Roger Federer won his first tournament since June, beating Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to win his sixth career title in Dubai. It was a dream week for the Swiss legend as Federer wins over #2 ranked Novak Djokovic and #6 ranked Berdych were a statement to the tennis world that he is not washed up yet. The win also took Federer over $80 million in career earnings on tour.
“I was happy I was able to use momentum, win that second set, and then it was a tough opening period in the third, wasting the Love-40 game on Tomas’ first service game,” said Federer. “Then saving break points myself. Anything could have happened there.
“Things definitely went my way out here tonight, but I have had a lot tougher matches in the last one-and-a-half years, so this is nice to get a lucky break again,” said Federer.
After a very difficult 2013 season, Federer has started to show signs of picking up his game this year. Prior to this win, he reached the finals of the Brisbane International and the semis of the Australian Open in January.
The win extends Federer’s streak of winning at least one tournament a year to 14 straight years. It was a comeback victory for Federer who lost the first set, and was down a break in the second set as well. Berdych defeated Federer in the semi-finals of Dubai just one year ago.
“He’s the greatest player of all-time and he’ll never give up and give you anything for free,” Berdych said. “I knew that and thought I was ready for it, but my execution wasn’t good enough to hold it to the end.”
“The match started pretty well and I had many chances,” Berdych said. “It’s very disappointing for me the way I handled that situation.”
The 32-year-old Federer won his 78th tour-level title, taking him above John McEnroe to stand alone third in the all-time title leaders list. With Jimmy Connors at 109 career titles, and Ivan Lendl at 94 career wins, it seems unlikely that Federer will be able to climb any higher on the list.
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