Roger Federer has been the No. 1 player in the tennis world for what seems like a lifetime, but there are two things that have eluded him throughout his career: a French Open Championship and an Olympic gold medal. But now Federer is down to just one.
Federer and Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka defeated the Swedish team of Aspelin and Johansson in the men's doubles Olympic gold medal match in Beijing Saturday night. The Swiss won in four sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3.
After Federer lost to American James Blake in the quarterfinals of the men's singles tournament, many thought that it would be another Olympics for Federer without a gold.
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But as big of an upset as Blake pulled off by beating Federer, Federer would return the favor right back to the Americans by having an epic upset of the Bryan brothers in the men's doubles semifinals. The Bryan brothers were forced to settle for the bronze, while Federer got his shot at the gold.
Federer, who has been predominantly a singles player throughout his career, made his mark in Olympic history with an overwhelming performance in the men's doubles tournament.
After breezing through the first two sets in a combined 71 minutes, they struggled to break serve in the third set losing in a tiebreak 7-4, in a set that took 64 minutes, almost as long as the first two sets combined.
After seeing that the Swedes were not going to go down without a fight, Federer turned his game on. He started his team in the right direction in the fourth set by helping his teammate hold serve in game 1 with a powerful volley to close out the game.
The Swiss jumped on the Swedes' serves and managed to break them in the fourth game to go up 3-1 in the set. From there, the teams exchanged holds until the Swiss won the set 6-3, ending the match and giving Federer his first Olympic gold medal.
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