With Rafael Nadal aiming for his 6th French Open title to tie Bjorn Borg for the most French Open championships in history and Novak Djokovic's current 41 match win streak, most people have forgot about a man that has won 16 majors and is currently ranked 3rd in the world. However, to look past Roger Federer when talking about serious contenders to win the French Open, is a huge mistake.
Roger Federer has not had an easy walk in the park for the first three rounds of the French Open. To begin this quest for a second French Open crown, he had a tricky looking match with the Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Lopez had previously played Federer in a great match early in May in the 2nd round of Madrid that lasted nearly three hours. Federer won that extremely tight match, where all three sets went into tiebreakers, 7-6 (15-13), 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (9-7). Federer even had to save a match point during the third set tiebreak in that match. However, Federer played some great tennis and beat Lopez in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
In the second round, he lost just 5 games to the young Frenchmen Maxime Teixeira, as he took the match 6-3, 6-0, 6-2.
In the third round, Federer beat Janko Tipsarevic in a difficult third round match 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. His first set against Tipsarevic took just 19 minutes. Tipsarevic said after the match, "I was honestly expecting more from myself today but he was just too good."
Federer is also extremely confident right now. He said, "I'm at peace with my game right now. Physically I feel better. My body is in better shape. I've had more practice, more matches, because between Australia and Roland Garros last year I didn't play much, and when I played it was a bit difficult. It's still early in the tournament but at the same time it's really nice to be moving in the draw so well and so quickly.
In the round of 16, Federer will play his fellow countrymen from Switzerland Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer has owned his really good friend Wawrinka. Federer is 8-1 against Stan and he has won 18 sets out of 21 against Wawrinka in 9 matches.
The last time Federer was seeded outside of the top two at a grand slam was in 2003 and Federer has never flown so far under the radar as he has at this year's French Open since before he won his first major at Wimbledon in 2003. Federer doesn't mind having so much attention on Nadal and Djokovic and having less pressure on his shoulders. He said, "People expected me to hopefully win or to prove myself here in Paris over many, many years, and this year I don't have to do that because I have already won this tournament before. And now the expectations are sky-high for Novak and Rafa, because he's the defending champion. That leaves me a bit out of the pressure situation, which is not a bad thing for me.
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