Halle 2017: As Roger Federer scores 1,100th, he admits: “I appreciate these numbers way more today than ever”
The former world No1 chalks up his 1,100th career win thanks to a straight sets win against Yuichi Sugita at the Halle Open
The records, when it comes to Halle for Roger Federer, just keep piling up.
This year is the eight-time champion’s 15th appearance at the tournament: a record number of titles in Halle, a record number at any tournament for Federer, and part of an all-time record 15 grass titles for the mighty Swiss.
When he opened his grass campaign for 2017 in Stuttgart last week after a 10-week lay-off, he was expected to notch up his 1,100th match-win. For a start, he had begun the year, rejuvenated from his six-month rest and recuperation after Wimbledon last year, with a sweep to the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami titles.
It was not to be: The rust that had accumulated from no competitive tennis during the entire clay swing saw his concentration desert him, along with a match-point, and he eventually faced a three-set loss to old friend Tommy Haas.
But while it may have been Federer’s first opening-match loss on grass since 2002, Haas was no mean opponent: He had beaten Federer to win the Halle title in 2012, and reached the semis at Wimbledon, on that occasion losing to Federer.
Yet Federer was pragmatic: He should, he admitted, have closed out the Stuttgart match:
“I mean a comeback is never simple, especially on grass where margins are so slim, and a serve or passing shot or a return can sometimes determine the outcome of a match. And that’s what it ended up being against Tommy, even though I feel when I was leading a set and a break I should somehow find a way home.”
All the more reason to get off to a flying start in Halle, as the Swiss readily admitted.
“Learn from that week and move forward in a better way. I think the eight wins here and the history I have, coming here so often and feeling so comfortable, is definitely a benefit.”
Yes, a 54-6 record at a place must boost the confidence just a little. But the tournament threw a spanner into the works just hours before his opener, which was scheduled to be against Yen-Hsun Lu. The Taipei man pulled out with a back injury and was replaced by a Japanese man, Yuichi Sugita, the lucky loser who was on the losing side of a three-and-a-half-hour marathon against Mikhail Youzhny in qualifying.
And it so happened that Sugita won a big Challenger event on the grass of Surbiton just a week ago, too. Unlike Federer, then, he was far from rusty on grass, and the nimble game and quick feet of the slight Japanese were on immediate show in the opening point of the match—a dazzling rally, and first blood to Sugita on the Federer serve.
It would be one of several points that could make a highlight reel—one later in the match saw Federer gasp in appreciation at Sugita’s reactions at the net, and drew his applause. But in the end, Federer would face few problems. He broke in the fourth game and held for 4-1. The set was done in half an hour, 6-3: The Swiss had won 17-18 points on first serve and faced not a break point.
The second set, after a long opening tussle, brought an immediate break for the eight-time champion, and he raced through the set to find himself serving for the match at 40-0. Perhaps it was nerves, or a recollection of an oft-repeated statement since Stuttgart: Federer had held match-points in every match he played this year. In his only other loss this year, he let a convincing lead slip against Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai in the second round.
Whatever took a hold of the Federer serving arm, Sugita took advantage with five straight points, boosting his tally for the set from 14 to 19. But receiving at 1-5, the nerves evaporated and Federer broke to score that 1,100th win, 6-1, in a scant 52 minutes.
His next opponent will likely give him a tougher test in a different kind of game. The elder Zverev brother, Mischa, is at a career-high 29 this week. He is a left-hander who relishes playing serve and volley, with skills honed in plenty of doubles tennis.
It will be their fourth meeting, and Zverev has yet to win a set, but the German is a more confident player these days, having bounced back from injuries early in his career. It could be a cracker—played more at the net than any match this season.
But what of that new milestone, that 1,100? Is Federer blase about such things these days?
It appears not. After winning his 1,000th in Brisbane over two years ago, he said:
“It feels very different to any other match I’ve ever won, because I never thought about it… All those numbers didn’t mean anything to me, but for some reason 1,000 means a lot.”
After his next milestone, overtaking Ivan Lendl into second place on the all-time list of match-wins with his 1,069th, he had only Jimmy Connors ahead of him.
“I never thought I would be playing for such a record. Of course, I take them with a smile and now I’m on the same level as Lendl and chasing Connors. For me they were unreachable tennis players when I was growing up. I only knew them from TV and they were the best players we had in the game. For me to be at that level now, can motivate me for more wins in the future.”
He was just as tickled by his latest round number:
“I never thought that I would have such a career, and certainly not so many victories. I’m very excited about it! I didn’t know about it—they mentioned it in Stuttgart but I forgot. I think I appreciate these numbers way more today than ever before.”
And his chances of catching Connors’ 1,256? Well when one considers that the first three months in Federer’s extraordinary return to the tour this year yielded only 20 wins, the climb to Connors’ record tally looks insurmountable.
As a fresh-faced player in his early 20s, Federer put together some remarkable seasons—11 titles in 2004 and 2005, another 12 titles in 2006—winning 74, 81 and 92 matches respectively. Now that he is approaching his 36th birthday, it is unrealistic to contemplate 157 more match-wins, even if he did not take the brief sabbatical he enjoyed this spring—which he surely must if he is to prolong his career still further.
But he will simply enjoy such moments and such milestones with his usual savoir faire: As he said before even before he had won a match here this week: “It’s all good.”
