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FEderer was born in Basel. Legendary Federer came just shy of his 20th birthday, in his center court debut at the All England Club. A former junior champion and an avid shot and volleyball player, he made an apparent heir to his idol and then-champion, Sampras, who himself was in the midst of a 32-game winning streak at Wimbledon after winning the last four titles. .
Federer said of the “surreal moment after the match.” But after that, that feeling disappears. You think about sending you, where are you going, and then it’s like playing against another player, you know. But obviously it’s something special for me to play with Pete.”
Federer came to the coin toss with the goal of outdoing Sampras with his own weapon—the 85-square-inch Wilson Pro staff originally closer to a wooden racket than any equipment in use today—and in matching Nike apparel. The Swiss teenager was fresh out of a major quarter-final at Roland Garros to win his first Grand Slam title, but needed five sets to defeat Xavier Mallis in the second round. Sampras, too, struggled after the crucial opener, but regained his dominance to reach Manic Monday for the tenth year in a row.
It was a quintessential clash of generations, the likes of which the game had not seen in over a decade, when Sampras racked up back-to-back victories over Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe on his way to his first of 14 major titles at the 1990 US Open.
Facing several net squabbles, Federer saved a set point in the first set tiebreaker with a contested uppercut by Sampras, then broke the American’s forehand to move ahead two sets to one.
Saving break points late in the fifth set with daring winners – first from the front, later from the back of the court – Federer set the tone in the final with a vicious backhand winner. Soon after, he pulled off the upset with another winner, this time from a forehand, to hand Sampras his first five-set defeat at Wimbledon.
The excitement of victory brought Federer to his knees, now in an iconic victory stance. And the couple stepped out of Center Court with Sampras reminding his young successor to bow to the Royal Box.
Matt King, 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5; Long live the king.
the meaning
The transfer of power proved less smooth than Federer’s initial breakthrough, and he would eventually exit the tournament in the next round to hometown favorite Tim Henman.
A sophomore slump followed Federer through the 2002 subsequent season. A low point came at Wimbledon, when he fell in the first round to young Mario Ancic. The third time will be lucky for Federer, who played his first major final at the age of 20 against Mark Philippoussis. After three sets and two first-break breaks, the Swiss team won Wimbledon. In five years, Sampras has surpassed four consecutive titles and tied Boris Becker with five in 2007 – an Open Era record.
Sometimes it was weird, I looked at the other side of the net, and I saw him — sometimes I was like, That’s right, this is kind of happening right now, that I’m playing against him.
Although he finished 2003 ranked behind American Andy Roddick, Federer’s reign began well and truly. In 2004 came an emphatic defense of the Wimbledon title, and a first win at the Australian Open over the energetic Marat Safin.
He would claim the No. 1 ranking in February and hold it for 237 weeks—another record yet to be broken—and finish the season at the US Open, but not before passing another master of the old guard in New York. –Tennis.com
Federer’s records that may never be broken
He won Wimbledon five years in a row from 2003 to 2007, and the US Open five years in a row from 2004 to 2008.
By John Bircock
Every day leading up to the final event of his career – the Laver Cup in a week – we’ll be highlighting one of Roger Federer’s records that may never be broken.
Firstly, it is already very difficult to successfully defend a Grand Slam title, but how about winning one of them five years in a row?
Our first Federer record is just that, but twice: w
Winning two different major championships five consecutive years each
By winning five consecutive Wimbledons from 2003 to 2007 and five consecutive US Championships from 2004 to 2008, Federer is in fact the only player in tennis history, male or female, to have won five (or more) Grand Slams twice. consecutive years each.
These two runs account for half of his total of 20.
20 major titles for Roger Federer, split by the act of the major:
6 Australian Open titles: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018
1 Roland Garros title: 2009
8 Wimbledon titles: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017
5 US Open titles: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Each of Federer’s five-title streaks at Grand Slams was very close to being a six-title streak as well – as the five-time defending champion at Wimbledon in 2008, he lost to Rafael Nadal in an epic four-hour, 48-minute match. Finalist, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7, and as a five-time US Open champion in 2009, he played two sets one in the final against Juan Martin del Potro but ended up falling to the Argentine in five sets, 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, after four hours and six minutes.
While only Federer has done so on two different majors, 11 other players in tennis history have won a particular major for five consecutive years. Novak Djokovic is close to joining this list — he’s won Wimbledon the last four years in a row (not counting the 2020 tournament, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Players to win a major five years in a row (men’s and women’s, all time):
William Renshaw (Britain): 6 Wimbledon Championships in a row [1881-1886]
Richard Sears (USA): 7 consecutive US Opens [1881-1887]
Lawrence Doherty (Britain): 5 Wimbledon Championships in a row [1902-1906]
Bill Larnaid (USA): 5 consecutive US Opens [1907-1911]
Suzanne Lenglen (France): 5 Wimbledons in a row [1919-1923]
Bill Tilden (USA): 6 consecutive US Opens [1920-1925]
Margaret Court (Australia): 7 consecutive Australian Opens [1960-1966]
Roy Emerson (Australia): 5 consecutive Australian Opens [1963-1967]
Bjorn Borg (Sweden): 5 consecutive Wimbledons [1976-1980]
Martina Navratilova (USA): 6 Wimbledons in a row [1982-1987]
Roger Federer (Switzerland): 5 consecutive Wimbledons [2003-2007]
Roger Federer (Switzerland): 5 consecutive US Opens [2004-2008]
Rafael Nadal (Spain): 5 consecutive French Opens [2010-2014]. – Tennis.com
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