Lot Essay
"For me the this was the most special Grand Slam final in my career. To play against Andre in New York, it's a dream.” (Roger Federer, BBC Sport, 2005)
Roger's final Grand Slam assignment of the 2005 season came at the U.S. Open. He continued his fantastic form from the Wimbledon Championships, with Nicolas Kiefer again taking a set off him, but the German was unable to stop his rampaging run to the final. The home-favourite Andre Agassi, in what was to be his final Grand Slam final at the record breaking age of 35, provided the opposition.
Agassi’s journey to the final had also been very impressive with the American coming from two sets to love down to defeat his countryman James Blake in the quarter-finals. A winner of eight Grand Slam titles, Agassi showed his class in the final by taking the second set 6-2 after Roger won the first 6-3 but his Swiss rival, the defending champion, claimed a crucial third set tie break before wrapping up the match and his sixth Grand Slam title in the fourth.
This second successive US Open victory drew Roger level on the all-time Grand Slam list with Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg and was the icing on the cake for a fantastic season. He didn’t quite match his triple Slam winning feats of 2004, but only lost four matches all year, picking up 11 titles along the way. During the final part of the season Roger was impacted by an ankle injury, which contributed to a defeat to David Nalbandian in the end of season Masters Cup, however this only served to inspire him to return to peak fitness and top form for his assault on the 2006 ATP Tour season.
Roger's final Grand Slam assignment of the 2005 season came at the U.S. Open. He continued his fantastic form from the Wimbledon Championships, with Nicolas Kiefer again taking a set off him, but the German was unable to stop his rampaging run to the final. The home-favourite Andre Agassi, in what was to be his final Grand Slam final at the record breaking age of 35, provided the opposition.
Agassi’s journey to the final had also been very impressive with the American coming from two sets to love down to defeat his countryman James Blake in the quarter-finals. A winner of eight Grand Slam titles, Agassi showed his class in the final by taking the second set 6-2 after Roger won the first 6-3 but his Swiss rival, the defending champion, claimed a crucial third set tie break before wrapping up the match and his sixth Grand Slam title in the fourth.
This second successive US Open victory drew Roger level on the all-time Grand Slam list with Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg and was the icing on the cake for a fantastic season. He didn’t quite match his triple Slam winning feats of 2004, but only lost four matches all year, picking up 11 titles along the way. During the final part of the season Roger was impacted by an ankle injury, which contributed to a defeat to David Nalbandian in the end of season Masters Cup, however this only served to inspire him to return to peak fitness and top form for his assault on the 2006 ATP Tour season.