Roger Federer has won 16 Grand Slams. Given the opportunity he would no doubt love to tell you he was the greatest of all time. Earlier today, he all but won the Australian Open with a routine straight sets victory over Tomic. It should also be noted that Federer has strong feelings over tournaments where the competition isn't strong. When Murray won 3 tournaments in a row to overtake him at World Number 3, Federer threw his many toys out of a rather larger pram. However, lets have a look at the competition Federer had when he won most of his Grand Slams.
Wimbledon 2003
2003 was a bad year for tennis. A 33 year old Andre Agassi was world number 1 for a while and at the French Open Martin Vererk managed to reach the final. That is the equivalent of Santiago Giraldo reaching a Grand Slam final today. At Wimbledon, Roger Federer was number 4 seed behind Juan Carlos Ferrero, Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi. Such was the weakness in the game at that stage defending champion Hewitt lost to a qualifier in the first round. This is the route Federer had to victory:
Round 1 d H-T Lee 6-3 6-3 7-6
Round 2 d Koubek 7-5 6-1 6-1
Round 3 d Fish 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-1
Round 4 d Lopez 7-6 6-4 6-4
Quarters d Schalken 6-3 6-4 6-4
Semi d Roddick 7-6 6-3 6-3
Final d Philippoussis 7-6 6-2 7-6.
Schalken! Philippoussis! It is a line up these days that would win you a 500 event, not even a Masters Event. This was an event where Alex Popp made the quarter finals. As far as people to play in a Grand Slam final go, you can not really say fairer than Mark Philippoussis. Not exactly a run of Tsonga, Djokovic then Nadal that Murray could face in Melbourne.
2004 US Open
A year later and Federer had added the Australian Open and a second Wimbledon to his grand slam haul. Neither were particularly impressive victories but he did at least have to battle against some of the better players at the time. In particular he did well to beat Ferrero then Safin in Australia in 2004. However the US Open 2004 was back to being a particular stroll.
Round 1 d Costa 7-5 6-2 6-4
Round 2 d Baghdatis 6-2 6-7 6-3 6-1
Round 3 d Santoro 6-0 6-4 7-6
Round 4 d Pavel w/o
Quarters d Agassi 6-3 2-6 7-5 3-6 6-3
Semi d Henman 6-3 6-4 6-4
Final d Hewitt 6-0 7-6 6-0
A 34 year old Agassi, a 30 year old Henman on hard court, and Hewitt. Those were the three players Federer had to beat to secure his first US open. While Hewitt was still a decent player it should be noted he beat Joachim Johansson in the semi finals. This sort of period could see all sorts of weird and wonderful players getting deep into Slams. Tim Henman managed to reach the semi finals at the French and the US Open and Gaston Gaudio won a slam. Among the top seeds at this event were Carlos Moya, Rainer Schuttler and Nicolas Massu.
2006 Australian Open
By 2006 Nadal had emerged and won a slam, but was missing with a foot injury. Defending champion Safin was also injured. Murray and Djokovic were on tour but neither got past the first round. Guilermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio were still top 10 in the world. Essentially nobody good was at this event. Federer had a stroll through a weakened field.
Round 1 d Istomin 6-2 6-3 6-2
Round 2 d Mayer 6-1 6-0 6-4
Round 3 d Mirnyi 6-3 6-4 6-3
Round 4 d Haas 6-4 6-0 3-6 4-6 6-2
Quarters d Davydenko 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6
Semis d Kiefer 6-5 5-7 6-0 6-2
Final d Baghdatis 5-7 7-5 6-0 6-2
Once again Federer had an astonishingly easy route through to victory. The days of winning a Slam by beating Kiefer then Baghdatis are long gone. Federer defeated the 21st seed in the semi finals and the world number 54 in the Final. Or the equivalent of beating Wawrinka then Oliver Rochus in the 2012 Australian Open semi and final. It isn't ridiculous to suggest all of the top 8 today would have won the 2006 Australian Open.
2006 Wimbledon
Federer was now under threat from the first good player in a number of years to emerge, Rafael Nadal. Nadal seemed to have his number on clay, but Federer was the king on grass. Tennis in 2006, outside the top two, was still weak. Ivan Ljubicic, James Blake and Mario Ancic were in the top 8 seeds. While Federer did eventually beat Nadal in the final, lets have a quick look at his route there.
Round 1 d Gasquet 6-3 6-2 6-2
Round 2 d Henman 6-4 6-0 6-2
Round 3 d Mahut 6-3 7-6 6-4
Round 4 d Berdych 6-3 6-3 6-4
Quarters d Ancic 6-4 6-4 6-4
Semis d Bjorkman 6-2 6-0 6-2
Final d Nadal 6-0 7-6 6-7 6-3.
Not much more needs to be said beyond pointing out Bjorkman was in the semis. While he did at least have to beat Nadal to win the event, this was hardly peak Nadal. Compare that to 2011, when Murray faced peak Nadal three times in the semi finals, and had he won would have had to beat Djokovic in the final. How he would love a stroll past an unseeded 30-something doubles specialist every so often.
2009 Wimbledon
A more recent tournament here, notable because Nadal was out injured. This was perhaps an example of a draw opening up nicely rather than everybody being shit, but it still merits a mention. Especially as Federer was dismissive of Murrays victories on the basis "Rafa lost early" so definitely can't count this one.
Round 1 d Y-H Lu 6-5 6-3 6-2
Round 2 d Garcia Lopez 6-2 6-2 6-4
Round 3 d Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-1
Round 4 d Soderling 6-4 7-6 7-6
Quarters d Karlovic 6-3 7-5 7-6
Semi d Haas 7-6 7-5 6-3
Final d Roddick 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14
This is not the easiest run by any means but it is still a great example of not facing another top 4 player all tournament. Admittedly Murray should have reached the final and Roddick was on form, but how nicer would it be if Murray faced Nishikori in the semi final and Tsonga in the final, which is the Australian Open 2012 equivalent.
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