Roger Finally Sees Red
June 7, 2009
Roger Federer got knocked down and then got up, and got knocked down then got up, then finally he made it to the top. Three times Federer had been denied the French Open crown by Rafael Nadal. This time Federer was in the final without Nadal however the player that eliminated the King of Clay was there in his place.
Could Robin Soderling deny Federer yet again? or would Federer take another step towards tennis immortality? As it turned out there was no stopping Federer this time as he claimed his 14th Grand Slam title to equal the record held by Pete Sampras, not only that he became the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam singles titles.
“This is the most satisfying win of my life, along with my first Wimbledon,” Federer said. “I have tried for so many years, so there was much pressure involved… I always believed in it but it becomes harder with time.”
Federer played like a man on a mission as he cruised to a 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 victory. In the first set he raced to a 4-0 lead as Soderling struggled to overcome his nerves on this big occasion. Federer broke Soderling three times in the opening set.
In the second set Soderling settled into a bit more of a rhythm and managed to lower his unforced error rate to give Federer some work to do. This time there were no breaks of serve as the set went into a tie-break. Federer dominated and after three aces and two forehand winners he took the breaker 7-1.
In the third set Federer got an early break and was up 3-1. From there Soderling kept things tight and actually had a break back point as Federer was serving for the championship. An over eager Soderling miss-hit a forehand to see that opportunity wasted. After one hour and 55 minutes Federer wrapped up the match as Soderling hit a forehand return into the net.
There is was! Federer the French Open champion. Many would have written him off after last year but Federer was having none of this. He did win another Grand Slam after defeating Andy Murray in the US Open final and now he has won that elusive French Open title.
Soderling was the first Swedish player to reach a Grand Slam final since the 2002 Australian Open final when Thomas Johansson surprised the tennis world to win against Marat Safin. Soderling will move to a career-high ranking of no. 12.
Do you now think Federer can be called the greatest tennis player ever? Leave your comments below.
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