London, July 23, 2012: It is fair to say that life is pretty good for Roger Federer at the moment. Not only did the Swiss master clinch his 17th Grand Slam title by defeating Britain’s Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final, but on Monday he eclipsed Pete Sampras’s record for the most weeks as world No. 1.
However, Federer, who has broken more records than most players have racquets, is still looking for the one accolade that has eluded him throughout his glittering career – an Olympics singles gold medal.
“It’s amazing that this is already my fourth Olympics,” said the 30-year-old Swiss, who met his wife-to-be at Sydney 2000 and won doubles gold with compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at Beijing 2008.
“Always something special has happened at every Olympic Games where I have taken part and I have learned a lot – living in the village, carrying the flag, seeing huge press rooms, facing a lot of pressure, winning gold – you name it there were a lot of things I was able to take away from the Olympic Games and I hope it’s going to be something similar this time round.”
With his form on grass unquestionable (he has won more career grass titles than any other player in the Open Era) Federer will take confidence from the fact that he is the reigning Wimbledon champion given that the Olympic Tennis Event is being played on the same hallowed turf in south west London.
And with age seemingly no barrier to the modern player after record-breaking numbers of 30 somethings at the Grand Slams this year, it looks like Federer is in the best possible shape to finally join Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal as the only men to complete a career “Golden Slam”.
Here are a few facts you might not know about Federer:
– He was won more Grand Slam titles than any other man (17).
– Federer was the first man to win 50 matches at all four Grand Slams (He currently has 63 wins at the Australian Open, 54 at Roland Garros, 66 at Wimbledon and 61 at the US Open).
– He was the first man to win five titles in a row at two different Grand Slams – Wimbledon and the US Open.
– He has made the most consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances (23).
– He has also made the most consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances (33 and counting).
– Federer has won more matches at the Australian Open than any other man in the Open Era – 63.
– The Swiss has won more ATP World Tour Year-end titles than anyone else (6).
– He is the leading prize money winner (US$72,918,073 as of 16 July 2012).
– Federer’s US$2.4 million payout for winning the 2007 US Open and US Open Series is the biggest payout in history of tennis.
– He holds the record for the longest grass court winning streak (65 matches from 2003 Halle through 2008 Wimbledon Final).
– He also holds the record for the longest hard court winning streak (56 matches).
– He became the first player to reach the final at all nine ATP Masters-1000 events at 2011 Paris.
– On Monday he broke Pete Sampras’s record for the most weeks at No.1. Federer has now held the No. 1 spot for a total of 287 weeks. —- ITF/Photo: Paul Zimmer
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