Why Federer's 14th Grand Slam win isn't Tarnished Just Because He Didn't Play Nadal (or his 13th, for that matter...)

I've already heard many media outlets asking if Federer's accomplishment means as much, as he's beaten people other than Nadal for the last 2 wins. It isn't Federer's fault that Nadal couldn't find his way to the Final for the 2009 French Open & 2008 US Open. Federer just keeps showing up, and will take on whoever is there to met him. In my personal (albeit not too important) opinion, this makes what he has accomplished even more impressive!

Roger Federer has now played in 20 straight Grand Slam semifinals. 20!!! The previous record was 10, set by Ivan Lendl. He has doubled this record, and could still add on to it. The ability to be that consistent is unbelievable, and I don't find too many things to be unbelievable. He made the semis of the 2008 Australian Open while battling Mononucleosis. I was curled up in bed doing nothing but eating whole Baker's Square Cookies n' Cream pies when I had mono (yet kept losing weight...could I get that again please?) . I took a semester off of college & my parents put a mattress on the pull-out couch upstairs, because I felt too weak to go up and down the stairs to my bedroom. He "struggled" his way to a Grand Slam semifinal match, where Novak Djokovic was able to send him back home. That ended his streak of 10 straight Grand Slam Finals. He had as many Finals in a row as Lendl had Semis in a row!

As mentioned earlier, this historic 14th Grand Slam is being discounted by some because it was not against Nadal. Nadal couldn't even make it to the quarterfinals of the tournament he had cruised through 4 years in a row, let along win it a 5th time. To me, this shows exactly how "otherworldly" Federer has been for the last 5-6 years. Athletes get injured, they get sick and they have "off" days mentally. It happens to everyone. Yet it never seems to happen to Federer when it matters most; or if it does happen, he is able to overcome and keep pushing.

Nadal has pulled out of next week's Queen's Club grass court tournament, in which he is the defending champion. Did knee pain keep him from defeating Robin Soderling last week? Perhaps, but nothing has kept Federer from being there in every Grand Slam Semifinal since mid-2004, and 15 of the last 16 Finals. In my mind, this flat out makes him better than anyone else currently playing (and perhaps anyone else ever...perhaps.)

Much has been made of the fact that Federer cannot be the greatest of all time if he has a losing record vs rival Nadal. Nadal has defeated Federer in 62% of their matches, so he must be better. Of course, James Blake has won 60% of his matches vs Rafa Nadal - does this mean Blake is better overall than Nadal? While James Blake is, and has been my favorite men's tennis player since Agassi retired, I would be silly to argue that he is better than Nadal. The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series for the 1st time in their history after winning 60% of their regular season games, yet they were 2-5 against the .500 Cleveland Indians. Know anyone (other than Indians fans) who would argue that Cleveland was the better team in '07? In these situations, we look at the big picture.

And this is the big picture: Roger Federer has tied Pete Sampras for the all-time record of 14 Grand Slams won. Unfortunately for stars from prior generations, like Rod Laver, who were pros when the Slams were for amateurs only, we'll never know how many titles they could have acquired. All we know is that no one has more Slams than Pete & Roger. Federer now has a Career Grand Slam, having won each major at least once. Only 6 men in tennis history have achieved this feat. Andre Agassi was the last one to do it, in 1999. Prior to Agassi, it hadn't happened since 1964. While Federer could not join Agassi in a so-called "Career Golden Slam" by adding an Olympic singles gold medal to the mix, he was able to win the doubles gold medal in 2008 in Beijing, with fellow Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka.

I'm not arguing that Federer is the best ever - I don't feel I'm qualified enough to say that, because my knowledge of tennis history before my birth is not as strong as I would like it to be. Perhaps someday I will get Bud Collins' Tennis Encyclopedia and read it, and then decide who is the best ever, but even then, it would still be impossible to truly decide. I'm merely arguing that Federer's place in history, and the significance of his 13th & 14th Grand Slam victories, should not be minimized just because they were against someone other than Rafa Nadal. It's not as if Rafa stayed home and played poker instead of competing in those tournaments. He lost matches before getting to the final. He didn't make it, and Federer did!

As a fan of tennis, I would love to have seen another Nadal-Federer battle, so in terms of entertainment value, we as fans were cheated by the Federer over Murray and Federer over Soderling victories. But the value of these victories doesn't change. Find me a Boston Red Sox fan (or any baseball fan) who thinks their 2004 World Series victory was not as important because it was a not-so-entertaining sweep. Or a golf fan (or any sports fan) who thinks Tiger Woods' 2008 US Open playoff win was less significant because he was battling Rocco Mediate rather than Phil Mickelson or Sergio Garcia. You can only play the hand that's dealt to you...

Bonus: Plus he had some crazy fan run on the court toward him and it didn't seem to affect his play at all. We're talking about the sport where a "fan" of Steffi Graf ran on court during a changeover and stabbed Steffi's rival Monica Seles in the back, changing the course of Seles' career forever, so there is a precedent for this not turning out well. He had a clear moment of fear before realizing that guy was just stupid, but not psychotic, and didn't even bother taking a moment to sit down and collect his thoughts. He is that focused on the task at hand, that he could immediately flip the switch back to championship tennis.

(As a full disclosure, though I was wearing my navy blue Nike Roger Federer hybrid hat while watching the match on Tivo a few hours after it's completion, I have not been a long-time Federer fan. Only when he appeared human in early 2008, did I feel that tug to start pulling for him. I'm a sucker for underdogs. It was the same with Pete Sampras. I liked him, but he was never my favorite player, until the last few years of his career, when I even found myself cheering for him a few times over Agassi, who had always been my favorite; though I always did love his Wimbledon serve & volley, probably because I grew up loving Stefan Edberg & Boris Becker.)