Roger Federer 17 Grand Slams tribute

I defy anyone not to tear up after watching it.

Roger Federer breaks yet another record

Roger Federer, already the holder of a record 17 Grand Slam titles, reaches another landmark today, when he celebrates an unprecedented 287th week as world No. 1.


After a two-year absence, the Swiss legend, who turns 31 in August, had pulled level with Pete Sampras's record of 286 weeks, when he reclaimed top spot with his seventh Wimbledon title.


With the Olympics and US Open fast approaching, Federer shows no sign of his passion for the game waning, despite being the second oldest man - after Andre Agassi - to hold the world No. 1 ranking.


"I'm so happy I'm at the age I am right now, because I had such a great run and I know there's still more possible," said Federer. "To enjoy it right now, it's very different than when I was 20 or 25 - I'm at a much more stable place in my life.


"I wouldn't want anything to change, so this is very, very special right now."


Federer holds a 75-point lead over world No. 2 Novak Djokovic and is guaranteed to hold the top ranking into the London Olympics.


He now has a tour-best five titles in 2012, including his 20th Masters crown in Madrid in the run-up to the French Open. Federer has compiled a 63-6 match record since last year's US Open, going 17-0 at the end of 2011, and is 46-6 this season.


Despite equalling Sampras's record for Wimbledon titles, Federer believes it wasn't just his victory over Andy Murray in the final at the All England Club that enabled him to return to the top. He believes it was due to a series of highs and lows, notably a heartbreaking loss to Djokovic in the US Open semifinals last September when he had been two sets to love ahead with match points.


"I think it was a time where I just had to believe that things were going to turn around for me," said Federer. "I think when I came back to Basel [last autumn], which was a home tournament, things obviously changed for me to winning ways again.



"Then the confidence rose as I went to Paris and also to London [where he won the World Tour Finals]. I think this is when I realised a lot is possible in 2012."


Federer first took the world No. 1 spot in February 2004 and held it until August 2008. He reclaimed it in July 2009, before being deposed by Rafael Nadal after the 2010 French Open.


tvnz

This actually happened on Monday the 16th so it's almost old news at this point, but I decided to share nonetheless.  Lesson to the media never count Roger out of anything whether it's records or Grand Slams.

Martina Hingis talks World Team Tennis

Martina Hingis on Federer's Wimbledon win, and failed Olympic team-up

WASHINGTON — A year after she made waves in  Switzerland and in the tennis world with the revelation that she had been asked by Roger Federer about coming out of retirement to play mixed doubles with him for Switzerland at the London Olympics, Martina Hingis seems content with where the year has taken her — even if that’s not to the Games.


Hingis, 31, and Federer, 30, ultimately agreed that it was in his interest to focus his energies on singles and on defending his 2008 gold medal in men’s doubles with his partner, Stanislas Wawrinka.


“I was kind of flattered that he asked me, but at the end we decided not to play,” Hingis said in an interview Thursday in Washington before a World Team Tennis match.  Hingis and Federer reached the mutual decision during a phone call in November.  It was at her visit to Washington for World Team Tennis in 2011 that Hingis first disclosed that she had been asked to consider a comeback by one of Federer’s coaches.


“I mean, I would have to get back into great shape, playing doubles or mixed doubles at the Grand Slams,” Hingis, who retired in 2007 and is now working as a coach for junior prospects in Paris, said of her reasons for not wanting to return to competition. “And him, having finished up the season so well, he had a great opportunity, his sights on getting back where he is today.


“He kind of felt that feeling, that tingling sensation that he had a chance. And you could see when he was winning those indoor events that he felt like, O.K., he beat Nadal, he beat Djokovic, so maybe he has his opportunities to do it at a Grand Slam.  And now at Wimbledon it just all came back together. And wow, back to No. 1, and being able to have only 20 days in between, this is his chance to win the Olympics as well.


“So that’s what I said back then: ‘If I was your coach? I would tell you you have to focus on the singles.’


“He became No. 1, he won Wimbledon. So all his dreams, they got realized. And now having the pole position to win the Olympics, the one thing he hasn’t got yet, I think is a great opportunity.”


“I haven’t seen Roger in such fantastic shape in two and a half, three years, since the last time he won a Grand Slam,” Hingis said.  “I think the moment Nadal loses at a Grand Slam, he felt like this is his opportunity.  I think mentally, Nadal, for him, is such a barrier, that once he lost he saw the draw open — and he’s not afraid of Djokovic.  He never was, and I think every time he sees the opportunity to beat him.  And although he didn’t a couple times — U.S. Open, match points — but he beat him last year.  So I think he’s not afraid of someone like Djokovic, but Nadal is not his kind of player. 


“But wow, the matches, the tennis he produced in the semifinals, finals. There’s not much to say. Wow. And I think also it helped him that the roof was closed, it felt more like playing indoors.  Sometimes everything falls in place, and this was his year.”


Though the two ultimately decided against the potential Olympic partnership, Hingis seemed to have enjoyed the excitement surrounding the possibility that she and Federer might team up, calling the sudden attention and speculation “unbelievable.”


“I think both of us, we didn’t think that it’s going to be such an explosion, you know?” Hingis said. “The people kept asking me, ‘So, you’re playing with Federer?’ and all that: ‘That’s great! Wish you luck!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, we haven’t decided!’ ”


“Then when we decided not to play, everyone was like, ‘Aw, it would have been so great.’ But yeah, I loved that kind of positive attitude about it.”


But though she enjoyed the encouragement, it seemed Hingis was perhaps most daunted by the possibility of facing one particular opponent — Serena Williams, the Wimbledon champion, who may not enter the mixed doubles competition.


“Really, it’s for people who are out there right now,” she said of the Olympics. “If we had to face some team like, I don’t know, Serena and Roddick, or Serena and like one of the Bryan brothers — I mean, this is crazy! I mean, I would play with Roger, but I’m not the same player as when I was winning Grand Slams.”


Hingis, who sat in the royal box at Wimbledon’s Centre Court to watch the women’s final for a second straight year, took special notice of Williams’s record-setting serving.


“Twenty-four aces?” Hingis said in disbelief, citing the number Williams struck in her straight-set win over Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. “That was probably the aces I did in a whole season! And she does it in one match.”


nytimes.com

Jimmy Fallon imitates Roger Federer

LOL Apparently Jimmy and I think along the same lines when it comes to Andy Murray winning a slam.  At times his speech is eerily similar to Roger's.

Babolat becomes shoe brand of Wimbledon

Babolat keeps upping it's sponsorship commitment in pro tennis and announced its new partnership with Wimbledon. Starting in 2013, and for a period of five years, Babolat will become the official shoe brand of The Championships, Wimbledon.


“Wimbledon is an iconic tennis tournament and an international tennis brand. With Wimbledon, we share both being at the origin of tennis and being on the cutting edge of the sport,” said Eric Babolat, Chairman and CEO of Babolat.


As from 2013, Babolat will equip the ball boys and girls during Wimbledon


Babolat is also a major sponsor of Roland Garros and claims to be the number one in racquet sales in the United States, Japan, France, Spain, and Italy. It sponsors racquets and strings for players including Rafael Nadal , Kim Clijsters, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , Li Na and Andy Roddick.


10sballs.com

Roger Federer & wife Mirka vacationing in Sardinia Italy

After weeks of intensive training and preparation for Wimbledon, add to that his 7th Wimbledon title, 17th Grand Slam title and return to the no.1 spot, Roger Federer and his wife Mirka decided to take a break from the tennis world and have their vacation at Sardinia, Italy.  

Leaving Myla Rose and Charlene Riva behind, the couple engaged on a day-long yacht cruise from Porto Cervo off the northern coast of the Italian Island.

rogerfedererfans.com via federernews blog

Awww, poor Roger can't relax without the paparazzi following him and his family everywhere.

Mirka certainly doesn't look happy about it can't blame her.