Roger Federer paid tribute to Jimmy Connors, whose record of 160 consecutive weeks as world number one he will overtake on Monday.
DUBAI: Roger Federer paid tribute to Jimmy Connors, whose record of 160 consecutive weeks as world number one he will overtake on Monday, by saying that the American has one record he will never surpass.
Connors amassed a total of 109 career titles while Federer has won 46.
"Well of course he still has the record for the most titles which I don't think will be ever be eclipsed," said Federer, who will attempt to regain the Dubai Open title from Rafael Nadal during the next six days.
"He is one of the all time great players. He played for such a long time which allowed him to get so many titles, but to stay fit through all this time with his intensity is quite remarkable.
"The players today who are intense - Hewitt and Nadal, imagine them playing till they are 40 years old - it's almost not possible to imagine.
"But Jimmy did that and came to all the matches with a great attitude and broke great records, like the one I'm just breaking now and obviously the record number of titles, and he was very close to the all-time record number as well.
"So he's one of the all time greats."
The man who overtook Connors' record of the total number of weeks as number one was Pete Sampras, with whom Federer has often been compared, and who was number one for 286 weeks altogether.
Federer did not rule out the possibility of aiming for that one day, but preferred to focus on this week, his shorter term goals and the significance of his new record.
"This is definitely going to stay for quite some time: I'll definitely keep it for three years," Federer pointed out.
"It's a nice record to have and it's very hard to beat. It's not something you do overnight. It's a long hard-working process.
"Even if I lose it eventually I still think I will always be very high up in the record books and that is very nice to see. I've known I am going to break it ever since I beat Andy Roddick in the Masters Cup - Jimmy Connors being there - so it's actually quite ironic. So I've been looking forward to this day. It's about to come so I'll be excited."
Federer reckons his game has improved a lot during the last 161 weeks.
"I remember it was still a little bit up in the air you know," he said referring to the way he was on February 2, 2004, the day when he reached the pinnacle.
"I knew I could play well on any given day, but on my off days I would be very vulnerable. Basically my game was okay but just not as consistent as I was hoping for, which I have been able to improve. Fitness-wise as well I knew I had a little problem here and there, but I was always hoping not to go five sets whereas now I don't mind it. So I have really come a long way and I am happy with my improvements since becoming number one in the world."
Federer reckons improvements in his fitness have been the key to his consistency and that to a significant extent he achieved it by building three one-month training breaks into his schedule.
One is during Christmas, one after Wimbledon, and one after the Australian Open, which ends with his match Monday against Kristian Pless, the world number 86 from Denmark.
He was also prepared to enjoy his comfortable-looking first round in contrast to the difficult one Nadal has landed with Marcos Baghdatis, the world number 17.
"Yeah, he probably has the toughest," agreed Federer.
"It's actually fun him drawing Baghdatis. It's like when I drew Marat in the first round a few years ago. It's kind of fun for a first round."
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