PARIS — All of his great rivals had been vanquished by midway through the second week of the French Open, and Roger Federer was left to battle with an intangible and ghostly foe.
History.
He couldn’t quite get his hands around it, because it’s a slippery opponent. So he decided to do the only thing he knew how: use his experience, legs and variety, and impose himself on court.
He strained and he struggled, but once he reached the final, he knew that the Roland Garros title was well within his grasp. Then he chased history with a vengeance and won his record-tying 14th Slam title 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4 over Sweden’s Robin Soderling.
The Swiss tied Pete Sampras with the most majors and became only the sixth man to win all the Slam crowns. But he’s only the second player, with Andre Agassi, to win majors on all four surfaces (both Agassi and Federer won Australian Opens on Rebound Ace, prior to when the Aussie Open switched to a more traditional hard court two years ago).
There are a handful of men who are in the conversation as the greatest ever, and Agassi obviously stuck Federer right in the middle of the discussion.
“There was never a place to go with Roger,” said ‘99 Roland Garros champ Agassi, who was in Paris to present the winner’s cup. “If it wasn’t for Nadal, he would have won a handful of these. Roger lost to him four times and he’s a person who would have won four Slams on four surfaces twice in an era that’s pretty deep. I find him pretty dominating across the board, which is something not a lot of people can claim.”
When Federer’s three main rivals — four-time French champion Rafa Nadal, No. 3 Andy Murray and No. 4 Novak Djokovic — went down before they had a chance to tango with the great Swiss, the pressure only increased on him. While there was light at the end of his dark Roland Garros tunnel, he still had to avoid the pitfalls of foes who were champing at the bit to take advantage of his nerves.
“Of course, I was disappointed for [Nadal], but I also knew that it was a big opportunity for me,” Federer said of the Spaniard’s loss. “But it also increased pressure on me. It was very difficult to manage all this.”
Early on, Federer had to put down strong challenges by Jose Acasuso (four sets), Paul Henri Mathieu (four sets) and Tommy Haas (a five-set win from two sets down). Then he showed a cool head in confusing France’s Gael Monfils in three emotionally trying sets, showed guts and guile in taking out the red hot No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro in five brutal sets and, finally, ran circles around the sizzling Soderling, who had knocked out Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez.
Federer managed to pull off the feat even though he knew that had he failed to take the title, he might have blown his last best chance to shine in Paris and would have been heavily criticized for not taking care of business when his main rivals had been dispatched.
The pressure was all on Fed, but he would not be denied, because deep down, he believed that this title should have been his a few years ago. In ‘06, after Nadal bullied him for the second time (the Spaniard bested Federer for four straight years prior to ‘09), Federer thought, “Oh my God, I got to wait one entire year, and then I don’t even know if I’ll make the final again. “
But Federer kept attempting to improve, worked hard on his fitness and put in hundreds of hours on dirt. He added a much-needed soft-handed drop shot, which won him dozens of points during the tournament. And he put his wealth of experience and a tremendous variety of shots to use.
Agassi stated that Federer’s ability to silence his doubters again and again is an otherworldly quality. “He’s never shown us with pressure that he won’t step up,” said Agassi. “He had to deal with this one guy named Nadal whose been his Achilles’ heel, but every time it was thought he would not step to the plate again or that the achievements and the records would get the better of him, he’s always risen to the occasion.”
Against Soderling, Federer served the lights out, smoking 16 aces, including four in the critical second-set tiebreaker. He withstood a bizarre interruption in the second set when an intruder came on court and tried to put a flag and hat on his head. He dominated the court with his huge forehand, more than matching the powerful Swede from that side, showed three different styles of backhands and found one angle after another.
“Every time I played Roger, after the match I always said, ‘I played so bad today,’” said Soderling, who fell to 0-10 against Federer. “Now I learned that it’s not that I played bad, he makes me play bad.”
In some ways, Federer was playing against himself. He was clearly the better competitor going into the third set, but with a light rain threatening to stop play and the Swede still battling, he felt the weight of the occasion. But he stood up tall whenever a mini-crisis occurred, because he’s been in those game-winning situations before and believes he’ll be there again. When he won the contest with a service winner, the tears began to fall before his knees touched the ground and he threw his arms up in celebration.
“I was very nervous at the beginning of the third set because I realized how close I was,” Federer said. “You can imagine how difficult that game was. It was almost unplayable because I was just hoping to serve some good serves and that he was going to make four errors. It was that bad. [But] I knew the day Rafa won’t be in the finals, I will be there and I will win…This could be my biggest victory, the one that takes off the most pressure. Now for the rest of my career I can play relaxed and never hear again that I’ve never won the French Open.”
In between his fifth U.S. Open crown last September and Sunday, Federer had been seriously tested. He lost a heartbreaking final to Nadal at the Aussie Open, suffered a back injury, and took losses to Murray at Doha and at Indian Wells, to Stan Wawrinka in Monte Carlo, and to Djokovic in Miami and Rome.
Agassi watched the Australian final and was struck by what he saw.
“That was career changing,” said Agassi, who won eight majors. “I look at the Xs and Os first and he’s not quite the same player overall when he was dominating; there might have been a half a step lost. People always look great winning, but Nadal started to get better and you could argue that Fed was losing an edge. Combine that with a real opportunity with the fatigue that Nadal had going into the final and the way that fifth set went and he sort of broke and let it get away. That was very unlike Roger. Now when you add that mental element and you have a physical issue and it goes fast.”
But while his tennis obituary was beginning to be written, Federer never lost faith. A week before Roland Garros, he scored his first win over Nadal in five matches at Madrid and when he arrived in Paris, he felt that he was in good enough shape to put up a challenge, his prior year results be damned. While some focused on Nadal’s 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 devastation of him in last year’s final, he put it aside. His spirit was never broken.
“That’s the true test of a champion,” Agassi said.
Federer agreed: “I fought for this moment and stayed positive and calm when things maybe weren’t going so well. I always believed in my chances to win Paris or any Grand Slam.”
After Nadal lost during the event’s second Sunday, the discussion as to whether Federer should be called the greatest ever was ramped up to epic proportions, with many former greats and analysts weighing in. Most of the current players say yes, as he’s blinded them with his brilliance.
“I never played anyone playing that fast,” Soderling said. “He doesn’t have any weaknesses at all. He really deserves to be called the best of all time.”
But a number of ex-players say it’s impossible to compare eras for numerous reasons, including the fact that prior to the Open Era (‘68) most of the best players turned pro and weren’t allow to compete in the Slams. For example, Australian Rod Laver, who won two calendar year Grand Slams in ‘62 and ‘69, missed six years of Grand Slam opportunities after he turned pro. Then there’s the Aussie Open factor, as during much of the ‘70s, the tournament wasn’t held in high regard and most of the stars skipped it. Bjorn Borg, who won 11 Slams, played it only once and the six-time French Open champion was also forced to skip Roland Garros one year because he participated in World TeamTennis. The Swede actually has a better winning percentage in the Slams than Federer does, winning 11 out of 27 (40.7 percent), while Federer has taken 14 out of 40 (35 percent) majors.
Jimmy Connors, who won a record 147 titles and eight Grand Slams, skipped the French 10 times and only played the Aussie Open twice. John McEnroe, who also won eight majors, skipped the Aussie Open six times during his prime.
Then there’s Fed’s record against his primary rival, Nadal, which is 7-13 and includes losses at six majors and only two wins on the world’s biggest stages, at ‘06-’07 Wimbledon.
“Two guys playing in their prime and having an overwhelming head to head, you certainly look at it and say, that’s not ideal,” Agassi said. “It’s a matchup problem, but there’s still a lot of tennis left, especially in Nadal’s career. How do you define greatness? Everybody has a bit of an Achilles’ heel and I still find what Roger’s done to be remarkable.”
Indeed. At the very least, Federer is certainly a major part of the greatest ever conversation and at the age of 27, might have numerous majors left in him. After all, Sampras won his 14th crown when he was 31. Federer won his 14th major at his 40th Slam, while it took the American 52 majors to pull it off. Plus, Sampras never went around the block on all surfaces (his best result in Paris was one semifinal) or reached 19 major finals.
“It’s an incredible feeling already having reached 14 and not having been sort of derailed by maybe losing a couple Grand Slam finals against Rafa,” Federer said. “I took my time and was able to regroup and come up to equal Pete’s record in Paris is unbelievable.”
Agassi was all smiles watching Federer raise the trophy that he presented to him. And why not? His ‘99 title run defined his career and he knows that Federer’s win Sunday completed his circle too.
“I know there are no regrets when you cross that tape and I got to watch him go through it,” Agassi said. “That was history. It was very, very cool.”
