Roger Federer shed light on his journey and how his life had changed after winning his first Grand Slam.
Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam at the 2003 Wimbledon Open and after that, there has been no stopping for him. It just marked the start of his career and became one of the best players to have ever played the game. Years later, he ended his career with 20 Grand Slams.
It was the moment of realization of his biggest dream after winning the 2003 Wimbledon Open. He defeated Mark Phillipoussis 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3) in the finals and became the first player since Stefan Edberg who won Wimbledon in 1990 as a junior and as a pro.
In 2004, he reached the World No.1 ranking and held the position for 237 weeks until 2008. In 2006, Federer reached the finals of all four Grand Slams and won three out of them. Between 2003 and 2009, he played 21 out of 28 Major singles finals and surpassed Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slams in 2009.
Federer retired in 2022, 19 years after winning his first Grand Slam with 20 Grand Slams, which include eight Wimbledon Open titles, 103 singles titles, and $130 million in prize money.
When asked about the significance of Wimbledon 2003 win in his career, here’s what Roger had to say about it:
“Yeah, my life changed completely after winning a Grand Slam. All of a sudden, I was not just the tennis player from Switzerland I became a global icon, superstar.”
I was going to forever be a Wimbledon champion when I won in 2003 and that changes the perspective of others. You don't change, but the others change around you. Stay humble and normal at heart remember where I come from.
— hanay (@hanaycp) December 3, 2023
Tennis Analyst Gill Gross explained why 2017 was one of Roger Federer’s peak years
Tennis Analyst Gill Gross recently expressed his views on Roger Federer‘s peak years of his career.
In a podcast recently, Gill Gross answered a few questions from fans on his weekly “Monday Match Analysis” one of whom asked which year was Federer’s peak year.
He answered that according to him, the ATP tours of 2005 and 2006 were the peak years of Federer’s 24 years long career. He also agreed with the argument that Federer played his best tennis in 2017.
I think for Federer, full year, start to finish, I would say 2005 and 2006. But, there is an argument that the first half of 2017, if you wanna say that’s the best tennis he has ever played, I’m also very much okay to hear that argument. I mean, Federer was playing with 100% freedom
Gill also added that Federer was playing at the 2017 Australian Open with no expectations after being out for six months due to a knee injury.
Just came organically for the fact that he comes off the surgery, doesn’t have expectations, wins the Australian Open, I think it was tennis euphoria for him.
– Gill Gross in the podcast
