Federer, Federer, Federer! Men’s tennis evolves around one man and one man only. Props to Nadal for exceeding expectations at Wimbledon, but where has the Spanish sensation been the past couple of months? Don’t look at any semi-finals, you won’t find him there.
The Fed man is king of the ATP castle and he rules the field without mercy. His latest victim listens to the name Fernando Gonzalez. The Chilean stood up to the King in the first set of the Madrid final, but when things get heated, Federer brings the ice. Gonzalez lost serve for the first time in the match at 5-6 and Roger never looked back.
Federer operated with the same lethalness in his other matches, going 3-0 in tiebreaks and not dropping a single set en route to clinching his fourth Masters Series crown of the season. With his achievement, Federer became the first player to win four MS titles in back-to-back seasons. It was also the first time Federer won a trophy in Spain AND he has now become the first player to win at least 10 events in three consecutive seasons in the Open Era.
I think it’s about time the people over at Guinness come up with something new, ‘Guinness Book of Records: The Federer Edition’.
This week, Federer will be welcomed by his home fans in Basel, where he aims to win his first title. It will be the seventh time Federer plays the tournament in his birthplace, a final loss to Tim Henman in 2001 being his best result to date. He didn’t play in 2005 and 2004 due to injury.
Gonzalez will be looking for a last-minute ticket to the Masters Cup in Shanghai, having moved up to the ninth spot in the Race ranking.
In Zürich, the top story was Daniela Hantuchova finally showing signs of her old self again. It’s been a year since the former Top 5 player made a final run, but at the Tier I event in Switzerland, Hantuchova took out two Top 10 players in Martina Hingis and Patty Schnyder, on her way to the championship match. It was Maria Sharapova who stopped the 23-year-old Slovakian, winning 6-3 in the third set for her fourth title of the year.
Meanwhile, six players have clinched their spots for the Year-End Championship in Madrid. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova already qualified prior to last week. Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova joined the group when Patty Schnyder lost in her Zürich opener. Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis and Schnyder will fight for the last two positions.
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