CBSSports.com: Federer's already the best, and he keeps getting better
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
NEW YORK -- Roger Federer's usual edge is his own game. Now he has another, time. The weather has been a curse for this final weekend of the U.S. Open, but as always, Federer ends up not cursed at all.
He and semifinal opponent Novak Djokovic were quarterfinal winners on Wednesday, long before the rains came, and now with the suspensions and rescheduling, they won't play again until Sunday. Three days of rest for Novak. More significantly, three days of rest for Roger.
Who doesn't need it. Who doesn't need anything. He has it all.
"I don't think," Djokovic allowed, "you can ever get your game to perfection. Only if you're Federer."
Only if you're Federer, so graceful, so uncanny, so remarkable, winner of a record 15 Grand Slams, trying for a sixth straight U.S. Open. And now as confident and, because of the extra days off, as prepared as possible.
A strange thing happened to Federer in May 2004. He was beaten in the third round of the French Open. He hasn't been thwarted in a Grand Slam tournament before the semis since then.
Twenty-two in succession playing in a semi. That's Joe DiMaggio stuff, 56-game hitting streak stuff. That's consistency.
Federer is the best ever. Or so everyone says. At age 28, the only thing missing is the actual Grand Slam, wins in all four majors in a calendar year. And yet, with all the obstacles, the possibility of injury, the class of opponents, the streak is perhaps more impressive.
Five years, and Federer is a guaranteed semifinalist. And this time for his semi, three days rest.
"It's a wonderful record," affirmed Federer of all those semis in a row. "Not important, but nice to have. It's something I never aimed for, that's clear, but it's probably one of the greatest records I've created in my own personal career."
A year ago, showing up for the 2008 Open, which also had a Monday finish, which also had a Federer victory, there were questions about Federer.
He had been beaten at Wimbledon by Rafael Nadal, had been crushed by Nadal at the French. The skeptics were saying Federer's time had past.
Federer's outward calm belies a determination. His smooth play and the cliche definition of Swiss as unemotional and businesslike is misleading. The doubters had him on the defensive. Wait, he said in so many words, before you say I'm done.
Roger has a temper, and only as he matured did he learn to control the temper, learn to use the anger and fire to focus his play instead of merely bouncing a racquet.
Every once in a while, during a post-match interview, Federer, the new father of twins, permits access to the pride and intensity that are mostly hidden.
He enjoys praise, likes being called the greatest. There is no false humility. He knows how good he is. So does everyone else.
"What he's done in separating himself from the game," said the now retired Andre Agassi of Federer, "should be recognized."
Agassi is one of the few to win all four Slams at least once. When Federer finally took the French Open this year, he joined Agassi and others such as Rod Laver and Don Budge.
In this rain-tossed Open, Federer is attempting to join the late Bill Tilden, who did it in the early 1920s, with six straight wins in America's championship, an event that didn't become an Open until 1968.
The comparison with Tilden, who died 28 years before Federer was born in 1981, Roger calls "fantastic." But then, as all champion athletes, he turned the conversation to the here and now and away from the future.
"I think," said Federer of the various records, "this stuff you can talk about when my career is over. This is when you analyze."
Federer's beauty is that, as other winners in all sports, he gets himself out of problems when, indeed, he somehow is in trouble. He's Kobe when the Lakers need a basket, Mariano Rivera when the Yankees need a third out. Just when you think Federer's going down, when an opponent has a golden chance for a service break, Federer snaps back up.
In the quarters on Wednesday night against Robin Soderling, Federer easily won the first two sets but lost the third in a tiebreak and seemed ready to lose the fourth the same way. Sorry. A couple of aces, a beautiful cross-court forehand, and there was Federer into the semis, 6-0, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
"I don't know what happened," said Federer, who in truth always knows what happens. "But it's one of those days where everything goes right for you."
Since then, he's had three more days to contemplate and rest. The better you are, the luckier you get.
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http://www.cbssports.com/tennis/story/12192344
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
NEW YORK -- Roger Federer's usual edge is his own game. Now he has another, time. The weather has been a curse for this final weekend of the U.S. Open, but as always, Federer ends up not cursed at all.
He and semifinal opponent Novak Djokovic were quarterfinal winners on Wednesday, long before the rains came, and now with the suspensions and rescheduling, they won't play again until Sunday. Three days of rest for Novak. More significantly, three days of rest for Roger.
Who doesn't need it. Who doesn't need anything. He has it all.
"I don't think," Djokovic allowed, "you can ever get your game to perfection. Only if you're Federer."
Only if you're Federer, so graceful, so uncanny, so remarkable, winner of a record 15 Grand Slams, trying for a sixth straight U.S. Open. And now as confident and, because of the extra days off, as prepared as possible.
A strange thing happened to Federer in May 2004. He was beaten in the third round of the French Open. He hasn't been thwarted in a Grand Slam tournament before the semis since then.
Twenty-two in succession playing in a semi. That's Joe DiMaggio stuff, 56-game hitting streak stuff. That's consistency.
Federer is the best ever. Or so everyone says. At age 28, the only thing missing is the actual Grand Slam, wins in all four majors in a calendar year. And yet, with all the obstacles, the possibility of injury, the class of opponents, the streak is perhaps more impressive.
Five years, and Federer is a guaranteed semifinalist. And this time for his semi, three days rest.
"It's a wonderful record," affirmed Federer of all those semis in a row. "Not important, but nice to have. It's something I never aimed for, that's clear, but it's probably one of the greatest records I've created in my own personal career."
A year ago, showing up for the 2008 Open, which also had a Monday finish, which also had a Federer victory, there were questions about Federer.
He had been beaten at Wimbledon by Rafael Nadal, had been crushed by Nadal at the French. The skeptics were saying Federer's time had past.
Federer's outward calm belies a determination. His smooth play and the cliche definition of Swiss as unemotional and businesslike is misleading. The doubters had him on the defensive. Wait, he said in so many words, before you say I'm done.
Roger has a temper, and only as he matured did he learn to control the temper, learn to use the anger and fire to focus his play instead of merely bouncing a racquet.
Every once in a while, during a post-match interview, Federer, the new father of twins, permits access to the pride and intensity that are mostly hidden.
He enjoys praise, likes being called the greatest. There is no false humility. He knows how good he is. So does everyone else.
"What he's done in separating himself from the game," said the now retired Andre Agassi of Federer, "should be recognized."
Agassi is one of the few to win all four Slams at least once. When Federer finally took the French Open this year, he joined Agassi and others such as Rod Laver and Don Budge.
In this rain-tossed Open, Federer is attempting to join the late Bill Tilden, who did it in the early 1920s, with six straight wins in America's championship, an event that didn't become an Open until 1968.
The comparison with Tilden, who died 28 years before Federer was born in 1981, Roger calls "fantastic." But then, as all champion athletes, he turned the conversation to the here and now and away from the future.
"I think," said Federer of the various records, "this stuff you can talk about when my career is over. This is when you analyze."
Federer's beauty is that, as other winners in all sports, he gets himself out of problems when, indeed, he somehow is in trouble. He's Kobe when the Lakers need a basket, Mariano Rivera when the Yankees need a third out. Just when you think Federer's going down, when an opponent has a golden chance for a service break, Federer snaps back up.
In the quarters on Wednesday night against Robin Soderling, Federer easily won the first two sets but lost the third in a tiebreak and seemed ready to lose the fourth the same way. Sorry. A couple of aces, a beautiful cross-court forehand, and there was Federer into the semis, 6-0, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
"I don't know what happened," said Federer, who in truth always knows what happens. "But it's one of those days where everything goes right for you."
Since then, he's had three more days to contemplate and rest. The better you are, the luckier you get.
- - - - - -
http://www.cbssports.com/tennis/story/12192344
© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved.