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September 11, 2007
A Nice Fit for Federer: Sampras’s Slam Record
By Liz Robbins, New York Times
Roger Federer
took a five-minute pause for reflection at noon yesterday. He blinked
back the two and a half hours of sleep that followed a celebration of
his fourth consecutive United States Open title and that preceded a
whirlwind of morning television appearances.
The real fun came next: an Oscar de la Renta
fashion show, which Federer attended with Anna Wintour, a confidante
and the editor in chief of Vogue; and his longtime girlfriend, Mirka
Vavrinec.
“If Mirka likes a dress, maybe I can order it,” said Federer, who
was wearing Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabbana as he sat in the
quiet lobby of a Manhattan hotel. “I know they don’t like it when you
order it on the spot.”
But he is, after all, Roger Federer, the No. 1 tennis player in the
world. He modestly and fashionably flexes the kind of clout that
transcends sport.
And he can also afford a dress off the runway.
For his victory in straight sets over the Serbian upstart Novak
Djokovic on Sunday, Federer collected a $2.4 million paycheck — $1.4
million for winning the Open, in which he lost only two sets, and $1
million for winning the summer U.S. Open Series.
Numbers, but not dollar figures, motivate Federer, the reigning
tennis king from Switzerland. He collected his 12th Grand Slam singles
title, in only his 14th appearance in a major final, moving two behind Pete Sampras for the career lead.
It is this quest that spurs Federer to raise his game when he needs
it most. “Not actually Pete, just records in general, they’re the big
picture,” he said, “whereas the young guys are the motivation on a
day-to-day basis, where you practice and work hard and you hope you can
stay ahead of them. In the end, it’s also just fun playing against
those records. I really start to enjoy the challenge, where before it
was a burden for me.”
Federer moved in front of Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver on the list of
career Grand Slam titles. He equaled Borg’s Open-era record of five
consecutive Wimbledon titles in July, after a five-set match against
the world No. 2, Rafael Nadal.
Sampras won his 12th Grand Slam title in 1999 at Wimbledon when he
was one month shy of his 28th birthday. Federer is 26 and has not yet
won the French Open, which eluded Sampras during his career. Federer
has lost two consecutive French Open finals to Nadal.
Federer, No. 1 for the past 188 weeks, has won his last six titles
within the past two seasons, making each Grand Slam final the last two
seasons.
“That is what I’m really proud of, is to how well I’ve been able to
do it all over again,” Federer said. “I hope I can keep the great run
going. I just hope I can win the French one day.”
Next year, Federer has another goal — to win a gold medal in the
Beijing Olympics and equal a Golden Grand Slam that only Steffi Graf
has accomplished in one season.
His success gives him few equals in the tennis world, which is one reason he has found a superstar counterpart in Tiger Woods.
Last year, Woods was in Federer’s box for the championship. On Sunday,
Woods won his 60th tournament at the BMW Championship. “Tiger texted
me,” Federer said. “It was great to win in the same weekend.”
Federer’s two-week accomplishment took 7 matches and 23 sets. He
lost one set each to the 6-foot-9 John Isner, and Feliciano López.
“That’s it?” Federer said. “Unbelievable.”
But it was his last three matches, all three-set victories — against Andy Roddick,
Nikolay Davydenko and Djokovic — that showed why he is so dominant.
Whenever tested, Federer responded. When asked to provide his top
moments from this Open, Federer smiled.
“Probably that backhand against Andy,” Federer said, recalling the
turning point at 4-4 in the second tie breaker when he instinctively
returned a 140-mile-an-hour serve with a backhand that skidded off the
back of the baseline.
Roddick’s look of exasperated wonder summarized his career futility against Federer, the Michael Jordan of his generation.
Federer added: “I liked the one point I played with Davydenko when
he was at the net and I hit a couple of shots at him, and then it hit
the net and it went over him. It was so lucky, that was funny.”
He was better than lucky, however, when he made Sunday’s memorable shot.
“That great passing shot I hit on set point against Novak,” Federer
said for his third highlight, referring to a blistering backhand down
the line that won the second-set tie breaker and deflated the
20-year-old Djokovic, who was playing in his first Grand Slam final.
Federer, as usual, prevailed in a tournament as predictable as the sunny weather.
“It’s important for me in my stage in my career to prove myself,” he
said. “And this was a perfect opportunity against Djokovic, also
against Andy. I was coming into the U.S. Open after Nadal played so
well at Wimbledon. It was time for me to prove myself again and I
achieved it, so it was kind of a good feeling inside.”
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