ON THIS DAY. Federer conquered the Roland Garros in 2009

Roger Federer had a rather tough relationship with the Roland Garros. During his career, the Swiss sensation kept on bumping against Rafael Nadal at the French Open to often be 1 match short from winning the prestigious slam on clay.

However, in 2009 Robin Soderling stunned the world after beating the King of Clay in one of the most memorable and surprising matches in the history of the tournament. Eventually, the Swede clashed in the final against Federer. Roger didn’t miss the chance and he defeated Robin in straight sets 6-1 7-6¹ 6-4 the 7th of June. That was one of the most important moments in Roger’s life that finally managed to win what was the only elusive slam in his career.

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Federer and his run at the 2009 French Open

Roger had a rather tricky run at that French Open even if he didn’t face Rafael Nadal. After an easy win over Alberto Martin in the first round (6-4 6-3 6-2), Roger dropped already a set in the second round when defeating Jose Acasuso 7-6 (8) 5-7 7-6 (2) 6-2. Again, Roger dropped the first set against Paul-Henri Mathieu before beating the Frenchman 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4.

That match vs. Haas

Things got quite ugly against his dear friend Tommy Haas as Roger had to win a tough match coming back from a 2-sets deficit before clinching the encounter 6-7⁴ 5-7 6-4 6-0 6-2. Roger was inches from losing the match as he had to save a breakpoint when he was 6-7 5-7 3-4 down. That means that if the German won that point he would have the opportunity to serve for the match. After saving that breakpoint, Roger dropped just 2 games for the rest of the encounter.

The last 3 matches

Later in the quarters, Roger defeated home favorite Gael Monfils with a straightforward  7-6 (6) 6-2 6-4. Things got complicated again in the semifinal against an inspired Juan Martin Del Potro when Roger had to recover from a 1/2-sets-down deficit before winning 3-6 7-6² 2-6 6-1 6-4.

Interestingly enough, the final was one of the “easiest” matches for the Swiss legend (6-1 7-6¹ 6-4) and even Soderling admitted during his speech that that was a “tennis lesson.”

Roger Federer in 2020

Currently the world no.4, Roger played his last match on the 30^th of January when he surrendered to Novak Djokovic 7-6¹ 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal of the Australian Open.

Roger Federer’s best result of this year was reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open.