The great Roger Federer has often been praised for his amazing repertoire of shots, his quickness and uncanny anticipation on court, his court sense and his superb balance. These are certainly key to his incredible performances on court in the past three years or so. But I think the one thing he possesses and which has been underrated but is mind boggling nevertheless is his consistency. How else can you explain just 17 losses since the 2004 season? Sure, a player can possess this great forehand or that exquisite backhand out there but to put it all together to produce winners and win matches and titles time and time again is something not everyone can do. As one-time Australian No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt said after being served two bagels by Federer in the US Open back in 2004, "It's an incredible effort what he's done the whole year with the depth in men's tennis these days. I don't think people realise how hard it is to win three major titles in a year." Even the modest Federer has admitted that he amazes himself how he can go through tournaments and keep backing up each title with still another one--usually accompanied by a new record to boot.
For comparison, just take a look at the players who have at one time been tagged as Federer's rivals.
First there was Andy Roddick who held the number two spot behind Roger in 2004 until mid 2005. There was a lot of talk then about their "rivalry" but as Roddick rightly said so in Wimbledon 2004, he had yet to win some of their matches to truly make it a rivalry. Then his game began to falter in 2005 and he has been struggling since. He may have found his footing once again after hiring Jimmy Connors to be his coach but that embarrassment of a match against Federer in the Australian Open semifinals immediately squashed all hopes of ever improving on his dismal record against The Mighty Federer.
And then there was the very talented Marat Safin who upset Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2005. After that victory, Marat was immediately identified to be the one who would challenge Federer for the rest of the season. But, surprise, surprise, that never materialised. Many have said that fiery Russian was just as gifted as--or perhaps even more gifted than--Federer but just lacked, well, consistency.
The player who eventually emerged to challenge Federer in 2005 was the teenage Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Only 18 years old at that time, he nearly upset the great Swiss in the Miami finals but beat him to the French Open crown later that year. That rivalry continued on to 2006 when Nadal wrestled the Dubai Open from Federer and beat him in three other occasions that year--all in clay court finals, including the one at the French Open which foiled Federer's hopes of a so-called Federer slam. Then to the great surprise of many, Nadal even reached the finals at Wimbledon in 2006. But a tenacious Federer stopped him there as well as in an exciting crucial match in the semifinals of the Masters Cup later that year. In fact, Nadal never won a title after his loss to Federer in the Wimbledon finals while Federer went on to grab the US Open title to end another year with three grand slam titles, four Masters Series shields and five other titles. Nadal's troubles didn't end there as he continued to struggle in this year's Australian Open and in Dubai. Although he took the Pacific Life Open title this year, he failed to follow it up with a title at Miami when he fell to young Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals there (his first time to lose to a younger player?).
It was a resurgent Fernando Gonzalez, who upset Nadal (and many other seeded players) on his way to the Australian Open finals. With his new coach, newly-found confidence and refurbished game, Gonzales actually met Federer in the finals in three previous occasions late in 2006. He, like everyone else who makes a surprising performance like that, was therefore expected to climb the rankings and be a threat at least to many players in the top 10. Surprisingly--or perhaps, not surprisingly, given that Federer won his 10th grand slam title at his expense--nobody seemed to dare predict that he would be a threat to Federer. Considering disappointing losses in Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami, he, like many other before him, did not live up to those expectations either.
And now we have Guillermo Cañas, just back from serving a 15-month-long suspension for failing a drug test in 2005, who upset Federer twice and in two successive tournaments no less. If he goes on to win the Miami ATP Masters Series title at Key Biscayne, shall we expect him to continue his amazing run? Already he has been tagged as Federer's new nemesis. (It would be interesting to see him and Nadal battle it out for that title.) Of course, his recent victories over unseeded players portend that Cañas may continue his run, but as in the case of so many others before him, I don't think it will last.
Maybe I should talk about Hewitt as well. But I'd attribute his recent poor form to his having new priorities in his life.
Allow me now to pause now and take stock here: I've accounted for five different rivals over just a three-year period. That's a different rival every over 30 weeks on the average! And all that time, King Roger the Great has been enthroned on the number one spot for 165 consecutive weeks. That reign includes three grand slams in 2004, just four losses and a record four Masters Series shields in 2005, and another three grand slams, four Masters Series shields and an amazing 92 match wins in 2006--and a host of records besides. And all that despite foot/ankle injuries in both 2004 and 2005.
Therefore I believe that those two losses to Cañas will just whet Federer's appetite. When has failing to win titles in successive tournaments ever prevented him from winning more titltes ever since he became No. 1 anyway? We can reasonably expect that he will henceforth be back with a vengeance for the rest of the year and in the years to follow. As we have seen in the past, many different players will continue to rise to threaten him but they will fall to the wayside in the long run. And Federer will always be there to win and set records, as he has always done.
