Roger Federer, my favourite tennis player, recently completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open this year. Though some consider the achievement to be not quite so great since he did it in the absence of Nadal (who was eliminated earlier in the tournament), I consider his victory a tribute and a testament to his superb and unmatched consistency in Grand Slams. In all, the Swiss master has now won 14 Slams, a feat that places him firmly on the path to tennis immortality. He needs just one more Grand Slam title to edge past Pete Sampras, the tennis great whose record he has equalled in record time (six years) since his first major win.
Just ponder these facts: among the thousands of professional tennis players, very few - about 128 players, to be precise - qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, with the top-ranked 32 players getting a direct entry. Out of these 128 players, two players reach the finals at the end of nearly two weeks of intense competition against different players over six rounds, each of which is a knock-out match. That is to say, if you have just one off day and the opponent plays his best, you're likely to be thrown out of the tournament unceremoniously. And yet, Federer has reached the semi-finals of every Grand Slam he has played since Wimbledon 2004, a record 20 times! He has also reached the finals of 15 of the last 16 Slams (stats source), and his only losses in those finals have come against Nadal. None of the other top players of this generation, or any generation for that matter, have such a phenomenal record in the Slams.
With no offence to Nadal, one of the most gracious players on tour currently, if Federer won the French Open without having to beat Nadal, then that's Nadal's problem, not Federer's. Federer just did what he has become so adept at doing - reaching a Grand Slam semifinal - and put himself in line for another victory. Nobody in recent memory - or even distant memory, really - has had such a consistent run in the majors, and has racked up as many Slams (14) in such quick time (five years). So remarkable has his run been that it comes as a shock to everyone if Federer fails to reach the semifinals of any tournament.
Enough said: Federer may or may not be the greatest player of all time (that debate is raging in many discussion forums), but there can be no disputing the fact he's the most consistent player of any generation. Ever. Go Fed, get yourself another Wimbledon title! It's yours for the taking!
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