Roger Federer has virtually everything any 25-year-old tennis player could want.
US$30 million in prize money tucked away in the bank, 10 Grand Slam titles, at least three languages comfortably mastered and the respect and admiration of peers, fans and media.
What he doesn't have is a French Open title.
However, there's no shortage of people lining up to tell him how to secure that elusive honor.
What has always been mission impossible for the likeable Swiss is how to inflict a first ever Roland Garros defeat on nemesis Rafael Nadal.
He has solved part of the mystery himself by beating the Spaniard for the first time in six clay court meetings in the Hamburg Masters final last Sunday.
"I played fantastic and I really got the feeling in the end I had figured out how to play him," said Federer after his 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 win brought Nadal's 81-match winning streak on clay to an end.
"But I have to be very careful not to get too carried away," he said.
Federer may have learned crucial lessons from seeing Lleyton Hewitt push the Spaniard all the way in the semi-finals in Germany.
"Nadal is the best player on clay, no doubt about that," said the Australian who took the first set in their last four clash.
"He is extremely tough. There are no cheap points against him. You've got to go out there and beat him. When he is front-running, he is one of the best in the business," Hewitt said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB