A Season for the Ages

Federer cowboys up in Houston
Hewitt: 'Agassi and Sampras on their days were pretty awesome players.
Roger is definitely up there'

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Except for a nail-biting second set against Marat Safin in the semis, Roger Federer proved in Houston that he has lapped the competition. His final round 6-3, 6-2 rout of Lleyton Hewitt to win his second consecutive Tennis Masters Cup title more than showed that.

He plastered a man who once owned him for the sixth straight time this year and ended 2004 with a mind-blowing 536-point lead in the ATP race and 11 titles, which included an eye-popping three Grand Slam titles and three ATP Masters Series titles. Federer is the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986-87 to win back to back Masters Cup titles without losing a match and the first person to repeat as champion since Hewitt in 2001-2002.

"This is a great end," Federer said. "Only a couple of guys have won two Masters Cups in a row: Lleyton and Lendl. It's nice. I can leave on vacation now with a great feeling and with great memories. My priorities now are to defend my Wimbledon title and to defend my No. 1 ranking. That's what I'm aiming for."

While Sweden's Mats Wilander also won three Slams in 1988, he didn't go as far as Federer did in dominating the tour. The Swiss' win over Hewitt was his 13th straight victory in a final – an Open Era record – and his 23rd consecutive match win against a Top-10 opponent. Federer took in $1.52 million for a season total of $6.35 million, just short of Pete Sampras' all-time record of $6.5 million in 1997. But don't let that stat fool you; the only reason Sampras out-earned Federer was because he won the $1 million winner's prize at the now defunct Grand Slam Cup – essentially an exhibition. Sampras only won eight titles that year to Federer's 11 in 2004.

Hewitt knows better than anyone how much Federer has improved over the past 18 months. He tried to hit out on groundstrokes on Sunday, but the result was much the same: another straight set loss to a man who is just as fast, and has more weapons and variety.

"He just doesn't give you that many cheap points," Hewitt said. "He served extremely well tonight. He mixes his serve up so well. He doesn't have as big a serve as a Roddick or Safin. But he's just got such good variety on his serve and he's able to work it around. He hits a lot of lines out there and he makes a high percentage of first serves. But he sets the point up so well on his serve, so you don't get that many opportunities I didn't have that many opportunities to get into his service games.

"He's such an aggressive player that he's always going to get his opportunities on his opponent's service game. That's when he really steps up there and plays his best tennis."

Federer also showed a fair amount of guts this year. His improved conditioning under his omnipresent physio-therapist, Pavel Kovac, also keyed his year. That's why, as Hewitt, said, he's a cut above the rest of the pack.

"There's no doubt about that," Hewitt said. "The last year and a half he's taken it to another level. That's what drives [him] especially, a guy like Andre [Agassi], and I know myself, and I'm sure Safin and Roddick. Andre has obviously been at the top for an extremely long time. He still believes that he's good enough to stay up there and compete with the best guys in the world, and I think we all do.

Art Seitz

Bob and Mike Bryan

"That's what drives you, the motivation to keep getting on the practice court and working on areas of your game. … Agassi and Sampras on their days were pretty awesome players. Roger is definitely up there."

Bryans Repeat as Dubs Champs
Bob and Mike Bryan became the first team in almost 20 years to successfully defend the Tennis Masters Cup Doubles title when they defeated Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 in the final. The Bryans trailed the Zimbabwean duo 2-5 in career meetings going into the final. The twins clinched a personal-best seventh title of the season and their 21st career title as a team.

"It's unbelievable," said Mike. "This is our first major title of the year. We didn't win a Grand Slam. It feels great to snag a big one." Bob added, "To come here on what is like our home court and the fans behind us is huge for us. For doubles it's the biggest stage there is."