Two decades of that first Federer final

The Swiss, who finished his preparation for the Dubai tournament, lost on February 13, 2000 in Marseille to Marc Rosset.

On February 13, 2000, a 19-year-old, number 67 of the rnking, lost the final of the Marseille tournament to his friend Marc Rosset by a narrow margin (2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)) . Exactly two decades later, Roger Federer accumulates 103 titles, 20 of them from the Grand Slam, while finalizing his preparation for the Dubai tournament, where he also raised the cup last year.

Federer seems to have overcome the muscular problems that diminished his performance during the semifinal of the Australian Open, so he presented himself as one of the great attractions of a tournament that also include Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Roberto Bautista or Fabio Fognini.

The eight titles in Dubai, where it was only surpassed in the final by Djokovic (2011) and Nadal (2006), are one of the great peaks of an incomparable race, where the 10 victories in Halle or Basel also stand out. However, seen with the perspective of 20 years, access to the top was not at all easy for Federer. The best shows were his lost finals in 2000.

Three match balls

The beginning of that season had started with the bittersweet taste of a knockout against Australia in Zurich. The great victory against Mark Philippoussis, added to that of the doubles, forming a partner with Lorenzo Manta, granted the provisional 2-1 to Switzerland. However, at the final point, Roger could do nothing at the push of Lleyton Hewitt (6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1).

A week after the elimination, Federer began to show the best of his repertoire in Marseille, leaving on the way rivals of the prestige of Ivan Ljubicic or Fabrice Santoro. In the last match, Rosset, Olympic champion in Barcelona 1992, was waiting for his experience in a very tight outcome. In fact, Federer wasted three match balls with 4-5 in the third set and was hurt by the net in a second serve from his rival at the penultimate point of the tiebreaker.

Eight months later, the genius also fell in the Basel final against Thomas Enqvist (6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-1), although he managed to finish the season between 30 first of the rnking. The first title should wait until January 2001, when I beat Julien Boutter (6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-4) in the final of Miln.

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTXTYQu20UE (/ embed)