Roger Federer’s victory at the 2006 Australian Open could be called a “Perfect 10.”
Not only was it Federer’s 10th career major singles title, but it also marked the first time he won a major without losing a set in the process.
Rene Stauffer, author of the book ROGER FEDERER: QUEST FOR PERFECTION ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.RogerFedererBook.com) reviews this moment in the Swiss man’s incredible career in this exclusive book excerpt below.
After his victory in Shanghai that capped his most successful season to date, Roger Federer treated himself to an extended vacation. He and Mirka Vavrinec traveled to the Maldives where he relaxed on the beach and watched DVDs, leaving the tennis world far behind.
After two weeks of training in December in Dubai with Tony Roche and Pierre Paganini, Federer, in his new role as UNICEF Ambassador, traveled to India just before Christmas, where he visited schools, orphanages and HIV-education programs in Tamil Nadu the Indian state most devastated by the 2004 tsunami.
“The 2006 season was my best by far,” he said. “I don’t think I could be playing any better. Now, it’s a matter of maintaining this level.” In order to achieve this, he wanted to allocate his energy even more efficiently. “I’ve learned that it is more important to take a break between competitions and to be well-prepared for the next event than it is to play in all of the tournaments,” he admitted. This philosophy, unfortunately, came at the expense of Davis Cup once again. For the third consecutive year, he skipped his Davis Cup obligations, even though Switzerland hosted an attractive home tie against Spain. Despite Roche’s initial opposition, Federer also decided to skip the first tournament of the year in Doha, where he started his season with tournament victories the last two years. Federer’s new motto was now “Less is more.”
After a few more days off between Christmas and New Years, Federer arrived in Melbourne and the 2007 Australian Open without an official ATP event as a warm-up. He did get some match-play experience at the Kooyong Classic, the pre-event exhibition at Melbourne’s Kooyong Tennis Club. Surprisingly Federer lost in the final of the tournament to Andy Roddick, but since it was not an officially-sanctioned match, he was not upset at all with the loss.
Spurred by new coach Jimmy Connors, Roddick’s career was back on the up-swing. In addition to his runner-up showing at the US Open, Roddick won the Tennis Masters Series event in Cincinnati and after his strong performances against Federer in the US Open final and Shanghai, as well as his exhibition victory over the Swiss at the Kooyong Classic, many speculated that Roddick was on Federer’s heels. The hype increased when the two faced each other again in the Australian Open semifinals. Roddick lost 12 of the 13 encounters with Federer but the longer this losing streak continued, the greater the likelihood that Federer would eventually stumble and lose to Roddick.
In what many people predicted would be an upset victory for Roddick turned into one of the bitterest days of the American’s tennis career. Federer pulled off a masterpiece—one of the best matches of his career. He trailed 3-4 in the first set and then rolled off 15 of the next 17 games and won the semifinal match 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in 83 minutes. “It was almost surreal,” Federer said. “I’m shocked myself at how well I played.” The statistics were incredibly lopsided as Federer hit as many winners in the match as Roddick won points. Federer hit 45 winners to Roddick’s 11, while he won 83 points to Roddick’s 45. Federer also out-aced Roddick 10 to four, never lost his serve, and converted all seven break-point chances on Roddick’s serve. At one point, Federer won 12 straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the third set. The signature shot in the match came on the opening point of the fourth game of the second set. Roddick unleashed a fierce forehand from short range that landed close to the baseline. Rather than getting out of the way of the rocket forehand, Federer leaned left into the ball and hit a reflex backhand half-volley that traveled cross-court for a winner.
“Darling, you are a maniac,” Mirka told Federer after returning from his day’s work to the locker room. Two-time Grand Slam winner Rod Laver, who witnessed the flawless display of tennis, also showed up in the locker room and congratulated the victor. “Roger played fantastic,” said Laver. “He used all the strokes there were and Andy was a little frustrated. The only thing you could do is go to the net, shake hands and say, ‘That was too good.’”
Roddick’s post-match press conference was one of the most difficult of his career, but the American took the defeat like a man and was at least able to treat the humbling defeat with some humor. “It was frustrating. You know, it was miserable. It sucked. It was terrible. Besides that, it was fine,” he said. Federer, he said, deserved all the praise that was being bestowed on him.
Federer reached his seventh straight Grand Slam tournament final—tying the 73-year-old record held by Australian Jack Crawford. By reaching the semifinals, Federer broke Ivan Lendl’s record of 10 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances. He was careful not to celebrate prematurely. A year ago in the Australian Open final, he nearly crashed and burned against the unseeded upstart Marcos Baghdatis. His final-round opponent was the red-hot Fernando Gonzalez and Federer did not want to let his nerves—or another slow start—prevent him from closing out another Grand Slam title. Gonzalez defeated Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake, Rafael Nadal and Tommy Haas en route to his first Grand Slam final. He was the third Chilean Grand Slam finalist after Luis Ayala, a finalist at the French in 1958 and 1960, and Marcelo Rios, who also was a finalist at the Australian Open in 1998. Gonzalez desperately wanted to become the first player from his country to win a Grand Slam singles title.
For the second time, Federer reached a Grand Slam final without surrendering a set. In 2006 at Wimbledon, he also won 18 straight sets en route to the final before Nadal managed to win a set in a tie-break to spoil a perfect run to a Grand Slam title. Gonzalez began his first Grand Slam final on a cool January evening undaunted by Federer’s quest for a perfect run through a Grand Slam draw. The Chilean, in fact, had two chances to immediately stop Federer’s run to perfection in the first set. Serving for the first set at 5-4, Gonzalez held two set points at 40-15, but Federer hit an elegant volley to save the first set point, and benefited from the hard-hitting Chilean netting a blistering forehand on the next set point. As it turned out, it would be the only chances Gonzalez had in the match.
Nothing could stop Federer after he confidently won the first-set tiebreak 7-2. He did not shy away from engaging the Chilean’s whipping forehand, while converting winners off his backhand side and at the net.
At 10:08 pm local time in Melbourne, Federer fell to the court after converting on his first match point in his 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory. He yelled out in joy and lay on the court in exultation. Federer’s parents, Lynette and Robert, traveled to Australia for the first time and looked on from Federer’s box along with his late coach Peter Carter’s parents.
The match was a perfect 10. The victory was his 10th in 10 career matches with Gonzalez—the Chilean being the first player to lose 10 straight matches to Federer. It was Federer’s 10th career Grand Slam title and the first time he won a Grand Slam without losing a set. Federer became the first player to win a Grand Slam tournament without losing a set since Björn Borg won the 1980 French Open. The only two other players to win a Grand Slam event without losing a set in the Open Era were Ilie Nastase at the 1973 French Open and Ken Rosewall at the 1971 Australian Open. In his quest to find perfection, Federer was nearer to his goal than ever before. The headline in the newspaper Age the next day read: “The Perfect 10.”
With his 10th Grand Slam title, Federer moved into fifth place in the all-time rankings list—tied with American Bill Tilden who, in the 1920’s and early 1930’s, was the paragon of the tennis world. “Moving from nine to 10 is a big step,” Federer said after his 36th consecutive match victory. He now only needed four more Grand Slam titles to catch up to Pete Sampras and his record 14 Grand Slam titles. Besides the American, only Australian Roy Emerson (12) as well as Rod Laver and Björn Borg (with 11 each) were ahead of him. Federer won nine of the last 13 and six of the last seven Grand Slam tournaments and he also was a finalist in Paris—marking an unprecedented run on Grand Slam trophies.