Roger Federer's best memory - 2005 edition: an almost perfect year

Roger Federer's career is studded with great successes and incredible records: with 20 Slams he is the record holder but the Swiss Maestro achieved other great goals, such as eight triumphs at Wimbledon, the weeks as world no. 1 the titles on grass and hard-courts. For each season, however, there is a particular goal, an achievement that should be highlighted. In 2005 he won 81 matches and he lost only 4 matchs.

And this was perhaps his best goal in that season: total domination. Federer won 11 titles in 2005, including his third Wimbledon title against Andy Roddick and his second US Open, against Andre Agassi.

The four defeats were distributed during the year: the Australian Open semi-final, when he lost to the eventual champion Marat Safin, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarterfinals, when he lost to Richard Gasquet, the French Open semi-final when he lost to Rafael Nadal, and the final of the Tennis Masters Cup (ATP Finals), where he was sensationally defeated by David Nalbandian, also due to a serious ankle injury.

That season was incredible for the Swiss Maestro. He defeated all his greatest opponents of the time in several finals: Ivan Ljubicic, Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi and also the young Andy Murray. The defeat against Nalbandian at the ATP Finals interrupted a winning streak of 35 matches and prevented him from matching John McEnroe's 1984 record, the year in which the American lost only three matches during the whole season.

The Miami Open final won against Rafael Nadal was perhaps the most exciting match of the season. Probably it was the cornerstone of their future rivalry. Nadal took the lead 2-0 (the Masters 1000 were still played as best-of-five sets). On the verge of defeat, Federer reversed the fate of the challenge, winning the third set at the tie-break and winning the title in the fifth and decisive set, with the final score of 2–6, 6–7(4), 7–6(5), 6–3, 6–1. Epic.

"In 2005, when I won in five sets in Miami against Rafa Nadal, after being at the disadvantage of two sets and a break, it was a fantastic thing. This really showed me that I have great character on the court and I learned a lot about myself in that game. It was an important victory for me because I was still very young." he said in an interview.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34KyU6X