Federer’s Grand Slam Record

As you know by now Roger has made 20 consecutive grand slam semi-finals or better and I thought this record is so significant it deserved a post of it’s own. That is five years of utter dominance at the grand slams. I noted yesterday that the second player on that list is Ivan Lendl who made 10 consecutive grand slam semi-finals. Lendl was known for his dominance and consistency when he was on top of the men’s game so to make twice as many consecutive semi-finals is unheard of. It all started at Wimbledon 2004 when he beat Andy Roddick to win his second Wimbledon title and his third grand slam title. Of the 20 grand slams in the record he won 11 titles, made 5 finals and 4 semi-finals. Of course one of the semi-finals is this year’s French Open which isn’t finished yet.

There was a point during this season where Roger’s record might have been under threat, but by winning the Madrid title I was pretty sure he would at least make the semi-finals at Roland Garros again. And now that he is in the semi-finals there is a good chance that he will go on to win the tournament. Should he do that it would mean two more very important achievements; the completion of the career grand slam and the equalling of Pete Sampras’ all time grand slam title record of 14. That would effectively put him ahead of Sampras in the history of the game since Sampras could never win a title at Roland Garros. The best he could manage was one semi-final, while Roger already made three finals and two semi-finals.

The only man who could win the career grand slam on all surfaces(hard, grass, clay) is Andre Agassi. There were four other men who won all the grand slams in their careers but these men played in an era when grand slams were only played on grass and clay. There were no hard court grand slams. You can start to see what a monumental occasion it would be if Roger wins the French Open. He still has two matches to go but as I said before there is nothing wrong with dreaming. So while I’m at it lets look at what else this means for Roger. The fact that Rafa lost in the fourth round is significant as well. He was utterly dominant on clay yet he could not win 5 French Opens in a row. It shows how impressive Roger’s 5 consecutive Wimbledon and 5 consecutive US Open titles are. And of course he is not finished at the US Open.

The way things are going now he will win a sixth US Open in a row this year which will mean he not only have the record of the most consecutive US Opens won in the open era(after 1967), but also the most US Opens over all. Both Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors have won 5 US Opens each but neither of them won more then two in a row. Roger also holds the record with Bjorn Borg for the most consecutive Wimbledon titles won at 5. After reaching the 2009 French Open semi-finals and his main rival Rafa losing in the fourth round, things already look bright for Roger. Of course winning the title would be ideal and I expect him to do just that. But with Rafa suffering a demoralizing defeat and Roger adding to his grand slam record you feel that Roger is again the favorite to win Wimbledon and the US Open, possibly ending with 16 titles at the end of 2009.

Will he reclaim the number one ranking again? I think if he wins the French Open the chances are very good. Roger has also made it clear that he still wants to play tennis for a long time and you wonder with which kind of records will he end his career. It’s almost scary to think of. There just isn’t any limits with this guy it seems. The last year and a half or so have been a hard time for Roger and his fans and since I started this blog in December there has been some tough times. So I think this is a good time to dream again and look forward to the future. Of course I can dream even more but for now Roger has two more very important matches ahead of him so I don’t want to get out of control. If he wins Roland Garros the the possibilities literally becomes limitless, so I really hope and believe that he will.

Now lets send him all our support and positive energy!