Could this be Federer’s year in France?
Roger Federer’s quest for the French Open crown has been unfairly likened to that of Pete Sampras, another all-time great who could never master the terrain at Roland Garros. But whereas Sampras clearly didn’t have the game to be a force in the clay-court Grand Slam, Federer could easily have had three French Open titles in the bag already.
He has simply been unlucky to be around in the same era as Nadal, the greatest of all time on the red dirt, who has beaten him in each of the last three years at Roland Garros – twice in the final, once in the semis – and eight times out of nine on the surface in all, most recently in a rollercoaster Hamburg final last week.
Against the rest of the world Federer is almost as invincible on clay as he is on grass, having won 57 of his last 59 matches with just two defeats to Filippo Volandri and Radek Stepanek. There isn’t much wrong with this form and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Swiss genius goes all the way this year.
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