The media and fans have been very cruel for the past month, saying ‘Federer is gone,’ ‘Federer will never win another Grand Slam', etc.
But now Roger Federer is back at his best, easily beat Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 to win his fifth consecutive U.S. Open championship and 13th major title overall.
“I felt like I was invincible for a while again,” Federer said.Federer is the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win this tournament that many times in a row. He also moved within one major championship of tying Pete Sampras’ career record of 14.
“One thing’s for sure,” said Federer, the only man in tennis history to win five consecutive titles at two of the Grand Slam tournaments. “I’m not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible.”Federer struggled at times during a lackluster-only-for-him season. He lost in the semifinals at the Australian Open, and to nemesis Rafael Nadal in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, meaning Federer was on the verge of his first year since 2002 without a major title. Plus, his record 4 1/2 -year reign at No. 1 ended when Nadal surpassed him last month.
“I had a couple of tough Grand Slams this year … so to take this one home is incredible,” Federer said after stretching his U.S. Open winning streak to 34 matches. “It means the world to me.”
But the sixth-seeded Murray upset Nadal in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows to reach his first Grand Slam final, and Federer had no trouble this time—even though he had lost two of his previous three matches against the Scotsman.“I came up against, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game,” said Murray, who tried to give Britain its first men’s major champion in 72 years. “He definitely set the record straight today.”At 21, here’s how young Murray is: Back when Federer was winning his first U.S. Open title in 2004, Murray was just taking the U.S. Open junior trophy.
(Images via Yahoo! Sports)
