Stuff of legends? Not yet
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ByEurosport
Published 26/12/2004 at 12:23 GMT
How big was Roger Federer's season? To find bigger, you have to go back to 1974 when Jimmy Connors captured three majors and 12 tour titles. But for the Swiss, who lifted his 11th trophy of 2004 at the season-ending Masters in Houston, now comes the hard
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You really do have to look back 30 years to match Federer's achievement.
And that takes into account stellar seasons enjoyed since by Guillermo Vilas, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Pete Sampras.
This year, Federer became the first player to win three major championships in a season since 1988. He also won eight other tour titles.
Only last week, Rod Laver - the Grand Slam winner of 1962 and 1969 - was commenting on Federer.
The Australian believes the 23-year-old could become 'The Greatest'. Note to readers: Laver doesn't dish out praise lightly.
But one season alone doth not make a legend: the history books please.
INTO THE BOOKS
Since 1974, tour 'heavyweights' have only ever enjoyed a maximum of three years of overpowering dominance.
Take Connors: the American ran the men's game in 1974-75 winning 22 titles before bowing to Vilas (16 titles in 1977) and Borg with 32 between 1977 and 79.
McEnroe racked up 54 of his 77 singles titles from 1979 to 1984, but his only true epic season was 1984 with 13 crowns and an 82-3 match record.
Lendl laid the foundation stone of dominance in the 1980s with 15 titles in 1982, but the Czech was at his best in 1986 and 1987.
Wilander enjoyed only one true dream year with three tour titles in 1988 and Courier's successes of 1992 and 1993 amounted to ten overall.
Sampras won 10 titles in 1994, but even though 22 others followed between 1995-97, including seven of his 14 majors, he never sustained consistant dominance.
While Andre Agassi was Sampras' rival in the 1990s, the Vegas Kid reaped just five titles overall in his renaissance year of 1999, when he finished as world number one.
PLAYING HIS OWN GAME
So can Federer sustain his dominance of the circuit over several years - thereby fulfilling Laver's great expectations?
That depends first on whether the competition will get in his way.
The current erratic form of his rivals, namely, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin, suggests Federer is in with a shot at greatness.
But he has only won four majors to date.
For Federer, the great unknowns are the emergence of new rivals and injuries, particularly to his wrist due to a snapped forehand action.
In an era, where super-fit athletes pound the ball, to stay at the top of the game, as Borg (1976-80) and Sampras (1993-98) did is, your correspondent believes, a tougher-than-ever proposition.
But there is no doubt after last week that the Basel-born is the only player of the current generation capable of emulating Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) in the quest for that elusive first-ever Grand Slam of the open era.
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