Tennis

Roger Federer is From Some Strange, Gaseous Planet Where They are Very Good at Tennis

Roger Federer not only just won the Australian Open, but he managed to do so without even dropping a single set, something that has happened in a Grand Slam since 1980.

His final victim was 10th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who squandered a chance to win the first set Sunday and never got another breakpoint as Federer finished off a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory.

“If somebody would have told me I’d win 10 Grand Slams from mid ‘03 till today, I never would have thought there was any chance of doing something like that,” Federer said.

As he closes in on Pete Sampras’ record of 14 major titles, other records and milestones are being matched or surpassed along the way. With his latest victory, Federer became the first man in the Open era to twice win three straight majors and the first to go through a major without dropping a set since the 1980 French Open, when Bjorn Borg did it for the third time.

Ken Rosewall, who was sitting in the stands, was the last man to do it at the Australian Open, in 1971.

Federer also improved his winning streak to a career-best 36 matches, has been ranked No. 1 for 156 consecutive weeks and has won six of the last seven Grand Slam titles — his only loss was in the French Open final to Rafael Nadal last year.

“Equaling records, doing something that hasn’t been done for a long time, it’s really nice, there’s no doubt,” Federer said. “All I care about in the end is to hopefully hold that trophy, even though it might be 20-18 in the fifth set.

“Of course, now that it’s all over, it’s great to think, `Wow, you know, not having dropped a set.’ It’s quite amazing.”

John McEnroe needs to run out and kneecap him with a baseball bat during a match, just to give everyone else a chance to catch up and make it somewhat competitve. At this point, a one-legged Federer is still probably better than everyone else, but at least it’d be entertaining to watch.

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