Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and himself — were still the favourites to win Grand Slam titles in 2019
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After Rafael Nadal equalled Bjorn Borg’s record of six French Open titles, Roger Federer is focusing on matching Pete Sampras’s seven Wimbledon wins.
If great memories sustain great players, Roger Federer is drawing on one of his most cherished as he pursues Pete Sampras’s Wimbledon record.
Roger Federer has vowed to continue rewriting tennis history after clinching a sixth Wimbledon title on Sunday.
Roger Federer admits he will begin to feel the weight of history if his bid to break Pete Sampras’s Grand Slam record goes the distance at Wimbledon.
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/ 15 January 2009
This year Roger Federer comes to the Australian Open with a few questions to answer — the one is can he regain number-one ranking?
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/ 4 December 2008
A fast court, plenty of fast serves and a straight-sets win. It was all vintage Pete Sampras.
Pete Sampras tried 13 times to win a French Open and 13 times he failed. Roger Federer, who is surely destined to surpass the American’s 14 Grand Slam titles, is about to embark on his 10th attempt to solve the intricate mysteries of the Roland Garros clay. The 12-time Grand Slam title winner, is enduring, by his lofty standards, a poor season.
Once-unstoppable Roger Federer finds himself without a title entering the clay-court portion of the ATP season, a situation that has the world number one looking for reasons why and finding few answers. The Swiss superstar was upset by Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Thursday.
World number one Roger Federer enjoyed a special moment on Monday when he beat Pete Sampras in an electrifying exhibition match in New York’s Madison Square Garden. ”It was like a dream come true for me,” Federer said. ”Playing my childhood hero here at the Garden. I had never played here. It was great. We had lots of fun.”
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/ 25 January 2008
Roger Federer’s invincibility was pierced, then pummelled and finally pulled apart at Melbourne Park on Friday, the world number one being brutally ejected from the Australian Open semifinals by Novak Djokovic. The Swiss champion and top seed fell 7-5 6-3 7-6, ending his bid to reach an 11th consecutive Grand Slam final.
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/ 24 January 2008
The tennis world has been yearning for someone to challenge Roger Federer’s record-breaking domination and Novak Djokovic is being touted as the one in Friday’s Australian Open semifinal. The peerless Swiss secured the number one ranking for an unprecedented 209th week after sweeping into a record 15th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.
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/ 23 January 2008
Roger Federer was at his dominant best on Wednesday to book a place in the Australian Open semifinals as Ana Ivanovic brought Venus Williams’s tournament to a juddering halt. The Swiss ace kept his cool in two close-fought sets against 12th seeded American James Blake before running away a 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 winner.
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/ 22 January 2008
A bullish mood is spreading among his rivals that dominating world number one Roger Federer is beatable coming into the showpiece rounds of the Australian Open. The Swiss top seed, the winner of 12 Grand Slam titles, second only to Pete Sampras’s 14, has ruled men’s tennis for four years and has been a constant in the last 10 Major finals.
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/ 21 January 2008
Swiss top seed Roger Federer recovered from his major scare in the previous round to cruise into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a straight sets victory over Tomas Berdych on Monday. The 12-time Grand Slam champion overcame the Czech 13th seed, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 in one hour 59 minutes.
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/ 13 January 2008
Roger Federer has shaken off a stomach virus and is 100% fit for the defence of his title at next week’s Australian Open, the Swiss said on Sunday. The world number one, who will be bidding for his 13th grand-slam title, will go into the event having not played a competitive match for two months.
Roger Federer is poised to advance to within one Grand Slam of Pete Sampras’s record of 14 in the year’s opening major tournament at the Australian Open, which gets under way in Melbourne on Monday. Federer has been unchallenged as world number one since February 2004 and won three of last year’s four Grand Slams for the third time in four years.
World tennis number one Roger Federer said he was fresh and motivated ahead of this month’s Australian Open as he arrived in the country on Friday in pursuit of Pete Sampras’s record 14 Grand Slam titles. Federer (26) is favourite to complete an Australian Open hat-trick at Melbourne Park from January 14 to 27, which would take him to within one slam of Sampras’s benchmark tally.
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/ 29 December 2007
It will be the year of the Golden Slam for tennis in 2008 and realistically only two names are in the running. Both Roger Federer and Justine Henin finished this year as clear number ones in their sport and they are set to dominate again. But from there to winning all four Grand Slams events plus Olympic gold in Beijing in the same calendar year is a huge step.
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/ 18 December 2007
Roger Federer again came close to winning the Grand Slam in 2007, reaching the final at all four major tournaments and winning three of them. This year, however, the top-ranked Swiss also came close to losing his record 54-match winning streak on grass at Wimbledon, and then struggled a bit after winning the United States Open.
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/ 22 November 2007
World number one Roger Federer defeated retired United States legend Pete Sampras on Thursday for the second straight time in three days at an exhibition match in Kuala Lumpur. Both men held serve to take the first set to a tie-break, with the Swiss maestro inching ahead when Sampras hit a forehand into the net.
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/ 20 November 2007
The world’s former number one tennis player, Pete Sampras, was no match for current champion Roger Federer when they met on court Tuesday for only the second time. In an exhibition match in the South Korean capital, Seoul, Federer beat Sampras 6-4, 6-3 in a match lasting just 61 minutes.
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/ 19 November 2007
Roger Federer and Pete Sampras are without doubt two of the greatest tennis players the world has ever seen, but they only ever faced each other once. All that will change this week when 12-time Grand Slam winner Federer plays his idol, who has 14 Grand Slams to his name, in three exhibition matches across Asia, starting in Seoul on Tuesday.
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/ 18 November 2007
World number one Roger Federer put on a vintage display to beat Spain’s David Ferrer 6-2 6-3 6-2 in securing his fourth Masters Cup title at the season-ending event on Sunday. Federer’s victory at the showcase eight-man tournament put him level with Ilie Nastase and one behind the record of five titles held by Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.
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/ 9 September 2007
Roger Federer hoisted aloft the US Open trophy for a fourth straight year on Sunday after victory over Novak Djokovic before swiftly turning his gaze to Pete Sampras and the all-time record for grand slam titles. The victory was worth ,4-million to the Swiss world number one, but the only figure Federer really cared about was moving his grand slam titles haul to 12.
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/ 2 September 2007
World number one Roger Federer answered the threat of big-serving United States giant John Isner to join top challengers Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko and James Blake in the US Open fourth round on Saturday. Federer is trying for a 12th grand-slam crown and fourth US Open title in a row.
Rafael Nadal struggled on a sore left knee past unheralded Australian Alun Jones on Wednesday to reach the second round of the US Open, but his bid for a third Grand Slam final in a row appears doomed. Severe tendinitis slowed the second-ranked Spaniard, who escaped with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory after two hours and 44 minutes over a 123rd-ranked wild card.
World number ones Roger Federer and Justine Henin breezed over qualifiers on Monday into the second round of the United States Open, while reigning grand-slam champions Serena and Venus Williams also advanced handily. Three-time defending champion Federer defeated American Scoville Jenkins in 92 minutes.