In this weekend’s blog, I am back on sports and this time it is Tennis.
A few weeks back one of the greatest players in tennis ROGER FEDERER celebrated his 42nd birth anniversary. He may have retired from professional tennis, but there is no reason we can celebrate him turning 42 years young, here’s a stat for each one of his 42 years so far:
1 is for No. 1, where Federer spent 273 straight weeks from 2004 to 2008, the longest streak at No. 1 in either ATP or WTA.Total 310 weeks at No. 1.
2 is for winning two different majors five years in a row each, he is the only player (male or female) to do so, winning 5 Wimbledons in a row from 2003 to 2007, and 5 US Opens in a row from 2004-2008.
3 is for winning 3 majors 5 (or more) times. He has won the Australian Open 6 times, Wimbledon 8 times, and US Open 5 times.
4 is for the four years in a row he was in the finals of the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, he also reached the finals of the Australian Open in three of those years.
5 is for five-year end No. 1 finishes in 2004, 2006, 2006, 2007 and 2009. That’s a tie for the third-most in ATP rankings with Jimmy Connors and Rafael Nadal, trailing only Novak Djokovic (seven) and Pete Sampras (six).
6 is for six ATP finals titles in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010 & 2011. He is tied with Djokovic for most yearend ATP titles.
7 is for going 7-0 in his first seven grand slam finals, which is a record for both male and female tennis players. The next one is Monica Seles 6-0 in her first six.
8 is for 8 Wimbledon titles in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 3007, 2009, 2012 & 2017, which is all-time record at Wimbledon.
9 is for being ranked No. 1 spot at some point in nine different years. He touched the top spot is 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2018.
10 is for reaching the final at 10 consecutive grand slam finals. It happened from Wimbledon in 2005 to US Open in 2007, the longest streak of finals for a man in tennis history.
11 is for 11,478 career aces, the third-most on record since the ATP began. He only trails John Isner (14391) and Ivo Karlovic (13,728).
12 is for winning 12 ATP titles in 2006, still the highest season tally.
13 is for winning Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award a record 13 times, from 2004-2009, and 2011-2017.
14 is for spending more than 14 straight years in the Top 10. From October 2002 to November 2016 (total 734 weeks). His is the third longest Top 10 streak in ATP rankings behind Rafael Nadal’s 912 weeks and Connors’ 789 weeks.
15 is for winning at least one ATP title for 15 straight years from 2001 to 2015.
16 is for winning 50 or more matches in 16 seasons, the most for a man in the Open Era.
17 is for reaching the finals of 17 straight tournaments between 2005-2006.
18 is for his 18-year-end Top 10 finishes, tied with Nadal. Federer finished in the Top 10 every year from 2002-202- except for 2016.
19 is for winning ATP titles in 19 different countries in his career.
20 is for his 20 career Grand Slam Titles. He was the first male player in tennis history to achieve this and has since been surpassed by Nadal (22) and Djokovic (23).
21 is for his age when he captured the first of his 20 Grand Slam titles.
22 is the age when he first reached the No. 1 ranking
23 is for reaching 23 consecutive Grand Slam Semi-finals, between Wimbledon 2004 and Australian Open 2010.
24 is for winning 24 finals in a row between October 2003 and November 2005. The longest winning streak in the ATP tour. Next is Bjorn Borg with 16.
25 is for playing 25 years on tour without a single retirement. He played 1526 single matches (1251-275) and 244 Doubles matches (131-93).
26 is for 26 career Indoor titles. He has fourth fourth-best indoor winning percentage, behind John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, and Jimmy Connors.
27 is for 27 Davis Cup ties he played for Switzerland in his career, including leading his team to win in 2014.
28 is for his 28 career Masters 1000 titles, the third most in history after Djokovic (38) and Nadal (36).
29 is for his 29-match winning streak at Masters events from 2005 to 2006.
30 is for being named the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2020, the first tennis player to finish No. 1 in the 30-year-old history of the list. He earned $ 106.3 million that year.
31 is for his 31 career Grand Slam finals, the second most after Dlokovic’s 35. Federer went 20-11 in his 31.
32 is for 32% of first-serve return points won in his career.
33 is for his 33 career wins in five-setters, tied with Sampras for the fifth most, behind Nastase (42), Djokovic (37), Lendl (36) and Marian Cilic (34).
34 is for when he won 34 sets in a row at Wimbledon, the longest consecutive set streak in the tournament’s history, and he did it twice, from the 3rd round in 2005 to the final in 2006, and from the 1st round in 2017 to the quarter-finals in 2018.
35 is for winning 35 matches in a row in 2005.
36 is for reaching 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals, between Wimbledon 2004 to French Open 2013.
37 is for his age when he won his 28th and final Masters 1000 title at Miami in 2019.
38 is for his age when he won his 103rd and final ATP title in 2019, only Connors have won more ATP titles (109).
39 is for his age when he played the final singles match of his career at Wimbledon in 2021.
40 is for his 40-match winning streak at Wimbledon (2003 to 2008) and the US Open (2004-2009). His Wimbledon Streak is 2nd best after Bjorn Borg (41), and his US Open streak winning streak is actually the longest in the Open Era for any player, male or female.
41 is for his career-best 41-match winning streak between 2006-2007.
And finally, 42 is for Federer winning his record-breaking 42nd consecutive match on grass in the first round of Wimbledon in 2006. This is the longest grass-court winning streak for a man in the Open Era.
For records Djokovic and Nadal have won more Grand Slams than Federer but no tennis-loving fan can deny that Federer’s game was a treat to watch, what graceful his game was, and what to say about his down the line forehand shots, and one handed backhand shots.
Waiting for your views on this blog
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
25th August 2023