13.......

When winning is a habit, a sudden failure is bound to shake your roots..
Few recover soon..but that is a rare phenomenon.
Come new year, u become more pepped up..plan better..dream bigger..work harder to live your dreams..but when the dream shatters?? how long will it take for u to bounce back??
8months!!
When will u be lucky??
third time lucky!?!

Long long ago..the game of tennis saw different players clinch the Grand Slam titles..but for the last few years barring the French Open Singles Title, there was only a single winner, the one man who ruled the grass courts - the name, Roger Federer.

If the final tiffs were with Andy Roddick initially, then they shifted to the Spaniard, Rafael Nadal. Critics however didn't acknowledge his game to the slot that he held, for all these years. It seemed as if his magic tennis racquet won him all games..number one slot seemed to have stuck to him. Roland Garros was one ground this swiss maestro had to conquer.

2006 onwards there was a serious contender eyeing his top slot...Rafael Nadal, this Spaniard began to give Federer nightmares..as the seasons passed, the competition between them grew fierce. Federer however continued to rule..

Year 2008, a new story..
Novak Djokovic outplayed Federer, knocked him in the semi-final to foray into the finals..
This was an eye-opener..the remaining season was not smooth either..he began to lose in early rounds..making it to the finals became more difficult for him..
Then came Roland Garros..he had to script a new story here but Nadal continued to reign again.
Wimbledon: clinching a Wimbledon Glam Slam would be every school boys dream, one who had held his racquet for the first time would love to be part of this court!!
Federer also hoped to regain his form in that grass court.
There he was facing Nadal in yet another Grand Slam title..this one was big, he wanted to win it.
When winning is a habit, failure seems like death. He had to clinch this one..as he was going through an agonizing slump in his career.
The Wimbledon final seemed like a big battle, the clash of the titans..
5rounds, 288minutes = new hero :Rafael Nadal
Nadal bt Federer 6-4 ,6-4 , 6-7 , 6-7 , 9-7

As if losing the Wimbledon and bowing down in the Olympics singles was not enough, he also lost his No. 1 slot to Nadal, his aura of invincibility had dimmed.

This would have crushed his dreams of making it big in the next Grand Slam, but he chose to fight back. Flushing Meadows might have brought a disappointing end to a dream run for Andy Murray, but it got back Federer into his familiar role by winning the US Open in style, making it a flawless five in a row. This feat which he had already achieved last year at the Wimbledon.
"To bounce back straightaway after losing the No. 1 ranking, this is the best scenario ever", Roger said.
"I felt like I was invincible for a while again", Federer said. "That's how you want to finish a tournament."
13.........
Fear of no. 13 - Triskaidekaphobia
He gets lucky in the third Grand Slam of the year : The U.S. Open

It was his 17th Slam final, it took him 38 Slam appearances to win his 13th Slam title. Only America's Pete Sampras holds a career record, 14 Grand Slam singles titles.
"One thing is for sure. I'm not going to stop at 13," Federer said.

Roger Federer : 13 titles Australian Open: 2004, 2006, 2007
French Open: None
Wimbledon: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
U.S. Open: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Hope that the 14th won't take this long..