Roger Federer's 1,000th career win and counting
Legends Rod Laver, Roy Emerson congratulate Swiss star after he clinches Brisbane International in see-sawing battle against Milos Raonic
Roger Federer turned the Brisbane International final into a grand occasion on Sunday night, beating Milos Raonic in three see-sawing sets to register his 1,000th career match win.
It is a grand number for a 17-time grand slam champion, making him the only player after Jimmy Connors (1,253) and Ivan Lendl (1,071) to win 1,000 times on the men's professional tour.
To get to 1,000 match wins in front of you guys ... it really means a lot to me. I'll never forget this match
"Clearly, it's a special day for me, winning a title plus getting to the magic number of 1,000," Federer said after his 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4 win against third-seeded Raonic.
"It feels very different to any other match I've ever won. All those [milestone] numbers didn't mean anything to me, but for some reason 1,000 means a lot because it's such a huge number. Just alone to count to 1,000 is going to take a while."
Federer clearly wanted to reach the milestone before the Australian Open starts on January 19, breaking Raonic's serve in the third game and again in the opening game of the second set. He fired eight of his eventual 21 aces in the first set, taking on the big-serving Canadian's strength.
Just as it appeared Federer would coast to a comfortable victory, though, Raonic shook off his nerves to break back in the fourth game of the second set and swing the momentum.