Twenty-four years and 103 titles – a closer look at Roger Federer’s career

Roger Federer will play his closing skilled tennis match alongside his nice rival Rafael Nadal on Friday evening.

Federer and Nadal – with 42 grand slam titles between them – are representing Team Europe in doubles at the Laver Cup, and will face Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe of Team World in what’s prone to be an emotional event at London’s O2 Arena.

Here, the PA information company picks out some defining statistics behind Federer’s extraordinary singles career.

Overcoming inconsistency

Federer famously made 23 consecutive grand slam semi-finals between 2004 and 2010, together with 10 finals in a row from Wimbledon 2005 to the US Open in 2007.

This consistency stemmed from his calmness on court docket, however the 20-time main champion as soon as had a status for shedding his mood and throwing his racket throughout matches, which led to some early ups and downs that continued for much longer than any of his modern-day rivals.

Federer was hailed as the subsequent tennis celebrity after defeating Pete Sampras within the fourth spherical of Wimbledon 2001 – when the American was going for his fifth consecutive title – however he went on to lose within the quarter-finals to Tim Henman earlier than crashing out within the first spherical the next yr towards the unseeded Mario Ancic.

By the time he reached his first main closing in 2003, he had performed 309 tour-level singles matches throughout 5 years.

That tally is by far the best amongst those that have made it to 5 or extra grand slam finals throughout Federer’s period.

Sampras had solely 110 matches to his title earlier than his first main closing at the 1990 US Open, whereas Nadal had performed simply 127 earlier than he received his first French Open in 2005.

Britain’s Andy Murray waited a very long time earlier than lifting a grand slam title at the US Open in 2012, however he had already established himself by reaching 4 finals beforehand, the primary of which got here instantly after his two hundredth match in 2008.

Conquering America

Federer would go on to dominate the game after reaching – and successful – his first grand slam closing in 2003.

The Swiss nice received 15 of 25 majors between his Wimbledon successes in 2003 and 2009, breaking Sampras’ document for all-time grand slam wins within the house of simply six years.

Sampras and fellow American Andre Agassi have been ranked world numbers one and two for a lot of the Nineties and early 2000s, however Federer’s arrival – adopted by Nadal and Novak Djokovic – introduced an finish to the dominance of US gamers.

Federer has performed 30 Americans in his singles career and holds a successful document over all of them.

In complete, he has received 105 of 118 singles matches towards US gamers, together with his win price of 89 per cent increased than any nationality that he has confronted greater than 50 occasions.

Federer’s principal US rival was Andy Roddick, who he performed 24 occasions between 2001 and 2012. He received 21 of their conferences, together with all 4 of their grand slam finals.

Thanks partially to Federer’s success, American males are presently on a 75-major drought that stretches again to Roddick’s US Open win in 2003.

The ‘Big Three’

Despite having fun with a interval of particular person dominance, Federer will probably be remembered as certainly one of three all-time greats that outlined a outstanding period.

Between them, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have received 63 of 77 majors since Wimbledon 2003.

The Swiss was largely peerless in accumulating his first 12 grand slam titles inside four-and-a-half years, however defeat to Nadal within the 2008 Wimbledon closing signalled a new section in his career.

Federer would nonetheless go on to gather eight additional main trophies, however they have been unfold out over a decade as he suffered a sequence of agonising defeats to Nadal, initially, and then Djokovic.

This is borne out by his performances within the latter phases of occasions.

Federer transformed 49 of his 65 semi-finals into event wins between 2003 and 2007 – a success price of 75 per cent.

Between 2008 and 2015, Federer reached 92 semi-finals however solely went on to elevate 35 trophies, together with his success price having halved to 38 per cent.

Renaissance underneath Ljubicic

Federer’s career seemed to be drawing to a shut in 2016, when defeat to Milos Raonic within the Wimbledon semi-final preceded a six-month absence from the tour.

However, rumours of his demise proved to be untimely because the Swiss made a wonderful comeback in 2017.

Under the steering of coach Ivan Ljubicic, the 35-year-old Federer received 4 matches towards top-10 opponents – together with three five-setters – to elevate his 18th main trophy at the (*103*) Open.

In an interview with The Tennis Podcast this week, Ljubicic revealed how he inspired Federer to be extra aggressive together with his backhand reasonably than slicing, with the intention to keep away from being defensive in rallies.

The tactic paid dividends towards Nadal, who he defeated within the closing from a break down within the fifth set.

It was Federer’s first win in a main over his arch rival since Wimbledon 2007, and it triggered a run of 5 wins in his closing six matches towards Nadal.

Before working with Ljubicic, Federer had misplaced 23 of their 34 conferences.

Inspired by his win in Australia, Federer went on to triumph at Wimbledon in the identical yr with out dropping a set, and ended 2017 with seven titles and 54 wins from 59 matches. It was his greatest yr by way of win price since 2006.

Shortly after defending his (*103*) Open title in 2018, Federer returned to the highest of the rankings at the age of 36 and grew to become the oldest males’s primary in historical past.

He would make one additional main closing at Wimbledon, shedding in heartbreaking style to Djokovic in 2019, earlier than accidents plagued his closing two years on tour.

Fans’ favorite

Federer is not going to retire as essentially the most profitable male participant in historical past, with Nadal and Djokovic each having surpassed his main tally of 20, however he’ll depart the sport as its hottest son.

The Swiss appeared to benefit from the assist of the gang in a lot of his 1,526 singles matches, regardless of the place he was taking part in or who he was up towards.

The ATP Fans’ Favourite award has been handed out at the top of every yr since 2000, with Federer successful the vote for the previous 19 years in a row.