Sunday, September 12, 2004

Flooring the Competition With his victory today at the U.S. Open, Roger Federer has become the only male tennis player in history to win his first four Grand Slam championship matches. His opponent, Lleyton Hewitt, himself a U.S. Open champion in 2001, now has the dubious distinction of becoming the first man since 1884 to lose two sets in a Grand Slam final by a score of 6-0 -- a shutout in baseball, but known as a "bagel" in tennis. Before the match, Matthew Cronin, writing on the official U.S. Open web site, detailed Federer's dominance of Hewitt in the past year: He [Federer] took out Hewitt at the Aussie Open . . . Federer thrashed him on clay in Hamburg and at Wimbledon . . . soared past him. So Federer has beaten Hewitt on three surfaces this year except for one: outdoor cement in the U.S. Now that Federer's also defeated Hewitt in the U.S., what's left for him to prove? Several years ago, CBS's roving reporter found Chris Rock among the fans at the Open.  "What's your favorite tennis surface?" the reporter asked. "Linoleum," Rock shot back without missing a beat. Federer would probably win on that surface too, and without leaving the privacy of his kitchen. 3:42:58 PM