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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
He adds up to great
By Ranjona Banerji, DNA
Roger
Federer is a classic example of beauty with substance. Consider how the
sublime Swiss has only lost five matches this year as opposed to
winning nine titles.
The universe of Roger Federer fans is large and unforgiving. It
brooks no argument. He is the greatest ever, and let’s not get into
conversations about Pete Sampras (yeah, he was great) or Andre Agassi
(greatish), Bjorn Borg (in his time) and never, never, does anyone
mention Rafael Nadal.
Luckily for this universe, more often than not, Federer comes
through. His win at the AIG Japan Open on Sunday was his ninth title
this year. He lost only one set in the tournament. His win-loss record
for 2006 is 77 to 5. His career record is 42 of the 55 finals he has
played in, the best ratio (76.4) of the Open era, over Sampras, McEnroe
and Borg.
His ATP race points are 1374 for 2006, better than last year’s 1345
and the year is not over yet. Both those figures are records, so he has
broken his own mark. Since 2004, he has won 31 titles in 46
tournaments. His 2006 record on hard courts is 49-2, one loss to Nadal
in Dubai and one to Andy Murray in Cincinnati.
On grass, he’s unbeaten. On clay, only Nadal has beaten him. In
fact, this year, barring the one loss to Murray, Nadal has been the
only player to match up. And though the universe admits that Nadal has
been the only player on the circuit to challenge Federer, Wimbledon is
seen as ample revenge for Roland Garros. Lest it be forgotten, 2006 was
the first year that Federer reached the final in Paris. Sampras never
got that far.
But comparisons to Sampras are unfair, even if Agassi has said that
there “was a place you could get to with Pete” and there isn’t with
Roger or Henman just said that Federer’s game is “more complete”. It is
hard to fairly compare with varying parameters.
If Rod Laver is the greatest for winning two career grand slams (in
1962 and 1969, both before and after the Open era) and 11 grand slam
titles in all, Sampras is the greatest for having a record 14 grand
slam titles (but no career grand slams, aaah that elusive French Open).
So who’s greater?
The universe has one answer: Roger Federer. Again and again, it
comes down to the way he plays the game and not just that he wins. It’s
those “incredible shots” as he himself says, with an endearing lack of
modesty.
They are incredible, as it happens. Often magical, seemingly
effortless, beautiful, daring, annoyingly perfect, amazingly accurate.
Most good players achieve such shots in a life time. But match after
match after match? Not too many names on that list.
Then there’s that need to win. Even when the going is not good, when
conditions are not suitable, when perfection does not flow from the
racquet. Which is why Federer has lost only five times this year. And,
the universe hopes, will win whatever’s left of the year.
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