All-time great Federer completes major trophy haul in tennis

Roger Federer sealed his and Switzerland’s first ever Davis Cup title with victory over neighbours France in the final, and thus has now won every major trophy there is in the sport of tennis.

Following his triumph over Richard Gasquet, who was a late replacement for injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which saw the Swiss take an unbeatable 3-1 lead, he said in typical modest fashion: “This one is for the boys. This is not for me, I have won enough. I am just happy we can give everyone in our country a historic moment.”

Before adding on his teammate Stan Wawrinka, who he reportedly had a spat following their clash in the ATP World Tour Finals: “Stan has put in so much effort over the years. He played an unbelievable weekend [beating Tsonga and then winning the doubles with Federer] and that is what gave me the opportunity today.”

For Federer, though, some would ask what’s next for the all-time great? He’s won seven Wimbledon titles, five Australian Opens, five US Opens and a French Open, as well as the Tour Finals six times plus a Gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.

However, there is one upcoming tournament that no one has had their hands on, the inaugural International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), which goes on from November 28th – December 13th.

The competition was set up by veteran doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi, and four teams have the chance to fight it out for the IPTL Challenge Trophy and US$1m first place prize.

Federer, who was a late addition to this event after the withdrawal of the injured Rafael Nadal, may have to buy a larger trophy cabinet if he and his team are to win this new league.

The Swiss world number two will represent Micromax Indian Aces, along with Gael Monfils, who defeated Federer at the Davis Cup, Ana Ivanovic, Indian duo Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, and legends Pete Sampras and Fabrice Santoro.

Priced IPTL 11/4 third-favourites with Coral, the Aces begin their challenge against Singapore Slammers (9/4), who boast multiple Grand Slam winners Andre Agassi and Serena Williams amongst their ranks. Australian trio Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios and Pat Rafter, as well as Tomas Berdych, Bruno Soares and Daniela Hantuchova make up the rest of their ranks.

IPTL’s other two outfits are UAE Royals (9/4 league chances) and Manila Mavericks (3/1), who face off in the later session.

The Royals have an Eastern Europe-heavy line-up of Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Nenad Zimonjic, Janko Tipsarevic and 2001 Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic, while Gasquet, Malek Jaziri, Caroline Wozniacki and Eugenie Bouchard make up the rest of their side.

For the Mavericks, Andy Murray is the main man, and teams up with Tsonga, Carlos Moya, Daniel Nestor, the Philippines’ Treat Huey, Maria Sharapova and Kirsten Flipkens.