By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON, June 24 - World number one Roger Federer
begins his pursuit of Bjorn Borg's record five successive
Wimbledon titles on Monday, six years after wrecking Pete
Sampras's dreams of achieving the feat.
The Swiss burst on to the scene in 2001 when he snapped
Sampras's 31-match winning streak at the grasscourt grand slam
in the fourth round. Now the world number one hopes nobody will
ruin his bid to match the Swede.
"It's always fantastic to be able to break records or match
them, especially when it comes to Bjorn Borg I'm always very
excited, because I think he was one of the most wonderful
players we ever had in the game," Federer said on the eve of his
opening match against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
"It's a very ironic story actually that I beat Sampras's
record, when he was going for five. Two months later he (Borg)
called me up and thanked me for breaking Sampras's streak,
keeping his alive, and now I'm going for Borg's record.
"But I've heard he's happy if I would tie it up. He's coming
for the final weekend. I hope I'll be there too."
Federer has been unbeaten on grass since a first-round
defeat here by Mario Ancic in 2002. Keen to protect a 48-match
winning streak on grass, he opted to skip his usual warm-up
tournament in Halle after his defeat by Rafael Nadal in the
French Open final.
TOUGH CALL
Despite following up each victory at Halle by triumphing at
Wimbledon, Federer did not think his change of plans would
backfire on him.
"It was obviously a tough call because I've always played
very well in Halle. If you're superstitious, you would think I
have to play Halle again and everything. But I'm not that type
of person," he said.
"I have to look after my health first. I felt my back and my
groin, and I didn't want to take a chance. (The last two years)
in the week leading up to Wimbledon, I was so tired I could
hardly practise.
"I wanted to do it differently this time. Transition to
grass is always very easy for me because it feels so natural. I
am very confident looking ahead to the next two weeks."
As he begins his pursuit of an 11th grand slam trophy, only
the foolhardy would bet against the 25-year-old picking up the
Challenge Cup on July 8.
With no one coming close to toppling Federer on grass in
recent years, the Swiss could be forgiven if he started to think
he was indestructible on the slick surface.
"It's been so long that I lost that of course you start to
feel particularly strong on it," he said. "But it is a very
dangerous surface. You can be upset by almost anybody, any
round. Many probably cannot win the tournament here, but can
upset the best. That's the most dangerous part in the early
rounds here."