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Might be just the beginning for Roger Federer

By Max J. Dickstein, amNewYork Sports Editor | mdickstein@am-ny.com

February 29, 2008

Roger Federer has been the world's No. 1 men's tennis player for four years, uninterrupted.

The 26-year-old Swiss master has crushed his contemporaries in shows of merciless pre-eminence on his way to 12 Grand Slam victories since 2003. This, unmistakably, is the Federer Era. But are we in the middle of that era, or are we toward its end?

Federer's last major victory is fresh in our minds, a straight-set statement against third-ranked Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open in September. He wore black. He outthought and outplayed his determined young opponent, fending off seven set points to win 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4.

This was ninja Federer.

But Djokovic, 20, struck back last month at the Australian Open. He stunned Federer, the two-time defending champion there, in the Aussie semifinal, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5), and went on to win his first major title. The loss made for Federer's first absence from a Grand Slam final since the French Open in 2005.

Pete Sampras, whom Federer plays in a March 10 exhibition at Madison Square Garden, holds the career men's Grand Slam title count, with 14. But not even Sampras, who retired at age 31, held his era in his palm like Federer, such that the top 10 is really Federer and everyone else. That's how he sees it.

As Djokovic and other young, strong-willed players rise to scuff Federer's armor, they will struggle to break through that ageless quality of Federer that has been the engine of one of history's greatest athletes: his unflappable mental game and belief in himself.

When Federer accepted his record fourth straight Laureus Sportsman of the Year award this month, he surprised reporters by saying, "My goal is to play for as long as possible, possibly until I am 35."

That would place us toward the beginning of the Federer Era.

Max Dickstein is amNewYork's sports editor. E-mail him at mdickstein@am-ny.com.