Grass is always greener for Federer
15 grass court titles, 65 consecutive grass court wins (all time record), 7 consecutive Wimbledon finals and part of perhaps the greatest match in the open era with long term rival Rafael Nadal on the hallowed center court of Wimbledon. The man from Switzerland has come a long way since being labeled as a prodigy by defeating Pistol Pete in 2001, to winning his maiden Grand Slam and climb to the top in the rankings a couple of years later he achieved it all on his favorite surface-grass.
On Sunday Roger Federer picked up his eighth Halle title by defeating Andreas Seppi in straight sets. Playing on his favorite green turf Federer never looked out of sorts throughout the tournament (barring his opening match).
This was Federer’s 86th career title and 4th of the season. The world number two had to save a couple of set points in the opener as Seppi returned strongly, but the Swiss dug deep to force a tie-break. This was the second ATP final for Seppi who had defeated the 17 time Grand Slam champ in the third round of the Australian Open this year.
“It is a special moment for me, to win this tournament an eighth time,” the world number 2 said at the courtside interview. “I have always enjoyed amazing support here all these year. I always enjoy it here and it is one of my favorite events. Roger even has a street named after him leading to the court.
“2013 was difficult, 2014 was better and now 2015 after this week is even better and I hope I can keep it up,” he said. Call it destiny or sheer coincidence Federer’s last Grand Slam triumph was on Grass and next target will be to go one better than he did last year at Wimbledon which starts on 29th June.
