History making time is now for Federer
The opportunity for Roger Federer to cement his position as the greatest tennis player of all time is increasing by the minute in Dubai as the road to victory opens up for the great Swiss.
The carnage among the top seeds in the dry heat of the U.A.E is creating a buzz of excitement that this could be the week where Roger Federer lifts his 100th (yes you read it correctly!) ATP Tour title.
At the start of this week we predicted that the four players in the draw that could realistically have a chance of stopping Federer winning the title were Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Karen Khachanov and Milos Raonic. With Nishikori going out to unknown qualifier Hubert Hurkacz, none of those four players is now left in the draw. Cilic went out in the first round to in-form Frenchman Gael Monfils. Khachanov also lost his first match to the big hitting Georgian Nicoloz Basilashvilli. Milos Raonic lost in his first match to huge serving Jan-Lennard Struff.
In the history of the ATP Tour only Jimmy Connors has won more singles titles than Roger Federer. The combative American won a mind blowing 109 singles titles in his long career of 24 years on the tour. Rafa Nadal has so far notched up 80 titles in 18 years on as a tour professional and Novak Djokovic has won 73 titles in his 16 years on tour. Whether Federer can eclipse the 109 titles of Connors is doubtful as the Swiss player’s winning ratio is dropping as he plays less and less tournaments each year.
This isn’t to say that Federer is a walk in to win the title in Dubai but when you combine all the factors in play it does look promising. He’s won Dubai 7 times and lost in the final twice. He lives there for a large part of the year so the conditions are favourable. He’s the highest seed left in the draw and he’s the only player in the top 10 in the ATP rankings to be left in the tournament. It’s his to lose…
The Dubai Duty Free draw currently looks like this:
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