It was a great weekend for Tennis in general, and for Roger Federer in particular. The Swiss tennis superstar scored an impressive straight-set win at the 2019 Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships to secure that elusive 100th ATP title of his career.
A jam-packed central court had been cheering for Federer the whole week and little was going to change in the final. The 20-year-old Greek rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas had to settle with a runner-up finish as he had no answer to an impressive display of tennis from Roger Federer's side.
Thus, Federer became only the second male tennis player in history to have broken the three digits titles counter milestone.
Jimmy Connors and other ATP stars send their praises
According to the atpworldtur.com, tennis legend, Jimmy Connors stands at the summit of this surreal top with 109 ATP titles under his belt. He didn't miss the opportunity to congratulate Federer which he did in a Twitter post.
Welcome to the “ Triple Digit” tournament victory club @rogerfederer — I’ve been a bit lonely- glad to have the company !!!
— Jimmy Connors (@JimmyConnors) 2 martie 2019
But he wasn't the only one paying tribute after such a stunning achievement. A whole pack of former or current ATP tennis stars praised the Swiss for his accomplishment. Tennis TV channel on YouTube presented such a video with players congratulating their rival and colleague for reaching such an unearthly milestone.
Off all those messages one truly stands out. The former tennis star and clay court specialist Gustavo Kuerten had a hilarious message by challenging Federer to go out after the 1000th title.
The flamboyant character Nick Kyrgios who also reigned supreme this weekend, but in Acapulco, had a special message for Federer too.
The title in Dubai puts Federer back inside the top 4
The early exit he suffered at the 2019 Australian Open materialized in Roger Federer sliding outside the top 5. And there was also his decision to skip Rotterdam, an ATP 500 event he won last year en route to the world No. 1 slot. Now, with the title in Dubai, he has positioned himself good for the upcoming Sunshine Double.
According to live-tennis.eu, he will climb up to the No. 4 in the general ranking which could help him avoid some tough players early in the tournaments.
As far as the upcoming tournaments are concerned, Roger Federer has to defend the runner-up status at Indian Wells. He suffered an early exit in Miami back in 2018 which means he has nothing to worry about from that side.
Now, with all that 100th title pressure lifted off out of his shoulders it would be interesting to see how he'll perform next. But, more importantly, the big question is how the soon-to-start clay court season would look like with Roger Federer being eager to get his shoes dirty once again.
