In the 18 years since he started playing professional Tennis, the Swiss star has delighted fans with true moments of mastery and genius on tennis courts throughout the world. Once the years of glory began to pile up one after another, Federer started to break countless records in the ATP circuit, thus managing to outshine, in this wild race to eternity, famous names from men’s tennis, names that have basically turned tennis into what it is today – a worldwide phenomenon with millions of fans. One only needs to list names such as Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, Rod Laver, Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi,or Bjorn Borg, in order to understand the amplitude of the phenomenon named “Roger Federer”.
An unattainable goal
Last year, Roger Federer earned his first trophy at Brisbane, also marking the 1000th victory in his career. According to the official ATP website, Federer has a total of 1069 victories in his career as a professional tennis player. This basically represents the supreme record – the number of victories in his entire career on the ATP circuit.
At this point, with his 1069 victories, Roger Federer holds the 3rd position in the all-time ranking. The second place is held by Ivan Lendl with, 1071 victoriesand first place is held by a true tennis legend, a player as controversial as he is remarkable;Jimmy Connors, with his stunning record of 1257 victories.
Some figures that speak for themselves
Thereis basically a gap of 190 victories between Connors and Federer. For a player like Federer, a good season means winning at least 60 matches in the circuit, and this implies slightly more than 3 years of performance at the highest level, given that the competitiveness in the ATP circuit is downright stunning.
Obviously, it isn’t impossible for Federer to play a few more years, but this implies a sustained pace of playing that would enable him to score as many victories as possible out of a very limited number of matches.
Moreover, the Swiss tennis player turns 35 in August. If we add the (minimum) 3 years necessary for him in order to reach Connors, it adds up to 38, an age by which Federer is supposed to manage to maintain a constant pace regarding his physical shape and his results as well.
These are obviously mere calculations, but some math that bring the discussion closer to reality. Everyone surely wants Federer to keep playing some more years, but let’s not forget that his twins are growing up and someone will have to help them with their homework!
