18 years ago things were very different on the tour for a teenage Roger Federer and his temperamental temper.
At the age of 19, he took on France’s Julien Boutter in the final of the 2001 Milan Indoors Open. Yet to claim a trophy at the professional level, Federer battled to a three sets triumph to win the title. At the time, fans sensed the Swiss player was a star in the making, but they had no idea about how many records he would go on to break. Not even Federer himself.
“My next goal is to break into the top 15, which is a high aim but not an impossible one.” Federer told reporters on February 4th, 2001.
18 years on from that statement, the 37-year-old has established himself as one of the greatest of all time. His current resume features 20 grand slam titles and 310 weeks as world No.1. Furthermore, he has won four tournaments, including Wimbledon, on eight or more occasions.
Federer’s latest milestone occurred on Saturday at the Dubai Tennis Championships. A tournament that is one of his most successful in terms of trophies won. Facing Greek rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas, he prevailed 6-4, 6-4, to avenge his loss to him at the Australian Open earlier this year. A triumph that has rewarded Federer his 100th title on the tour.
“I think this one has a deep satisfaction, an immediate one, because I know what it means.” Federer said during his press conference. “I like these types of numbers or records, to be quite honest.”
“I didn’t come here (to Dubai) expecting I was going to win, to be quite honest. I hadn’t played since Australia. I’m just happy on all fronts how my game progressed, how well I played in the finals, on top of it winning the eighth, winning the 100th. So many magical things going on. I’m very, very happy right now.” He added.
The milestone is a rare one in tennis. In fact, only Jimmy Connors had previously claimed 100 or more titles on the ATP Tour. Connors won 109 singles titles over a 17-year period (1972-1989). On the women’s tour, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have broken the 100 mark.
“I know a lot of people always ask me about, Are you going to go for 109? Winning titles, to answer the question, is not easy.” Said Federer. “Winning five matches in six days or five matches in five days, it takes a different type of fitness.”
“That’s why you have to be fit on many fronts: mentally, physically, also your game has to translate. You have to be able to beat different types of players, not just the grinders, not just the big servers, not just the attacking players. You have to be able to beat them all in successive days.”
Welcome to the “ Triple Digit” tournament victory club @rogerfederer — I’ve been a bit lonely- glad to have the company !!!
— Jimmy Connors (@JimmyConnors) March 2, 2019
The rise
The past two decades have seen Federer evolve on the court from a Wimbledon boys’ champion in 1998 to one of the world’s highest paid athletes. In 2018 Forbes Magazine listed his annual earnings as $77.2M with $65M coming from endorsements alone. Last year he signed a 10-year deal with Uniqlo that has a total value of an estimated $300M.
“The more successful you become, the greater the toll becomes in terms of media attention, maybe winning awards, getting rewarded in your country or city or whatever it may be. You have to deal with all these things.” He reflected.
“Your tennis grows in the process very quickly because you’re learning so much about yourself, learning how to play other players, how they’re learning to play you. You try to compress it every single time, in every game, every breakpoint, whatever you’re facing.”
Behind Federer’s success is his team. Severin Lüthi, who is five years older than him, has been guiding Federer on the tour since 2007. Furthermore, former world No.3 Ivan Ljubičić took on a coaching role in 2015. Meanwhile, working in the background is somebody that has been with Federer for almost 20 years – fitness trainer Pierre Paganini.
“I’m sure I took a lot of good and bad decisions along the way. I couldn’t have done it without a team.” Said Federer.
“My team has been phenomenal throughout. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve said that always time and time again from my first coaches all the way to today. I always had the right coaches always at the right time.”
The final stretch of an extraordinary career
Regardless of his sporting ability, the one thing he can’t escape is getting old. Federer is the fourth oldest player on the ATP Tour to have a ranking. To put this into perspective, Dubai runner-up Tsitsipas was born a month before he made his professional debut.
Whilst it has been an extraordinary journey, has Federer ever been tempted to call it quits?
“I think everybody goes through that. It would be lying if they said, I never doubt it. I think everybody goes through these phases. It’s logical. We have too much downtime, too much time on the road, too much rain delays, you name it, that makes you go through with your head sometimes.” He explained.
“Never to the extent where I’m like really, really contemplating, Is it enough?”
The final chapters in the book of Federer’s career are now taking place. Nobody knows when the ending will take place, but if all go to plan it won’t be within the next 12 months.
“The idea was for the people to know that I am coming back next year. That is the plan. I have a deal for next year.” He commented about playing in the 2020 Dubai Tennis Championships.
“I thought about it this week because I know they said they were interested to have me again next year, if it was okay to announce it during the week. I said, Absolutely, we can do that.”
It seems almost impossible that Federer could one day emulate Connors and retire from the sport at the age of 43. Then again, Federer has proven time after time that he is anything, but ordinary.
Federer’s marathon journey in the sport has reached the closing stages, but don’t be surprised if he breaks more records before he crosses the finish line.
Federer’s 100 titles in numbers
Type of event
Grand Slams – 20
ATP World Tour Finals – 6
ATP Masters Series/1000 – 27
ATP International Series Gold /500 Series – 22
ATP International Series/250 Series – 25
By surface
Hard – 69
Grass – 18
Clay – 11
Carpet – 2
Grand Slam titles in detail
Australian Open (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018)
French Open (2009)
Wimbledon (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017)
US Open (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
