TENNIS NEWS:ROGER FEDERER has issued an ominous warning to his rivals by insisting his appetite for honours has not diminished now he has finally landed the elusive French Open title.
Federer is being labelled by many as the greatest player of all time after completing the career Grand Slam and moving level with Pete Sampras on a record 14 Major titles with his straight-sets win over Robin Soderling in Sunday’s Roland Garros final.
The Swiss, 27, can surpass Sampras by winning Wimbledon, which starts in a fortnight’s time, for a sixth time in his career.
But despite achieving so much over the past six years, Federer is yearning for yet more titles.
“I’ve always said it doesn’t matter when I retire, I’ll be at peace,” he said. “I can walk away from this game tomorrow but I choose not to because I love it too much.
“It hasn’t once entered my mind yet that I want to retire. My life is in great shape right now.”
With question marks hanging over the state of arch-rival Rafael Nadal’s knees, a buoyant Federer could even be on the cusp of a new period of dominance.
Nadal has taken Federer’s Wimbledon crown and his world number one ranking, and also beat the Swiss in the finals of last year’s French Open and this year’s Australian Open.
However, the Spaniard’s hegemony at Roland Garros ended last week when Soderling handed him his first defeat on the Parisian clay and he is now a doubt for Wimbledon because of knee trouble.
Federer is well placed to take full advantage. He has a new-found belief in his game as well as immense satisfaction in his private life as a result of his recent marriage to long-time girlfriend Mirka and the imminent arrival of a first child.
Taking a month and a half off after his emotional and heartbreaking defeat to Nadal in Melbourne in order to fully cure a nagging back problem has really done the trick.
“People talked about me having lost my grip,” Federer said. “To some degree I guess it’s true, because I lost my number one ranking. But I didn’t fall out of the top 10 or the top 1,000. I still played very consistently, especially at grand-slam level, and my record shows it.
“I had issues – we all know what they were – but people sometimes don’t give you time to let them heal or figure them out. I always believed in my chances of winning here in Paris, or any grand slam.
“It’s really for these reasons that I tried to keep myself fit.
“That was also the reason why I took six weeks off. Let everything heal and let everything settle, and then come back very strong. I’m very, very happy right now.”
He admitted the two weeks of will-he-won’t-he speculation brought on almost overwhelming pressure and there was probably as much relief as happiness when he sank to his knees after Soderling netted a return on match point to hand the Swiss a 6-1 7-6 (7/1) 6-4 win.
“People really wanted me to win so it was very difficult to manage all this,” Federer added.
“This is why I’m very tired right now. I think it’s going to take me a bit of time to accept this victory.
“It came as a surprise in the end because I have never won here. It might take me a bit more time to realise I have made it.”
GRAND SLAMS
Pete Sampras 14 grand slams
1990 US Open
1993 Wimbledon, US Open
1994 Australian Open, Wimbledon
1995 Wimbledon, US Open
1996 US Open
1997 Australian Open, Wimbledon
1998 Wimbledon
1999 Wimbledon
2000 Wimbledon
2002 US Open
Roger Federer 14 grand slams
2003 Wimbledon
2004 Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open
2005 Wimbledon, US Open
2006 Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open
2007 Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open
2008 US Open
2009 French Open
