On February 1 2004, Roger Federer won his first Australian Open title.
The Swiss Maestro, who went on to win 20 Grand Slams during his career, defeated Marat Safin 7–6, 6–4, 6–2 in the final.
The title increased Federer’s major total to two after his maiden triumph at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.
At that tournament, Federer defeated Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 in front of the Centre Court crowd at SW19. He would go on to win a further seven Wimbledon titles, his last being in 2017.
Federer, who also won six Australian Open titles, captured his final title in Melbourne in 2018.
Roger Federer said winning the Australian Open for the first time was ‘totally different’ to winning Wimbledon as he was now used to the feeling
After winning his maiden title in Australia, Federer was asked to compare how he felt in that moment to his feelings after winning Wimbledon in 2003.
Federer, who went on to form a legendary rivalry with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, said the feelings were ‘totally different,’ as winning Wimbledon was a dream and a ‘relief.’
The Swiss legend said: “Totally different really because, like I’ve always said, that Wimbledon victory for me was such a dream and such a relief. I cannot really describe what I felt right then, right there.
“But now I kind of know how it feels. It’s still really nice. It just gets me all emotional inside.
“Yeah, it’s just unbelievable. You know, you come here, you prepare, you leave after three weeks basically, and you’re finally the winner after such a long time. It just really feels good.”
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Marat Safin spoke about Federer’s comparisons to Pete Sampras
Safin, a winner of two Grand Slam titles, defeated Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick on his way to the 2004 Australian Open final.
Therefore, he can count himself rather unfortunate that he was pitted against yet another all-time great in the final.
After losing to Federer, Safin was asked whether the Swiss star could be compared to Pete Sampras.
Safin replied: “No. It’s a little bit different story. Yeah, they have some kind of same things. But I think Federer, he has better — he a little bit — I don’t want to take anything from Pete.
“I mean, mentally, he was the strongest player on the tour. He has the biggest serve in the world. He has an unbelievable forehand and very good hands in the volley. But sometimes he was missing a little bit the backhand.
“So Roger, he has — he has everything and a backhand. Probably he doesn’t have enough volley like Pete Sampras. But he is really good. I mean, he can volley. It’s a little bit different story.
“But Pete, as you can see, he won 14 Grand Slams. And he has a really good — he was really, really tough.”
At the time of Safin’s comments, Sampras held the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles won by a man in the history of tennis.
Sampras retired from his playing career in 2003 after winning 64 ATP Tour titles.
