Filed under: Tennis, Wimbledon, US Open
Only Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi have won Grand Slam singles tournaments in their thirties in this millennium, yet try telling Roger Federer he has already enjoyed his last days of dominance at the summit of the men's game.The Swiss 16-time Grand Slam champion turns 30 on Monday and, while for some sportsmen might concede it marks an age where they accept their powers are on the wane, Federer could not be more different.
World No. 3 Federer returns to action next week at the Montreal Masters ahead of the US Open three weeks later - a tournament he has already won on five occasions and is adamant he can win again.
"I'm looking forward to turning 30," Federer said. "Birthdays happen. They're part of life. I'm happy I'm getting older. I'd rather be 30 than 20, to be honest. To me it's a nice time.
"I don't feel it's my last chance, not at all. I see many more chances to come. Maybe it's the last Grand Slam of the season, fine, but still there are many more tournaments than just Grand Slams.
"I know I'll be being measured very often just by my Grand Slam results, which is fortunate or unfortunate depending how you look at it. My game is in a good place right now.
"I've won so much you feel like if you put yourself in the right position and do all the right things, you'll definitely get a shot again at winning any big tournaments, or any tournament for that matter."
He can most certainly still talk the talk, however whether Federer can still walk the walk is an entirely different matter.
His last Grand Slam victory came at the Australian Open in 2010, when he defeated Andy Murray in straight sets.
The six majors since have all been won by either Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, who are six and five years younger respectively and lead him substantially in the rankings race.
While Federer is the only man to have beaten Djokovic this year, the chinks in his armour were exposed once again at Wimbledon where he blew a two-set lead for the first ever time in a Grand Slam to lose to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
As age begins to catch up with him and his younger rivals begin to enter their peak years, only the most optimistic of Federer fans could make a case for him adding to his already-bulging cabinet of Grand Slam trophies.
The way in which Djokovic swept aside Nadal in the Wimbledon final was further evidence he is head and shoulders above his rivals this year, while on the one occasion he did lose, to Federer in the French Open semi-finals, the Spaniard was far too strong for the Swiss in the clay-court final.
History, too, would suggest the odds are stacked against him with Sampras having claimed the US Open at 31 in 2002 and the latter the last of his major crowns at the 2003 Australian Open when 32 - both at a time when the competition was not so stiff.
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