The Return of the King: Roger Federer claims third 2017 victory in Miami

Roger Federer continues to affirm he’s the male GOAT in tennis, winning his second Masters 1000 tournament of the year, the “Sunshine Double,” with a straight sets victory Sunday over great rival Rafa Nadal, 6-3, 6-4.

We end the hard court season as it began, with Roger Federer achieving a third high-profile victory, a few months after his historic Australian Open slam in January, and a few weeks after he clinched his fifth Indian Wells Masters title. There are nine Masters 1000 tournaments a year and he’s won all of them so far (the first 2). He also beat his great rival, Nadal, at all three tournament wins this year, including the inspiring 18^th grand slam in Melbourne.

And it’s only the beginning of April.

“The dream continues,” Federer said during the trophy celebration in Key Biscayne Sunday. “It’s been a fabulous couple of weeks. What a start to the year, thank you to my team and all who have supported me, especially in my more difficult challenging times last year.”

He’s found the answer to Nadal, at age 35

The Federer-Nadal tennis rivalry has been thrilling, exhilarating tennis with the greatest talents the game has ever seen competing against each other. Friendly rivals, they have brought out each other’s best and have become more amazing athletes because the other exists. For so long during their competing years, the younger player has seemed to get the better of the 35 year old. He’s whacked at his backhand, drew him into endless rallies where he proved the better sprinter, and dominated in a large number of clay court matchups where the Spaniard reigned supreme. Plus, there was the mental factor.

Nadal owned their head-to-head stats, at 23-10 as of 2014, then 23-11 in 2015, but then 2017 happened. Federer has won three exchanges in a row this year, but four since 2015 and the record is now 23-14, still in the younger player’s favor.

How Federer won so many times against his greatest rival this year was on full display on Sunday with 29 winners and 5 aces. The backhand? Fed’s answer: it’s better than before, thanks to some extra work on it during his time off. Tough rallies? There weren’t many in the Miami final, Federer didn’t give him a chance to grind him down: his famous court precision was on full display and he hit more smoking returns, more often. Even in that incredible 9 shot-rally at 5-4 in the second, Federer won that too with the sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats.

Nadal couldn’t answer every powerful forehand that clipped the corners and every fearless backhand that found the sweet spot that Federer creatively threw his way. There were too many of these inspiring shots and they were too fast, too good, for even the great go-getter Spaniard. Federer did one better, he added in another extra punch, an improved serve. The Basel native won 87 percent of his first serve points.

And the greatest gift of all, Roger Federer has now increased his head-to-head on hard court surfaces (10-9 in Fed’s favor). All four straight victories over his frenemy have been on the surface, including Basel in 2015, Australia, Indian Wells, and now Miami. Most impressive, perhaps still, was his 3-1 come-from-behind AO final set, winning five games in a row to claim his prize! Roger Federer was simply the most efficient, aggressive tennis player in all of 2017.

“I think it was a close match,” said Federer afterwards. “Maybe if you didn’t see the match and you were sitting somewhere around the world and you see the score you’re thinking it was straightforward with couple breaks and that was it. It was more of a fight mode I was in today just trying to stay afloat. Physically, emotionally it’s been a draining week, so I did very well.”

Miami: The rivalry’s birthplace

It’s fitting that their rivalry’s latest stage should end, for now, in Miami, as Federer will be taking some time off while Nadal heads into his element, the clay season. Miami is where it all began between for these two legends, in 2004, when a 17 year-old Nadal was climbing up the ranks while a 22 year-old Federer was in the beginning of his tennis dominance. They met in the third round of Miami at that time, clash I of XXXVII, and the young pirate surprised the elegant maestro by sending him packing in straight sets.

“This is where it all started for us in 2004,” said the 35 year-old in the trophy ceremony. ”You were a little boy, you grew into a big strong man. We’ve had some great battles over the years. In 2005 I was very lucky to beat you here in the final, I told you then that you’d one day win this tournament and I still believe you’ll win this tournament. You’re too good not to.”

Pacing himself seems to be key

The two top players took time off last year to nurse separate injuries and came back at the beginning of the year — at age 30 and 35 — rested, relaxed, and hungry for more, shocking the #nextgen of the sport. It certainly helped that top ranked Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic started to show cracks in form and got ousted in beginning tournaments and are both still absent, each suffering from elbow injuries, with Murray getting set to have surgery soon.

In the meantime, Federer and Nadal have been collecting ATP points and on Monday, they moved up two more spaces to No. 4 (Federer) and 5 (Nadal). They’re both still behind Murray, Djokovic, and Wawrinka, who retain the top spots due to their accomplishments last year including Djokovic’s Australian and French Opens, Murray’s Wimbledon and surge of titles in the second half of the year, and Wawrinka’s US Open win over Djokovic. The latter two occurred while #Fedal started their recovery process. As of Monday, Murray still dominates in ATP points, with 11,960. But Federer and Nadal own the points that qualify only the top 10 players for the ATP World Tour championship at the end of the year. Federer has accumulated over 4,000 points this year already, with Murray and Djokovic 12^th and 22^nd, which is expected to change once they come back as well.

One thing’s for sure, the two Miami finalists have benefited from their time off last year and have found the magic formula for tennis longevity, which also includes not playing tennis. Both players have said that the sabbatical last year allowed their bodies to properly heal at their respective ages. The older player, Federer has taken the fact seriously and as predicted, he will be taking some well-deserved time off after Miami to let his body recuperate and spend some time with his family, which includes four young children.

“I’m not 24 anymore,” Federer said to Brad Gilbert in his on-court interview. “”When I am healthy and feeling good, I can produce tennis like this…Things have changed in a big way and I probably won’t play any clay-court event except the French.”

Clay court tournaments up for Nadal to grab

With the two big Masters 1000s over, the next three are all on clay: Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome; all of which the 18-time slam champ will be skipping. Federer has talked about how the clay courts affected his knee and it’s no surprise that he is taking time off at this point of the tennis tour. This leaves the clay Master tourneys up for grabs for Nadal, who is likely to continue his resurgent run since the beginning of the year, bringing his rejuvenated game to his home court turf. The clay court season in Europe will culminate in the French Open, where the 30 year-old is expected to clinch his record 10th Roland Garros crown.

Rafael Nadal talked about his chances for the season coming up at the trophy presentation in Miami.

“Today was a close match in my opinion,” Nadal said. “It was 6-3, 6-4, but I had opportunities to have the break before him on the first set. For me it was a much closer match than what the result says, and completely different than last week.”

Rafa’s speech demonstrated why the public loves seeing these two so much. The honesty, self-deprecating humor, and humble grace he displayed makes it always difficult that there has to be a loser on these occasions.

Before the great champion stepped onto the podium to congratulate his competitor, he took time to shake the hands of each linesperson and ball person on his way, a testament to the great love he has for the sport of tennis. And why the sport loves him back.

After congratulating Federer on the win, he joked, “Even if I lost for the third time this year with Roger, it was a good start of the season, playing already three finals, disappointing for me that I keep trying, and every three years I am here, in this position, but always with the smaller trophy.”

Still, it’s probable that the “clay court king” will play true to form and reverse some of those finals results once he steps onto the orange surface.

“I am close to what I need to be. I am at a very high level of tennis and I believe I am ready to win title,” said Nadal. “I’m playing well enough to fight for everything I think. I have good hopes that I going to be ready for Monte-Carlo. Always when I am playing that well, on clay always helps a little bit more for me… I think I am very excited about playing back on clay again.”

It’s a question if his Swiss rival will want to slug it out on clay too, perhaps even skipping the French all together. “Unfortunately, I can’t do it all,” Federer said on Sunday. “I can’t chase the Davis Cup and the Slams and play all the Masters 1000s. At some point something has to give, unfortunately.”

Will Roger Federer will be No. 1 again?

Skipping the clay term will likely cost the Swiss player assurances of achieving the No. 1 ranking — something that still is so unbelievable considering where he stood last year — but there’s an over 50% chance to get there, even if it doesn’t seem like a priority at the moment.

ESPN analyst (and former Agassi coach) Brad Gilbert thinks it could happen.

“Right now Fed’s got a better than 50 percent chance of finishing the year No. 1. When you look at how far Djoker and Murray are behind, I think it’s going to come down to Roger and Rafa,” explained former No. 4 Gilbert. Considering all the talk from last year about the two legends being out of the game, it’s incredible that we’re talking about world No. 1 and 2 almost a year later.

“Roger has finished the year No. 1 five times and in four of those five times he’s left Miami first in the Race. He belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of the seven greatest athletes of all time, along with Michael Jordan and Tom Brady,” said Gilbert.

Even skipping the Masters events in the spring, it is very likely that the Swiss Maestro will end up at least at ATP ranking No. 2 by the end of the year, with the points he’s already accumulated.

Preparing for grass, Wimbledon, the US Open, and ATP World Tour Finals

There are no grass court Masters 1000 championships, but plenty of runner-up tourneys before Wimbledon in June, where Federer has collected 7 slams out of his 18-total tally, tied with William Renshaw (in the amateur era) and Pete Sampras (in the Open era). The father of four will be playing for an unprecedented 8th title there, hoping to best his own record. Prior to this year’s AO slam, Wimbledon was the last major title he won in 2012. He made it to three more finals after that (2014-2015 Wimbledon and 2015 US Open), losing all to Novak Djokovic each time during the Serb’s dominant period. But there’s a quote from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King that comes to mind:

“Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.” 

Roger Federer has played Renaissance tennis on the hard courts since January and is likely to continue his form on grass as well. Federer now holds five AO slams and US Opens, seven Wimbledons, and the one French slam title. Given his chances, the world No. 4 has a great opportunity of adding slam No. 19 or 20 to his tally, as early as this year, something unfathomable last year when he withdrew from the second half 2016.

Many have remarked that Federer is playing some of his best tennis at the age of 35. His winning percentage so far this year is 95%. The last time it was that high? 2005-2006. He finished at world No. 1 2004-2007 and also 2009, all with a winning percentage anywhere from 88-95 percent. First with his 18th grand slam win in Australia, and now another commanding run in 2017, The Swiss Maestro has unquestionably affirmed himself as the men’s Greatest Of All Time (GOAT).

Like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, the king has returned to claim his throne, perhaps to reign for a long time.