Roger Federer enjoyed a wonderful career playing professional tennis and to many, he’s still considered as the greatest player to ever play the sport.
The GOAT discussion often sees Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic mentioned heavily too but Federer had the elegance to go with the undoubted quality.
Federer still holds the record for the most Wimbledon titles with eight and with Djokovic coming towards the end of his career, perhaps it’s a record that he will keep for now.
Over the years, Federer has enjoyed many battles with Nadal. Their Wimbledon final of 2008 remains one of the greatest tennis matches in history – with the Spaniard getting over the line.
It wasn’t just Wimbledon where Federer came into his own though. He won six Australian Open titles, five US Open crowns and also bagged the French Open in 2009.
A gold medal at the Olympics did escape his grasp but he did reach the final at London 2012 before losing to Andy Murray.
Federer was also a master when it came to the ATP Tour Finals, winning the event six times between 2003 and 2011.
The tournament 2005 didn’t see Federer add to his collection of titles at the event but it did see him create history that hasn’t been achieved again ever since.
Roger Federer made history during 2005 ATP Tour Finals with victory over Gaston Gaudio
Federer was beaten by David Nalbandian in the final during the 2005 event that took place in Shanghai and was actually called the Tennis Masters Cup back then.
In the semi-final, he came up against another Argentine player Gaudio and he was simply blown away by the Swiss superstar.
Federer hit Gaudio with a double bagel to win comfortably and no other player has ever achieved that result in the history of the end-of-season finals event.
He would play his part in a very entertaining final but on that occasion it was Nalbandian who prevailed, outsmarting Federer in five sets.
The result over Gaudio was followed by an intriguing press conference that led to the 2004 French Open champion admitting he was practically beaten before a ball had been served.
What Gaston Gaudio said after losing to Roger Federer in 2005 ATP Finals semi-final
After the crushing defeat, Gaudi was quizzed on the emphatic nature of Federer’s performance and he made a pretty defiant response.
He was interviewed and asked if he was embarrassed about the defeat. He replied: “No, no excuse. I think that I was playing against a guy who is the best in history on a surface that he is so much better than me.”
Gaudio did enjoy a fine career and ultimately he managed to get himself a major title to his name – something that nobody will be able to take away from him.
He also suggested that he didn’t really feel as though he could beat Federer before the game and perhaps that was the wrong mentality to attack the game with.
Still, better players were handed threashings by Federer during their careers and Gaudio will have taken heart from reaching the last four of the ATP Finals event.
It’s quite remarkable that this scoreline hasn’t happened since Federer’s win over Gaudio and with the competition taking place in Turin this year, it will be fascinating to see if anyone is served a double-bagel this year.
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