‘Here I screwed up Roger Federer’: Tennis great’s brutal US Open dig breaks the internet – Watch

When Daniil Medvedev had lost in his round of 16 clash at the US Open 2022 earlier last week, there was a certain Roger Federer statistic that was highlighted on social media. No US Open champion in men’s tennis has ever managed to successfully retain their title in New York since Federer last pulled it off in 2008. It was a feat he first managed in 2005 and continued his reign till 2008 following which the Swiss maestro never had his hand on that elusive silverware. 14 years since his last US Open win, a tennis great was filmed boasting about his feat of ending Federer’s reign in New York, a video of which went viral all over the internet after the recent final on Sunday.

Beating Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, Federer had claimed his first ever US Open title back in 2004 and successfully retained the title four more times, taking his reign at the Flushing Meadows till 2008. The Swiss was all set to go for the US Open a sixth consecutive time as well when he went up against Juan Martin del Potro in 2009.

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The Argentine, who was having a wonderful Slam season, was into his maiden major final. But he was up against a 15-time Grand Slam champion, already the most held by a player back then, having surpassed Pete Sampras with his Wimbledon haul. But much to his dismay and shock for tennis fans across the globe. Del Potro bounced back from two-sets-to-one down and beat Federer 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–2 to win his first Grand Slam trophy.

On Sunday, Del Potro was spotted at the Flushing Meadows for the final between Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud. After the match, a video of him went viral whene he is seen showing the US Open honours board to someone, saying, “Federer, Federer, Federer, Federer, Federer. Y acá lo cagué (And here I screwed up)”.

Since 2009, Federer reached the US Open only one more time, in 2015 where he had lost to Novak Djokovic. And for his revenge against the Argentine, he lost against him once again in 2009 in the ATP Finals before scripting six straight wins. But in the only other time they faced each other in the US Open again, Del Potro emulated his 2009 feat in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 edition.