At French Open, Federer Makes Case for Greatness
A win at the French Open would give Roger Federer a career Grand Slam.
PARIS — Men without any Grand Slam singles titles have made Roger Federer work long and hard here for the chance to win his 14th and for the chance to stake a claim to being the greatest tennis player ever.
Roger Federer after advancing to the final at the French Open. With a win, Federer would tie Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles.
After Jose Acasuso and Tommy Haas, the latest would-be spoiler at this unpredictable French Open was Juan MartÃn del Potro, a fast-rising Argentine seven years younger and five inches taller than Federer.
Del Potro, seeded fifth at age 20, frequently made Federer look underpowered and overwhelmed in their semifinal on Friday. But Federer, lunging into the corners, still found a way to solve the big riddle: employing just about every tool on his Swiss army knife of a game to break del Potro’s rhythm, including drop shots in abundance.
After five sets and 3 hours 29 minutes, Federer leaned on the net looking as relieved as he was content after his 3-6, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Now, his opponents in Sunday’s final will be Robin Soderling of Sweden and Pete Sampras.
Sampras played and won his last tournament at the 2002 United States Open and holds the record with 14 major singles titles.
“It’s always fun to see people try to break records,” said Paul Annacone, Sampras’s longtime coach, in a telephone interview from London on Friday. “Obviously, I didn’t think Pete’s record would be caught so quickly. But Roger has just had such an amazing run. He’s such a class act, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy. I hope it’s a good day Sunday. I hope it’s good tennis, and I’d like to see him hold that trophy up at the end of it.”
Annacone said that view is shared by Sampras, who has become friendly with Federer in retirement through playing exhibitions. “I talked with Pete two weeks ago in L.A., and he said he didn’t think the record would be caught that quickly either, but he said, ‘Roger is a great guy and great player, so hats off if he gets there and passes it because I know how hard it was to do.’ ”
There are some eerie parallels. When Sampras won his 14th major title, his wife, Bridgette Wilson, was pregnant with their first child and watching from the stands in New York. On the verge of his 14th, Federer’s new wife, Mirka Vavrinec, is pregnant with their first child as she watches him in Paris.
“I’m doing great,” Vavrinec said Friday after her husband’s latest five-set escape.
If Federer beats Soderling, he will have accomplished one feat that Sampras never quite managed: a complete set of Grand Slam singles titles. Sampras, despite occasional triumphs on clay elsewhere, advanced to only one semifinal at the French Open and never reached the final.
This will be Federer’s fourth straight final in Paris and the first in which he will not have to worry about Rafael Nadal’s left-handed topspin forehand kicking high to Federer’s one-handed backhand.
“Maybe you’ll miss him, but not me,” Federer said to reporters. “I’ve played him 20 times. It’s nice to play someone else, too. I know that I’ll be playing him plenty more times in the future.”
Without Nadal, Federer might already have won multiple titles in Paris, but without Federer, Nadal might already have won Wimbledon more than once. Playing the game of what-if in tennis is diverting but far from conclusive, which is also true of comparing greatness across eras.
“I think if he wins, you’d have to say Federer’s record is the greatest of the Open era,” said Brad Gilbert, the American commentator and coach. “But the greatest of all time? I really don’t think you can say that. Too much has changed to really compare.”
The Open era began in 1968 and allowed professionals to compete without restrictions in the four Grand Slam tournaments, which had been open only to amateurs, or at least to those who were able to hide their tennis revenue.
In the two decades after World War II, many top amateurs made their names and then quickly turned professional to join barnstorming tours like those run by the American star Jack Kramer. The result was that until 1968 very few players had the opportunity to amass large numbers of Grand Slam singles titles, with Roy Emerson of Australia, who remained amateur, being one of the exceptions by winning 12 over all.
To cite just two examples, Pancho Gonzalez of the United States and Lew Hoad of Australia, who both make many experts’ lists of greatest players, had brief amateur careers. Gonzalez won just two United States Open singles titles; Hoad won four major singles titles.
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