Hello Steemians!
I am here to talk to you about the G.O.A.T of tennis and it is of course Roger Federer. The concept of G.O.A.T here means the Greatest Of All the Time, not the lovely animal, but I know you already got it.
There are not enough words on this planet to describe this legend apart maybe his own name but by losing his first match in 2018 on Sunday, he proves us that he is still a human.
The G.O.A.T can still lose a match
Indeed, the 36 years old Swiss has not added one more title this Sunday by winning his 98th title on the ATP tour, what I was expecting as well as all his fans all over the world. He still remains at 97 titles for now and he will have to wait to win his 28th ATP World Tour Masters 1000, but it is only matter of time. However Roger keeps his momentum of 2017 going, when he came back stronger than ever, winning 2 Grands Slams (Australian Open and Wimbledon), 3 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and 2 ATP 500. And he took back his seat of number one in the world at the beginning of this year at 36, 20 years after he turned pro in 1998 to become the oldest number 1 in the history of his sport. Until yesterday, he was undefeated in 2018 with 17 victories and 2 titles. If I had told you that by the end of 2016, you would have taken me for a fool but this is Federer. Indeed, nobody can stay at this level for such a long time, it is impossible, but impossible is nothing for Roger the master.
His way through the final was not the most difficult one because of the absence of some of the best players like Djokovic, Nadal or Murray. But never mind, he made it, he did it. He successfully passed Delbonis, Krajinovic, Chardy in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals. Then he had to face the young Korean rising star, Hyeon Chung, and the master gave him a tennis lesson and win 7/5 6/1. In the last four, he faced a tough opponent, the Croatian Borna Coric, he loses his first set of the tournament 7/5 but finally wins 5/7 6/4 6/4.
Finally, he crossed the road of the king of comebacks, Juan Martin Del Potro in the final. He lost the match 6/4 6/7 7/6 but the sad fact is that he could have won this match. He wasted 3 match balls at 5/4 when he served for the match in the third set. But Del Potro played unbelievably well during this final and he proves us that he could quickly join the top 3 again. So the Argentinian is the first player to beat Roger this year, which is a real privilege. ;)
Key facts about Roger, the master
- He has already won 97 ATP titles, and among these, 20 Grand Slams titles (whose 6 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 8 Wimbledon, and 5 US Open), 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000, 6 ATP Tour Finals.
- He won the Davis Cup for Switzerland with his mate Wawrinka in 2014.
- He won 2 medals at the Olympics, the gold in Beijing in double with Wawrinka and the Silver in London in singles.
- He won 1149 matches in his entire career and more than $116 million only with the tournament gains.
- He has created a new shot in tennis: the SABR (Sneak Attack By Roger)
- He realized more than 10 000 aces in his career until now, only beaten by Karlovic.
Which records can he still achieved?
I think that the easiest record to break will be to reach 100 ATP titles and he could make it quite quickly this season. And then he could target the number of titles of Jimmy Connors (109), still 13 to win to overcome this champion and become the most prolific player in terms of titles since the beginning of the Open era (1968). It will be very difficult but he can make it in 2019 or 2020 if he is able to maintain his current level.
A second goal is to continue adding Grand Slam titles to his list and it will be very difficult but we know he has already put his eyes on a 9th Wimbledon title, on his favorite surface, Grass.
Then we always think about the big Grand Slam achievement, namely winning the four Grand Slam the same year but it will probably be impossible because he seems for some years to avoid as much as possible the clay court season and he does not take part to the French Open anymore to preserve his freshness for the grass court season.
The number of weeks being the number one in the world is not a goal anymore. He is already the best in this category but each additional week makes in becoming a little bit more the G.O.A.T.
He could also want to win additional medals at Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, why not a medal with Belinda Bencic in Mixed Double and therefore be the first male player to win a medal in each tennis category at the Olympics.
Finally, the numbers of victory come to mind. His 1149 successes on the ATP tour already makes us dizzy but he also follows Jimmy Connors in this category with 1256 victories. I really think he will make this if he continues to play like that until the end of 2019.
All of that are suppositions and hopes but he already realized so much for this sport, we never know what is going to happen with the G.O.A.T.!
A lot of tennis addicts already want to bury him a lot of time. At the end of 2008, a lot of tennis fans suggest him to retire, the result is that he won his first French Open and then Wimbledon in 2009. The same happened in 2013-2014-2015-2016 when he faced 4 years without winning a major title but he came back stronger than ever in 2017, winning 2 Grand Slams in 2017, already one in 2018 and he has not yet finished writing his history, the tennis history, the sports history and the Switzerland history. But that is how Phoenix works, they never die!
See you soon dear Steemians!!!