The Tenacity, Determination & Focus of Roger Federer

"Sometimes it takes a loss to make you strong. As you can see, I reacted, I've come back."

--Roger Federer, discussing his tenacity and determination in returning championship form and winning the Wimbledon men’s singles title.

A back injury hampered Federer early this year, and many were predicting that Federer was on the way down.

"Australia was pretty tough. It's huge that he loves tennis. That helps him a lot. Otherwise, he would maybe need some time off afterwards. But he loves tennis, so he went on. He was practicing hard, he was staying focused, and everything paid off now."

--Severin Luthi, the Swiss Davis Cup captain who acts as a part-time coach for Federer, who believes the comeback was fueled by Federer's passion.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (July 9, 2009)

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Roger Federer: Wimbledon Champion Already Planning the Future

“I definitely have to regroup after this victory and put my mind in the right frame of mind for the rest of the season. I definitely want to finish the year at No. 1.”

--Roger Federer, discussing the future after winning his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon on Sunday.

Federer said he felt the “defining moment” of his "comeback" this summer came when he was practicing in April of this year.

“I’ve always been pushing myself in practice, but I told my team that we needed to do something completely extreme.”

Federer has played in 39 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, and he has won the last two after being forced to take a break in February because of lower back pain that affected him during his loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2009 Australian Open final.

Excerpts from the New York Times, 07/07/09. For the original article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/sports/tennis/07wimbledon.html?ref=sports

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Roger Federer Wins His 15th Grand Slam Singles Title

"The great ones, at the end, they have just a little bit more.”

--Pete Sampras, referring to the resolve of Roger Federer, who beat Andy Roddick, to win the 2009 Wimbledon championship.

WIMBLEDON, England — Andy Roddick made Roger Federer work hard, but Federer won another Grand Slam tournament for a record 15th singles title.

Roddick played the match of his career. But Federer was a little better.

Federer breaks his tie with Pete Sampras, who is now second on the career list with 14 major singles titles.

Federer, who has won Wimbledon six times, held off Roddick by the unprecedented score of 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14.

Federer served a personal record 50 aces in a match that took 4 hours 18 minutes. But Roddick was the better server: holding 37 times in a row before finally being broken in the last game.

“It was a crazy match with an unbelievable end, and my head is still spinning,” Federer said after the match. “But it’s an unbelievable moment in my career.”