NEW YORK — The time has come for tennis to redo its game. It needs to offer separate singles titles for men, women and Martians with four arms and three legs. The Martians would get to play against Roger Federer.
That, of course, assumes that four arms and three legs would be enough. It also assumes that, like those from other planets, Federer is not human, which is becoming a certainty.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday September 29, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
Tennis: In the Sept. 11 Sports section, an article said Rod Laver and Fred Perry were the only men to have won the Grand Slam -- all four major tournaments in the same year. In fact, Laver and Don Budge are the only men to accomplish the feat.
A mortal named Andy Roddick threw his best stuff at Federer here Sunday, in the final of the U.S. Open, and lost in four sets. At best, in the middle of the match, Roddick made Federer uncomfortable. On the tennis tour these days, that's like a victory.
In his seven matches in the two weeks here, Federer lost sets only to Americans James Blake, stoked by a night-session New York crowd in the quarterfinals, and Roddick, stoked by acoach in the legendary and fiery Jimmy Connors and an ever-present serve that can dent the front door at Ft. Knox.
These days on the tour, that's as good as it gets. It is now a men's tour of Federer and a bunch of other guys playing for spots in the semifinals.
This was Federer's fourth Grand Slam final of the year and his third win. If he had been able to master Rafael Nadal and the mud ball they play at Roland Garros in the French Open, a tournament where the guy with the most dust on his socks at the end wins, he would have had the Grand Slam of tennis, all four majors in a calendar year. Rod Laver has done that twice, Fred Perry once and nobody else.
Stay tuned.
"I know I can win the French," said Federer, not one given to exaggeration.
This was his ninth major title. In four years. Pete Sampras leads with 14 in 13 years, and at the time he achieved his 14th by winning the 2002 U.S. Open, it seemed like a Joe DiMaggio record. Now, even Sampras is conceding it is a matter of when, not if. The only players ahead of Federer on the major-title list are Bill Tilden with 10, Bjorn Borg and Laver with 11, Roy Emerson with 12 and Sampras.
Federer's victory here was also a tennis version of the triple-double. He became the first men's player to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same three years.
He won $1.2 million for the U.S. Open title and should probably donate it to the ATP Tour for use in counseling other players. They could form a foundation and call it the Federer Couch.
