NEW YORK — Roger Federer would “love” to win career major No. 18 this summer at Wimbledon, and says that his arch-rival Rafael Nadal could catch him “very quickly” on the all-time list if Nadal wins this year’s French Open.
The 33-year-old Federer owns 17 career Grand Slam singles titles, while the 28-year-old Nadal is tied for second place all-time with Pete Sampras at 14.
Nine of Nadal’s 14 titles have come at the French Open, where he will seek his 15th major this spring.
“Rafa particularly has the best shot [of catching Federer],” Federer said Monday at a hotel off Central Park. “If he wins the French Open a few more times and I don’t win anymore then clearly he can catch me very quickly.”
Now the father of two sets of twins, Federer lost to Grigor Dimitrov , 6-1, 2-6, 7-5Tuesday night in the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden, which also featured Gabriela Sabatini beating Monica Seles.
Federer has not won a Grand Slam title since he won his seventh Wimbledon crown in 2012. The Swiss lost last year’s Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic in five sets.
Still, he improved to 20-17 overall against Djokovic by beating the Serb in straight sets in the recent Dubai final, a best-of-three sets event on outdoor hard courts.
“I don’t know if Wimbledon is my best chance [at No. 18], it might be,” Federer said. “It would be my favorite choice. If I had a choice right now, I would love to win Wimbledon. I think it’ s possible and I think if I win Wimbledon, it’s more cool for me personally and my team, Swiss people and my fans.”
Todd Martin, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, disagrees that Federer’s best chance at another major is in London.
“I don’t know if Wimbledon is his best chance, but I don’t think it’s a bad chance,” Martin told SNY.tv. “I think the U.S. Open is one and he’s had a tremendous amount of success in New York historically [winning five straight from 2004-08]. The court is typically a little quicker, which I think certainly is better for him when it’s Nadal. I don’t know how that helps him against the rest of the guys.
“If he’s late in a tournament against somebody who’s new, Wimbledon has a chance to disrupt somebody else more than it has to disrupt Roger, and more than the U.S. Open. Just the prestige [of Wimbledon].”
Djokovic, 27, captured his eighth career Major at this year’s Australian Open and has won seven of the last 17 Grand Slam titles. Nadal has won five during that span, Andy Murray two and three players, including Federer, have won one.
So does Djokovic have a shot to eclipse Nadal’s 14 or Federer’s 17?
If Djokovic were to win two Majors this year, which seems highly possible, he would already be at 10.
“Who knows?” Federer said.”I guess Novak’s still a long shot but it really depends on how dominant his next years are going to be. They have to be really dominant because Rafa and me, we’re both still playing so it’s not like we’re both retired or anything.
Federer added: “I ‘m more focused on me than on them and I hope to make it more difficult for them but at the end of the day records are made to be broken and I was very happy to get the all-time Grand Slam record at Wimbledon 2009. It was a dream come true and it was a huge motivation to get to that after Pete had set it earlier.”
Now he’s looking to win No. 18 at the same historic place where he tied Sampras.
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Photo: AP
