Having reached three consecutive French Open finals, only one man has prevented Roger Federer from holding the trophy on the Philippe Chatrier court: Rafael Nadal. But now, his nemesis was shockingly out of the way, could this be the year that Federer is finally crowned the new French Open champion? So far, this is the only title that eludes him and heartache was all he had known in Paris for the past years. To-date, Federer has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles (3 Australian Open, 5 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), currently just one shy of all-time leader Pete Sampras. If he ever wins the French Open, he will be hailed as the Greatest Player of All Time in the modern era.

Source: www.rogerfederer.com

Federer knew a lot of expectations are upon him to win the title this weekend but he is not going to assume that the journey will be easy to reach the finals. There are still two more important matches to go and anything can happen between now and then. But I really like a remark made by a sports commentator: When Federer was at the summit, he had one adversary to really worry about: Nadal. Nadal has several: Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Federer. Even the gracious King of Clay tipped the world number two as the favorite for the 2009 Roland Garros title: “That would be great - he has tried to win it for many years, and he was very unfortunate losing three finals and one semi-final.” He added: “If one guy deserves it, that’s him.” I honestly hope Federer is able to live up to these statements.

But at this very moment, Federer only has one man in his mind: Gael Monfils. Can he get past him? In less than a few hours, we shall know the answer.

For Federer’s fans, you will enjoy this video: