Roger Federer continues to set new bars for all other tennis players. The 36-year-old Switzerland native defeated Dutch player Robin Haase in quarterfinals of ABN AMRO World Tournament, which meant that he will become the oldest tennis player in the history of the sport to sit at the top of ATP Rankings. Rafael Nadal holds the No.1 in ATP rankings at the moment, but he will slip on the second spot after the rankings get updated on Monday.
“Getting to No. 1 and enjoying it right here at 36, almost 37 years old is an absolute dream come true,” – said Federer about this feat. “I can’t believe it.“
The previous record was held by American Andre Agassi, who managed to climb to No.1 in rankings at age of 33.
Last time Roger Federer was at the top was almost five years ago. He will now also extend his record of weeks in which he was the leading male tennis player, which currently stands at 302. Far away on the second spot in weeks at the top is Pete Sampras who managed to last 286 weeks at No. 1 in his career.
“Reaching No. 1 is one of, if not the ultimate achievement in our sport,” –said Federer. “Sometimes at the beginning, you get there just because you play so well. Later, you sometimes try to fight it back and you wrest it back from somebody else who deserved to be there, and when you’re older you feel like you have to put maybe double the work in. So this one maybe means the most to me throughout my career.“
2018 couldn’t start better for Roger Federer since he previously managed to win 20th Grand Slam title in his career. He managed to retain his title of Australian Open champion, beating Marin Cilic to claim the first Grand Slam of the season.
