Four for Fabulous Federer

Is there anything this amazing Swiss can't do? I've been a Federer fan for more than four years now but this guy continues to give me the goosebumps whenever he plays. What can I say? He's so ... Federer!

And so it was in the finals of the 2007 US Open which he won in three thrilling sets 7-6(5) 7-6(2) 6-4. The young challenger Novak Djokovic showed why he is someone to contend with in years to come but Federer still proved in the face of that challenge why he is the number one tennis player in the world and why he will be for years to come.

I was lucky this time around: I got to watch live streaming video of the match over the Internet--I hooked up my laptop to my LCD tv!--together with live commentary over the online US Open radio. (The streaming video was that of a Chinese sports channel and commentary was of course in Chinese.) The video's resolution was such that I couldn't track the ball most of the time but to see action on court as it was happening was definitely better than nothing. The video was also one or two points behind the what was going on over the radio but I didn't mind it that much: it was fun listening to what was happening and looking forward to see it on video. (I had the live scoreboard up as well at one point in the beginning but that was a full point ahead of the radio coverage and keeping track of three things at once was a bit too much for me.)

Those first two sets were definitely nailbiters. It was just past 4:30 in the morning here when the match started but I was wide awake from the beginning of the match which promised exciting tennis. What made me anxious early on was that Djokovic was playing very well and Federer clearly couldn't make a dent on the young Serb's serve. But yet again to my relief, Federer showed what makes him a champion. It takes guts and self-belief to fight off all seven set points he faced and eventually win the first two sets in tiebreaks. He wasn't playing at the same level as he did against Roddick two matches ago but he still managed to win. And that, I believe, is what sets Federer apart from the rest of the field. It's not just his consistency in playing well--we've seen him have bad matches more often of late--but his experience in knowing how to win. And the more he continues to win matches like this despite not playing his best, the more he'll continue to believe that he is capable of winning again. Such is the terrifying prospect faced by other players hoping to unseat the Swiss from his lofty throne.

Kudos though to the charismatic Djokovic--who had, intriguingly, Maria Sharapova sitting together with his parents in his box and rooting for him--as well for his performance here at his very first appearance at a grand slam final. I have long been impressed by this young Serb's game that I was expecting the Fed Express would need four sets to dispatch him. Indeed, losing in three sets is, as Federer put it so bluntly, brutal for somebody who played that well but those three sets with the first two going into tiebreaks was for me already like four-sets. But more importantly for us faithful Federer fans, those three sets showed not only how Federer had to fight for the title but how he could still win in the end.

This latest triumph makes Federer the only player to have won both Wimbledon and the US Open titles back-to-back for four consecutive years, a feat comparable to Borg's three back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles. He is also tied with Ivan Lendl for 27 consecutive match wins at the US Open. And then that whopping $2.4M prize money, plus a brand new Lexus to boot (not only is his trophy case, er, room getting crowded, he's probably running out of space in his garage too!) was also the most anyone has won at one event in the sport. It also puts Federer just two grand slam titles behind Pete Sampras' record of fourteen grand slam titles which he is in a position to equal at the French Open next year should he win the Australian Open for the fourth time next year.

After that, who knows? Barring injury, this Swiss could continue to keep both fans and players in awe of his talent by breaking records and making tennis history.

Long live King Roger the Great!
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images