On Sunday (7th June 2009), Roger Federer created history by becoming only the sixth man ever to win all the four singles grand slam titles. The Swiss maestro achieved this feat by outclassing Swede Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4 in the Roland Garros final on Sunday. This victory meant that Federer equaled Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14 major singles titles. It was Federer’s first French open title after appearing in four finals but failing to win on three previous occasions (Falling to Nadal). Now that he at last has achieved to win at Ronald Garros, the question is…Is he the Greatest ever? Is he better than Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg or Pete Sampras? Well, he shares the record of 14 major singles titles with Sampras, but does that make him the greatest? Rod Laver won all four grand slams, not once but twice in 1962 and 69. Borg could have broken all records if he had not retired from the game at age of 25. And Sampras achieved the feat facing few of the greats of the game like McEnroe, Agassi, Lendl and Federer himself. Federer has age at his side and can go on to make a new record. But the greatest test for Federer is still the Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Federer has a poor record against Nadal, with only 7 wins from 20 encounters. Add to that Federer has never beaten Nadal in French open. He probably got an advantage this time as Nadal went out in the fourth round. Besides he was not at his best, he had fight hard against Tommy Haas, del Porto and Monfils. But probably that is what true champions are made of….they continue to fight even when they are not at their best. So his achievements so far, are extraordinary but he still needs to do more to be remembered as the greatest the game has ever seen. For now he is a great player of our era.
Source: ATP, Times Of India
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