King Roger the Great continues reign at No. 1

Our Swiss tennis superstar has clinched the number one ranking for the fourth year running after successfully winning a second consecutive title at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland. Federer comfortably defeated the unseeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 6-3 6-4 in the finals.

Previous to that match, the 6'1" top seed fought off 6'10" Croatian Ivo Karlovic yet again--I wonder what he thought about the size difference this time!--via two tie-breaks in the semi-finals and won a rematch with Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3 6-2, in the quarter-finals. The latter was Federer's 544th career victory, the most for any active player in the ATP circuit.

This is Federer's seventh ATP title of the year, his 53rd in his career. He now also joins past tennis greats Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras as the only men in the open era to hold the number one ranking for four consecutive years.

Long live King Roger the Great!
Photo credit: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Naughty Roger whips del Potro

After a rather shaky start at his hometown tournament, Roger stamped his authority with a quick 58-minute 6-1 6-4 win over young Argentine Juan Martin del Potro to move into the semifinals of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors.

Although I didn't get to watch the match itself (no coverage at all of this minor tournament at my favorite cable sports channel), it was clear that the top seed was back into his winning ways raising his game when needed, to the obvious delight of the home crowd in Basel.

However, it seems that the highlight of that event came during the post-match interview throughout which Federer was practically rendered speechless by a fit of giggles after giving a naughty answer to an question posed by his interviewer.



For my part, I was laughing throughout that interview the first time I watched it even if I couldn't understand a word that was being said; Federer has such a funny infectious laugh. Thankfully somebody provided a rough translation so that I eventually found out what the big joke was all about.