Federer ends the debate

How could Federer have imagined that with him cruising comfortably early in the second set Sunday,an intruder would jump out of the stands and onto the clay,run towards him and drape a flag over Federers head,leaving him shaken?

How could he have imagined that,on top of all the pent-up pressure and imminent tennis history already weighing upon him,that he and Soderling would also have to deal with some of the worst weather ever experienced during a major singles final?

No,it was all quite unexpected,but Federer,to his enduring credit,shrugged it all off and kept his eye on the one big prize he was lacking to win 6-1 7-6 1 6-4.

This could be my biggest victory,the one that takes off the most pressure, said Federer,who dropped to his knees on the clay after he had secured victory. Now for the rest of my career,I can play relaxed and never hear again that I never won the French Open.

The victory gave Federer,27,a complete set of Grand Slam singles titles and allowed him to tie the career record of 14 major singles titles held by Pete Sampras. But Sampras never won the French Open and Federer is now one of only six men to have won all the Grand Slam titles during his career.

The others are Don Budge,Fred Perry,Roy Emerson,Rod Laver and Andre Agassi,the American who surprisingly won the title here in 1999 and presented the trophy to Federer on Sunday.

Comparing greatness across tennis eras is complicated because the sport was long divided into the amateur game and the professional game,with professionals unable to compete in the Grand Slam tournaments until the sport went open in 1968.

But with the French Open title now at last in his possession,a strong case can be made for Federer in the inevitable debate over who deserves to be considered the greatest player ever.

Federer has won the Australian Open three times,Wimbledon five times and the United States Open five times. But the French Open had always eluded him thanks mainly to Nadal,who beat him in the semi-finals in 2005 and in the final the last three years.

Greatest ever: Sampras

And Sampras thinks the argument is now over. What hes done over the past five years has never,ever been done and probably will never,ever happen again, said Sampras. Regardless if he won there or not,he goes down as the greatest ever. This just confirms it.

Now that hes won in Paris,I think it further solidifies his place in history as the greatest player that played the game,in my opinion, Sampras said. Im a huge Laver fan,and he had a few years in there where he didnt have an opportunity to win majors. But you cant compare the eras,and in this era,the competition is much more fierce than Rods.