I laughed even harder at this Nike commercial which someone posted on YouTube. And it features a cute ___--well, I'm not spoiling things so you better watch it yourself--whom I've never considered cute at all. Federer is ever so much more good-looking. Ha ha ha... [Oh, my mom's gonna kill me for this.]
I thought I'd drop a short note about our beloved Roger Federer finally fulfilling his dream of adding the Coupe des Mousquetaires to his already large collection of Grand Slam trophies. Not to mention equaling Pete Sampras' haul of 14 Grand Slam titles and completing a career Grand Slam. Talk about hitting three birds with one stone!
The Swiss champ dismantled opponent Robin Soderling in straight sets 6-1 7-6(1) 6-4 in the finals yesterday to win the one Grand slam title that has eluded him for the longest time, thanks to longtime rival, Rafael Nadal's incredible feats on clay in the past four years.
A clearly relieved Federer said of this historic win:
I think that now and until the end of my career, I can really play with my mind at peace, and no longer hear that I've never won Roland Garros.
Now that that gap in his already impressive resume has been filled, one can't help but look forward to the rest of the season and the years to come.
All hail, King Roger the Great! Long live King Roger the Great!
Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images (Top) and AFT/Getty Images (Bottom)
After two rounds, twelve-time grand slam champion Roger Federer remains en route to a thirteenth grand slam title and first at Roland Garros.
There was talk that Federer would have his hands full in the first round since he was drawn there against big-serving Sam Querrey. Happily for Federer fans, the Swiss was virtually untroubled as he dispatched the 6ft 6in American in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 6-3.
In the next round, Federer went up against Albert Montañes of Spain. That matched was interrupted by rain which made Federer struggle with his rhythm and lose the opening set in a tie-break 5-7. But that first-set loss apparently only served to spur on the Swiss to step up his game. He bounced back spectacularly, surrendering only a single game in the next two sets (6-1 6-0), and wrapped up the victory with a 6-4 score in the fourth set.
Next up for the world number one is Mario Ancic who himself is playing some of his best tennis this clay court season. The Croat, who also came down with mononucleosis last year, is known to be the last person to have defeated Federer at Wimbledon.
Note:
I'm afraid my posts about Federer's matches at the French Open will be relatively short since the sports cable channel which is available in our part of the country and carried live coverage of Roland Garros in the past years has opted not to buy the rights this season. I can only watch the live scores available online (oh, bummer!) as well as listen to Radio Roland Garros which isn't much help, by the way, as the people there rarely comment on the ongoing match. Talk about live "coverage"!
Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Here's an interesting perspective of the Federer-Nadal rivalry given by Greg Garber at ESPN which only magnifies Federer's achievements in the world of tennis. And I don't think the same can be said of Nadal.
Almost single-handedly, Nadal has prevented Federer from making a complete mockery of the men's game.
Consider this: Going into this final at Roland Garros, Federer had put together two of the three longest Grand Slam match win streaks in the 39-year existence of the Open era. After losing to Nadal in the semifinals here in 2005, Federer won 27 straight matches -- and the next three Grand Slams (Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open). And then it happened again. After losing to Nadal in the 2006 French Open final, Federer won another 27 consecutive Grand Slam matches -- and three more Grand Slam singles titles.
Remove Nadal from the equation, and you have a rather frightening prospect. It is not a great stretch to imagine Federer beating Mariano Puerta in the 2005 final and, clearly, he was the second-best player here in 2006 and again in 2007. For laughs, give Federer Nadal's three French Open titles and you have a ridiculous run of nine consecutive Grand Slam titles -- 63 consecutive major match wins -- with the valid prospect of two more, 2007 Wimbledon and the 2007 U.S. Open.
History was made at Roland Garros today although not the kind we Federer fans were hoping for.
Nadal won a rare third straight French Open title as he ended Federer's bid for a career Grand Slam with a four-set victory in the latest chapter of the rivalry between the top two tennis players. In a way, Nadal was right in saying that Federer had much more at stake with that match: Federer had a career Grand Slam to aim for while he merely wanted to win his third Grand Slam trophy.
If there was one positive thing (from Federer's point of view at least) about the match, it is that Federer prevented Nadal from matching what he accomplished in this year's Australian Open: winning a Grand Slam tournament without dropping the set. He managed to win the second set 6-4 after breaking Nadal's serve in the seventh game by successfully coming to the net and shortening the points to his favor. He had not used that tactic in the first set which he lost 6-2 after losing his serve twice and failing to take advantage of numerous opportunities he himself had to break Nadal's serve. However, he didn't follow up on that great second set in the subsequent sets in which Nadal clearly dominated 6-3 6-4.
Poor Federer. He clearly looked disappointed after Nadal converted on his second match point and during the trophy ceremony. I'd say Nadal didn't really play his best but Federer just seemed to lack the fire and consistent brilliance that he usually displays in other tournaments. Even Federer graciously acknowledged--as he always does when he loses a match--that his opponent was the better player of the match:
He's the toughest guy on clay. So I knew that I would have to take my chances. There is one way, you know, to create chances, but then you have to convert them, too. But I couldn't get them done in the first set, especially, and then that maybe in the long run hurt me.
But, you know, I came back, and played okay in the second set, but had a bad start again in the third set, which kind of killed it for me. But, after that, I think, you know, he served better, made less unforced errors, and I couldn't really play the way I wanted from the baseline.
So it was tough, but I think he played an excellent match and deserved to win in the end.
Oh well. At least Federer also remains motivated:
Yeah, obviously, if I would have won today -- again, same thing happened last year--I would have had not many other goals to chase in my career. Like this, it always stays open. And eventually, if I get it, the sweeter it's going to taste.
As for the rest of the year, Federer can always look forward to the coming tournaments in Halle and Wimbledon--where the grass is definitely greener for him--and to the hard court season with the US Open afterwards.
It's 3-6 4-3, Federer serving. The crowd is definitely behind Roger. I have a feeling that they came not to watch Federer and Nadal play each other but to see history being made. And they won't settle for anything less. You can do it Roger!
A decidedly lackluster Federer eked out a straight-sets win over Nikolai Davydenko at the semifinals of the French Open, 7-5 7-6(5) 7-6(7). He had to fight back from a break down in each set as Davydenko seemingly would not believe that he could defeat the Swiss world tennis number one. One commentator even jokingly noted that Davydenko had changed to an orange shirt in the third set perhaps in order to blend in with the court and make it difficult for Federer to see him. Nevertheless, a visibly relieved Federer was satisfied with his performance:
"It was tight until the end. I could have lost in three sets but I won. He's an excellent player and that was a good test for me before the final."
What's more is that he managed to set yet another record along the way by making his eighth consecutive appearance at the finals of a grand slam tournament.
He will once again face world tennis number two and second seed Rafael Nadal who defeated a feisty Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 6-2 in a much more scintillating match in the other semifinals. Nadal is now the only man who stands between Federer and the only grand slam title to elude him as well as the distinction of being only the third man to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.
Tonight I witnessed Federer drop his first set in 12 matches in a Grand Slam tournament on his way to a victory over Spaniard Tommy Robredo, 7-5 1-6 6-1 6-2 in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros a.k.a. the French Open. Despite the hiccup, Federer still set two records:
He will be battling Nikolai Davydenko for a place in his 8th consecutive Grand Slam finals. Davydenko defeated the dangerous Argentine Guillermo Canas in his quarterfinal match, 7-5 6-4 6-4.
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