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No. 20, and Still counting - Roger Federer

“I’m just happy to be on the board,” Roger Federer, then 21, said at Wimbledon in July 2003 after winning his first Grand Slam singles title.

The expectations were great from the start. Even as a junior, Federer was widely viewed as a future Grand Slam champion by leading coaches as they jostled to mentor him and by leading agents as they hustled to represent him.

Yet he has managed to surpass those expectations, breaking Pete Sampras’ men’s record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles by the age of 27 and then defying tennis norms by continuing to win the big ones deep into his 30s.

He has prevailed with little suspense, sweeping to victory at the 2007 Australian Open and at last year’s Wimbledon without dropping a set in the tournament. He has prevailed under major duress, playing the longest fifth set in the history of Wimbledon men’s finals before defeating Andy Roddick, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14, in 2009.

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But Federer, still light of step and heavy of forehand at age 36, has always won gracefully and most of the time graciously with more than a few tears along the way. He is an unusually empathetic champion and an uncommonly enduring champion. One perhaps helps explain the other.

From No. 1 to No. 20, here are excerpts from The New York Times’ coverage of Federer’s major championships.

2003 WIMBLEDON: Def. Mark Philippoussis, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (3)

But Federer may also end up meaning a lot to Wimbledon. He might not be the 17-year-old symbol of a nation like Boris Becker was when he won the title; he might not exude the Nordic mystery of Borg or have the Big Apple mouth of John McEnroe. But there is something magnetic about his tennis: an attractive blend of smooth moving and creative thinking; of tact and force that has the potential to cut across borders.

2004 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Def. Marat Safin, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-2

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Federer was impervious to it all, carving forehands, slicing backhands, sensing opportunities and reading the flow of play. At Wimbledon last July, he shed tears on court after winning his first Grand Slam singles title. But this time, despite facing a tougher second-week draw, he remained self-contained, smiling politely as the compliments flowed from his observers and opponents, but projecting much more quiet confidence than delight.

2004 WIMBLEDON: Def. Andy Roddick, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-4

Federer, a 22-year-old from Switzerland, has many more aces to hit before he can catch Borg, who won five titles in a row here, or before he catches Pete Sampras, who won seven times at the All England Club. But on grass, this is unquestionably his time, his era, and it was telling that on an afternoon when he was tighter and more error-prone than usual under Roddick’s intense pressure, Federer still managed to lose only one set.

2004 U.S. OPEN: Def. Lleyton Hewitt, 6-0, 7-6 (3), 6-0

Without a sound, even from his feet, which seemed to dance as effortlessly as the ball off his racket, Roger Federer deftly created an opening-set masterpiece yesterday in the men’s final of the United States Open. From the start, he muted Lleyton Hewitt with a continuous arsenal of angles and paces, volleys, overheads and one-handed backhands that showed he could paint the lines yellow with shots other than just his deadly forehand.

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2005 WIMBLEDON: Def. Andy Roddick, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-4

Boris Becker, who won here in 1985, 1986 and 1989, said: “He doesn’t really have a weakness. He’s comfortable from the back of the court, he’s comfortable at the net. And I think the other players have to learn from that.” John McEnroe, who won here in 1981, 1983 and 1984, later said on television, “People think I’m kidding or that I’m just talking him up when I say he’s the greatest talent of all time, but I believe that.”

2005 U.S. OPEN: Def. Andre Agassi, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1

It was one of Andre Agassi’s finest performances in a United States Open final, and it was the latest unmistakable sign of Roger Federer’s tennis greatness that Agassi still lost in four sets yesterday. The match was an intergenerational tussle and contrast in styles between Federer, the flowing 24-year-old from Switzerland who is dominating the sport, and Agassi, the 35-year-old father of two from Las Vegas who remains, despite his fragile back, the game’s strongest personality.

2006 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Def. Marcos Baghdatis, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2

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Federer has now surpassed two of his childhood role models, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, who each won six major titles. “I left my idols behind me now; that means something, you know,” Federer said. “I’m very pleased, but they still stay my heroes from back in the day. I’m definitely on a great roll at the moment. I don’t forget that it’s been a tough road for me. I amaze myself every time I do well.”

2006 WIMBLEDON: Def. Rafael Nadal, 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3

But by the time the last rumble of applause had reverberated through the stadium Nadal’s acrobatics and trademark self-belief were not enough to defeat Federer at the All England Club, which has become his private stamping ground. “Tony told me before the match, ‘This is your house, it’s your court,'” Federer said of his coach, Tony Roche, who was a Wimbledon finalist in 1968. “I told him: ‘OK, OK, I’m going to try to win. I’ll try not to lose the keys.'”

2006 U.S. OPEN: Def. Andy Roddick, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

“He had a terrible game; I took advantage,” Federer said. “From then on, I didn’t look back. I started to feel better, play more freely, and in the end, I played unbelievable.” How to sound modest when you speak the tennis truth? A tight match can unravel so quickly against Federer when he starts whipping through his forehands on his terms, and the rest of the final read like a postscript as Federer swept through the first five games of the final set.

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2007 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Def. Fernando González, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4

At least there is history for Roger Federer to play against, because for the moment, no man is much of a match. Fernando González gave it all he had, or at least all he had left, in the final Sunday at the Australian Open. With his forehand working and Federer’s slightly off target, the Chilean even managed to serve for the opening set.

2007 WIMBLEDON: Def. Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-2

There is always a dash of style with Federer, the 25-year-old from Switzerland, and now he has reached a nearly unprecedented level of substance. Federer beat Rafael Nadal, his 21-year-old Spanish rival, in five sets Sunday, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-2, joining Borg as the only men’s players in the last 100 years to win Wimbledon five times in a row.

2007 U.S. OPEN: Def. Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4

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Federer became the first man in the Open era to win four straight titles, the first since Bill Tilden won six straight U.S. national titles from 1920 to 1925. Federer is now within two titles to tie Pete Sampras for the all-time career lead and even he was a bit overwhelmed with the moment. “I think straight sets is a bit brutal for Novak, he deserved better,” Federer said during the on-court trophy presentation.

2008 U.S. OPEN: Def. Andy Murray, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2

As befits his cosmopolitan lifestyle, Roger Federer owns homes all over the world: Oberwil, Switzerland; Wimbledon, England; Flushing Meadows. Who would argue that Arthur Ashe Stadium does not belong to Federer in the aftermath of his fifth consecutive United States Open championship?

2009 FRENCH OPEN: Def. Robin Soderling, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4

By winning the French Open on Sunday, Federer tied the record of 14 major singles titles held by Pete Sampras. But Sampras, the retired American champion, never won the French Open, the only one of the game’s four most prestigious tournaments to be played on clay. A strong case can now be made for Federer in the inevitable, probably irresolvable debate over who deserves to be considered the greatest player ever.

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2009 WIMBLEDON: Def. Andy Roddick, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14

But as cruel as the concept began to seem as both players continued to invest in the outcome, Wimbledon’s latest epic had to finish. And as poignant as it should seem to those who know how long Roddick has been chasing sunlight in Federer’s shadow, Federer was the one who again ended up holding the trophy.

2010 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Def. Andy Murray, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (11)

With Federer adding to his record for men’s Grand Slam singles titles, there is little doubt his place in the history books is secure. By winning his fourth Australian Open, Federer may have his best opportunity to join Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962, ’69) in taking down the sport’s holy grail: a Grand Slam, a sweep of the four major tournaments in the same year.

2012 WIMBLEDON: Def. Andy Murray, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4

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This was also Federer’s 17th Grand Slam singles title, padding his lead in the career men’s standings. But this victory, though not the most significant or emotional of his career (the only tears on court this time were Murray’s), was particularly reaffirming because it was his first major title in more than two years at an age when tennis superstars are usually past their primes.

2017 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Def. Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

It was Roger Federer’s unlikeliest victory in a Grand Slam tournament — quite a statement for a 35-year-old who has now won 18 of them. But where else should one rank this Australian Open, where Federer was rightfully viewed as an underdog? Where he arrived seeded just 17th, having not played an official tournament for more than six months? Where he faced his friendly rival Rafael Nadal in the final on sore legs?

2017 WIMBLEDON: Def. Marin Cilic, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4

In the end, Roger Federer’s record eighth Wimbledon singles title looked easy compared with some of the marathon finals he has had to win on this same patch of London grass. Federer became the oldest men’s champion in the Open era and the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1976 to sweep through the draw without dropping a set.

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2018 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Def. Marin Cilic, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1

The most remarkable part of his 20th Grand Slam singles title was that it came as no surprise. Not even at age 36 in a sport where the spoils have generally been reserved for a much younger crowd. Federer, like Serena Williams, has redefined the limits. After going nearly five years without a major title, he has now won three of the last five in a phase of his career when he insists that he would have been content with just one more.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

CHRISTOPHER CLAREY © 2018 The New York Times

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