. “If he wins in Paris and someone tells me he’s the greatest ever, I can totally understand why they would say that. But the most exciting part is it’s still an unfinished book. Let’s enjoy the rest of the book.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/sports/06federer.html?hp
