Season turnaround: an emotional Federer claims 5th consecutive US Open victory, sets sights on Sampras record

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So many of Roger Federer’s 13 grand slam trophies had been presented as the smooth work of a genius, as if there were nothing simpler in the world for the Swiss than easing through a draw-sheet. However, his latest triumph was not quite like that.

While Federer winning a fifth consecutive US Open title could never be seen as a shock result, he felt as though this slam title “had a different flavor”. And New York clearly savored that “different flavor”; here was something new in the Federer narrative.

Perhaps the tennis public had previously started to take Federer a bit for granted, believing that his slam victories had become almost too easy. His tennis at the start of this year was complicated by a bout of glandular fever, he lost in the semi-finals at the Australian Open to Novak Djokovic, and then finished as the runner-up to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The top ranking switched to the Majorcan over the summer.

He has been shaken up this season, but he still came through to win a slam title, and so take his total to within one of Pete Sampras’ record of 14 majors. Federer’s struggles this season have shown that he cannot always have everything his own way, and that has reinvigorated tennis. The sport is no longer about Federer and then the rest.

We used to think that Federer did not have a sweat-gland in his body, but he has shown at Flushing Meadows that he can sweat, that he can be bloody-minded as well as brilliant. He relished his five-set, fourth-round win over Russia’s Igor Andreev, describing it as a “dog-fight”. And Federer was much more emotional on court than we have seen him in recent years.

The first man since American Bill Tilden in 1924 to win a fifth consecutive US Open title, and the first in history to win two different slams five times in succession, Federer does not intend to rest on his laurels now that he is just one win away from breaking Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles. He believes his success in the doubles at the Beijing Olympics was a turning point in his season and the 27-year-old has no thoughts of retiring.

Indeed, he intends to continue playing for at least another four years when he will have the opportunity to win another Olympic gold medal at his favorite venue. "I will keep setting different goals until the Olympics in four years time in London. That is going to be at Wimbledon, which is obviously going to be an incredible combination of playing the Olympic Games at Wimbledon," Federer continued. "From then on I would think I would like to play for as long as possible - for as long as the body allows it. I'd like to play through many different generations like the golfers do. I get inspired by [Andre] Agassi playing for a very long time so I'm looking forward to playing for many more years to come."

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Photos courtesy of Gary Hershorn / Reuters, Matthew Stockman / Getty Images, Times Online UK, and Timothy A. Clary / Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

Original Source: The Telegraph, Setanta Sports and NY Times

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