Roger Federer on Sunday celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings by winning the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, his 97th career title, and declared it “one of the best weeks of my life.”
The 36-year-old, the oldest No. 1 in history, thrashed ailing Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 in a one-sided final.
In the Open era, only Jimmy Connors of the US has won more titles with 109.
Photo: Reuters
“What a fantastic week,” top seed Federer said. “The goal at start of week was to make it to the semi-finals. This is absolutely amazing, I’m really pleased. It’s unbelievable to be No. 1 again after all these [six] years — this is one of the best weeks of my life.”
Federer, the record 20-time Grand Slam winner, officially reclaimed the No. 1 ranking he last held in October 2012 when the new ATP rankings were published yesterday.
He has played two tournaments this year and won both — the other being last month’s Australian Open, which he won for the sixth time.
“I saved the best for last,” added Federer, who has a 12-0 record this season, before jetting home to his family. “I had a great first match and a great last match. In between it was a battle, it was nerve-wracking getting back to No. 1, but I was able to manage my nerves and the expectations. I was able to handle that pressure, today I played great from the beginning.”
Federer is three years older than Andre Agassi was when previously holding the record for oldest No. 1 back in 2003.
As for chasing down Connors’ record of 109 titles, Federer said his first objective was to get to 100.
“Ninety-seven is not 100 yet, you’ve got to stay healthy if you want to get close to finals. Things can evaporate quickly,” Federer said.
Sunday was Federer’s third title in Rotterdam following successes in 2005 and 2012.
The iconic Swiss star needed just 55 minutes to dispatch Dimitrov, who looked to be undercooked in the quick-fire final.
Federer now stands a perfect 7-0 over the Bulgarian in their head-to-head series.
“I was expecting a tough final, but I could see that Grigor was not at his best midway through. He’s a great player and a great athlete, and has been playing well recently,” Federer said. “I was able to improve my tennis today when I needed to, I was able to take advantage. I’m very, very happy.”
Dimitrov refused to blame any kind of physical or fitness problem for his weak showing.
“Overall, it was a good week, I just came up short today. Anything can happen out there, all credit to Roger. He’s back to No. 1, played well all week and kept raising the bar,” Dimitrov said.
Federer is to now decide within a few days whether or not to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for the ATP event starting on Monday next week.
He has a home and training base in the UAE, and has won the hard-court tournament seven times.
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