Roger Federer unveils the moment he knew he belongs among the best players
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Roger reached the final after scoring four easy wins and another solid performance against Gustavo Kuerten in the quarter-final, ousting Max Mirnyi in the semis and setting an intriguing battle with Safin that he won 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to pick up his biggest title and settle among the best players in the world.
. Roger certainly delivered his best tennis against Safin in that final, winning 11 of the opening 13 games and never looking back, firing 50 winners and 46 errors to outplay Marats 41-61 ratio.
The Russian had 25 service winners that proved not to be enough for a more favorable result, spraying too many unforced errors and trailing 65-29 in the points that had reached the fifth stroke. By the end of the season, Federer had some ups and downs but he did enough to wrap up the year in the top-10 and secure the place at his first Masters Cup in Shanghai, losing in the semi-final against Lleyton Hewitt.
The new generation is doing great, we all want them to win the big stuff but that just takes time and there are so many good guys at the top, with Novak not letting go, Rafa protecting his clay I still giving them a hard time sometimes, it is not easy for them to come through but they are doing great.
We saw Khachanov winning Paris at the end of the year and Zverev winning the World Tour Finals, they are all knocking on the big stage and winning Masters 1000 titles. It was the same with me back in 2002 when I won my first Masters in Hamburg, beating Marat Safin in the final to crack the top-10, that was kind of what I needed to know that I could play with the best and maybe be one of the best.
I think they are doing exactly that right now.
