Grand Slam Tennis - Better Luck Next Time for Roger Federer

Sampras had a 31 match winning streak  going for him at Wimbledon. He wanted to defend his title and win the crown once again.  But Federer produced a tennis performance that snapped Sampras' streak and hopes. And people were shocked by Sampras' defeat. I consider this match as the one that turned Federer's career around. A sign of things to come. And the breakthrough came at Wimbledon. He cried like a baby when he won his first major title, Wimbledon in 2003 against Mark Philippoussis.

From that point on, men's tennis turned in to the Roger Federer show. He played finals after finals and had either Lleyton Hewitt or Andy Roddick at the other end of the net. No matter who he faced, he just was too good a player. His greatness was eveident in 2004 when Federer won three out of four major tournament singles titles, did not lose a match to any player ranked inside the top ten, was victorious in every final he was in and was named ITF Tennis World Champion. He posted an impecabble win-loss record of 74-6 and captured 11 titles. He repeated the feat of winning three out of four Grand Slam singles tournaments in 2006 and in 2007.

In as much as I admire the man for what he has done for men's tennis, I soon grew tired of watching him win. With all the success that he reaped, men's tennis became stale, boring and predictable. Women's tennis became my staple to watch as it was more fun to see who between Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters would end up on top. I felt that Federer needed something like this, a rival that can really test him, push him to the limit and win at times. Just like Pete Sampras had Andre Agassi to contend with. Someone who will not make things easy for Federer to win a match against him. My bet was Rafael Nadal.

Nadal came into men's tennis at the right time. Five years younger than Federer, he was Federer's antithesis. The master of grass against the king of clay, the cool Swiss and the fiery Spaniard, the finesse all around player and the powerhitting baseliner, the king of men's tennis and the successor to the throne. Nadal's impressive record of six Grand Slam singles titles built  around four consecutive French Open wins has made him a worthy rival to Federer.

It was therefore quite a shock when Nadal was able to beat Federer in Wimbledon last season, ending Federer's record of consecutive Wimbledon titles at five. People did expect the Spaniard to win a title in other court surfaces aside from clay while Federer is still playing but nobody expected that it would happen so soon. Perhaps Federer thought Nadal's win over him was more of him (Federer) making mistakes rather than Nadal making great shots. Nadal's impressive Wimbledon win made Federer's U.S. Open victory a sweeter experience for Roger.

Federer's shedding of tears at the Australian Open awarding ceremonies surprised me. Was it a sudden realization that Nadal has the tools to beat him? Or was it a realization that Nadal has simply gained ground and is better than him? Things got weirder when Nadal apologised to Federer for defeating him! One thing for sure though, both men do respect each other a lot.

Follow the live tennis scores at ScoresPro.com/tennis/