The 2008 Australian Open marks the beginning of world No. 1 Roger Federer's quest for a fifth consecutive year of dominating men's tennis.
Unlike one of his predecessors, Pete Sampras, who won the first of his record 14 Grand Slam titles at 19, Federer was just a month shy of his 22nd birthday when broke through at
He has subsequently made up for lost time, winning three out of four Grand Slams in 2004, 2006 and 2007, while having to settle for only two in 2005 - the year he was upset by Marat Safin in a titanic Australian Open semi-final, and then beaten by Rafael Nadal at the same stage of the French Open.
Since then, Federer has reached the final of every Grand Slam he has played, 10 in all, with the only blemishes coming the past two years at Roland Garros, where Nadal has proved to be a physical presence he can neither outmanoeuvre nor overpower.
That string of 10 Grand Slams without losing before the final is unprecedented in tennis history and works out to a 59-0 (Federer had one walkover) record over the first six rounds at the four majors on different surfaces against the best opposition professional tennis can provide.
(He is also on a streak of 14 Grand Slam semi-finals in a row, dating from a third-round loss to Gustavo Kuerten at the 2004 French Open.)
No comments:
Post a Comment