Federer’s legend grows with Davis Cup win

Only the singles Olympic gold left in the Swiss’ illustrious career

LILLE: It's taken him 16 years as a pro, but Roger Federer finally has won all there is to win in tennis — almost.

His resume now boasts four Grand Slam titles – a record 17 in total – six ATP year-end titles, 23 Masters Series, Olympic gold and now the Davis Cup for Switzerland.

The Olympic title of course was in the doubles with Stan Wawrinka in Beijing in 2008 and he has yet to match great rival Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi as the only men to have won all four Grand Slam titles, Olympic singles gold and the Davis Cup during the course of their careers.

But still — it's an astonishing record for a player many consider to be the greatest of all time.

The Davis Cup win was arguably the hardest of them all for Federer to win, involving as it does other players and doubles action.

Asked to compare his feelings in winning Wimbledon for the first time in 2003 and what he felt on Sunday after supplying the point Switzerland needed to win the Davis Cup final over France he replied, "You can't compare. When I won Wimbledon, it was a total shock, honestly. Davis Cup is something that I knew was possible at some stage in my career.

"Of course, there was the pressure of being able to manage all this and make everyone happy with all the support we had for the team and everything. So it is a totally different feeling.

"Also, I was not alone on the court. This changes totally everything."

By the time he had won Olympic gold with Wawrinka in 2008 and by Wimbledon 2012, he had taken his haul of Grand Slam titles to an all-time best of 17.

Still the Davis Cup remained out of his grasp and, at 33, time was clearly running out when he and Wawrinka decided – after the latter won the Australian Open at the start of the year – that they would commit totally to playing the Davis Cup this year.

"At the end of the day I wanted it more for the guys and for [coach] Severin Luthi and Stan, the staff and everybody involved. This is one for the boys,” concluded Federer.

 

 

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