Comeback King
He once doubted his ability to secure a single ATP title – today, with 100 career titles, Roger Federer has established his name as one of the greatest ever to play the sport
With a win over 20-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Dubai Tennis Championship, Roger Federer became the second man to win 100 career titles – only behind Jimmy Connors with 109 titles.
The long stint of titles commenced against Julien Boutter, when he clinched the Milan Indoors as a 19-year-old.
It took a while for the 37-year-old to soak in the applause that marked his milestone win. "I'm so happy. It's great to have my eighth title here and also my 100th. It was not easy, the conditions were difficult and I had tough opponents all the way, right up to Stefanos today," grinning, Federer said. "It's an absolute dream come true for me. I don't know if Stefanos was even born when I won my first title. One day, I will be sitting in front of the TV watching them. I enjoyed competing against my idols when I was starting out, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, it was my dream."
Recollecting his career, an emotional Federer said, "It makes me look back at how it all started and how badly I wanted my first title back in Milan... I was hoping that one day I was going to win a title," Federer said. "I was so relieved I was not going to be that guy who was going to [have] endless talent with no titles. You can imagine today sitting with 100 how much disbelief there is in between what happened then and now."
The journey didn't start on a happy note for the Swiss. It took him 49 tournaments to win his first career title but there has been no looking back since then. From 2001, even with the emergence of the Big Three/Four, he managed at least one title each year. In the process, he made various feats his own. In 2004, Federer became the first man to win three singles grand slams since Wilander in 1988.
In 2006, he went on to extend his winning streak to 41 games. He even reached all four Grand Slam finals and won three (Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open) – losing the French Open to Rafa. He ended the year as the top-seeded tennis player and marked the purple-patch in a 21-year pro-career.
An aging Federer though became vulnerable to injuries. 2016 saw Federer suffer from a knee injury which sidelined him for the majority of the year. After surgery, Federer returned but was hindered by a back injury which kept him out of the French Open, hence dropping him out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2002.
The 2017 season is regarded as one of the greatest comeback seasons of all time. It saw Federer return from an injury shortened 2016 season that saw him drop to world No 16 in the ATP Rankings. This season marked a renaissance and a return to excellence for Federer, winning two majors, the Australian Open and the Wimbledon Championships, marking the first season since 2009 in which he won multiple majors. Federer had won a total of seven titles in the season, the most since 2007. And, with a win-loss record of 52–5, his winning percentage was the highest since 2006.
The old horse is still not finished and would probably go down as the man with the most ATP titles. He also holds the record for most titles in the ATP finals – a tournament held at the end of the season between the top eight players of a calender year.
