Roger Federer is rightly considered one of the finest athletes ever to pick up a tennis racket. Proof of the Swiss’ ability appeared on this day 12 years ago as his unbroken 237-week run as world No1 began, which is a record for the sport. This period of imposing dominance was earned with a 7–6 (7–3), 6–4, 6–2 victory in the Australian Open final against Russia’s Marat Safin the day before.
The triumph saw him dislodge United States’ Andy Roddick from the top spot. Federer went on to claim nine further grand slams during this period, before Spain’s Rafael Nadal usurped him on August 18, 2008. Federer wasn’t finished, two further spells at No1 putting him on 302 weeks at present.
Other memorable events on this day
1876: Baseball’s National League forms with teams in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and St Louis.
1892: The longest boxing match held under modern rules sees an exhausted Harry Sharpe beat Frank
Crosby after 77 brutal rounds.
1973: New Zealand’s greatest cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee made an inauspicious Test debut, with 2 for
112 in the first Test against Pakistan.
2011: Gary Neville announced his retirement from football after 602 games for Manchester United.
