In a Major League of His Own Now

There wasn’t any competition, only perfection at the U.S. Open on Sunday. There wasn’t an opponent except history for top-seeded Roger Federer in his championship match against fourth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The first set lasted only 18 minutes, a compressed highlight reel of flying forehands, crackling backhands and volleys hit with cruel angles and finality. Federer, the No. 1 player in the world, destroyed Hewitt, 6-0, 7-6 (3), 6-0, in 1 hour 49 minutes, becoming the first Swiss man to win the Open.

It was the first time in 120 years that an Open champion won two love sets, and it came against an opponent who hadn’t previously lost a set during this tournament or a match in nearly two months.

The victory came at a place where critics thought the quiet, stoic Federer, 23, might not succeed -- in New York, where the noise never stops, the conditions of heat, humidity, wind, rain, cold, night and day are always changing and the fans always root for the American or the underdog. Federer is neither.

But by winning his first U.S. Open title, he became only the fifth man and the first since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three of the four Grand Slam titles in a single year. Jimmy Connors won three in 1974, and Rod Laver (1962 and ‘69) and Don Budge (1938) swept all four.

Federer now holds the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles. He is the first man to win his first four major tournament finals.

“I never thought I would be sitting here, as a winner, in my career,” Federer said. “To me it seems like if you can handle New York, you can handle anything. I feel very good right now.”

Margaret Court and Jack Kramer, who were inducted into the U.S. Open Court of Champions on Sunday along with Steffi Graf and John McEnroe, suggested caution before tabbing Federer the greatest ever or a sure bet to surpass Pete Sampras’ record 14 Grand Slam titles.

“We lift players up so quickly today,” Court said, “and then they’re not in the game in five years’ time. They seem to come and go much more quickly than they used to.”

“I hope,” Kramer said, “he has the same drive that Sampras had for so long.”

Federer suggests that he has that drive.

“It’s a very demanding sport,” he said. “The season is long, there’s not much time off. I would like to stay at the top as long as possible. I would like to win more majors and more tournaments. But only time will tell really.”

Right now there seems no one close to Federer. When Andy Roddick won the first set of the Wimbledon final, it seemed he might be a legitimate rival to Federer, but Roddick’s attack is still a one-dimensional game of big serve, big forehand, no nuance.

Hewitt has worked hard to improve his serve since he won the Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002. His performance this summer, when the 23-year-old Australian won three tournaments, and the way he had raced through the draw here gave hope of a dramatic final.

But in the matter of 30 minutes, Federer won the first eight games. He won all but five points in the first set by clocking Hewitt with crazily angled service winners, unleashing a furious forehand after tossing over a couple of lazy, spinning backhands, or suddenly rushing the net by following a second serve and knocking a deep, unreturnable volley.

“When he’s playing like he did in the first set there’s very little you can do out there,” Hewitt said. “When he’s on fire with his forehand, it’s hard to get it to his backhand. And he was obviously serving extremely well.”

Hewitt earned his first break point in the sixth game of the second set and it was instructive how Federer ended up winning the game -- with consecutive aces of 125, 128 and 124 mph. Those aren’t the fastest serves in the game, but each was placed in a different spot and Hewitt was left at a standstill.

“I just couldn’t get enough cheap points off my service games to be able to put pressure on his,” Hewitt said.

Only once did Hewitt get even, in the 10th game of the second set. He broke when Federer slammed a backhand a few inches long.

Federer muttered to himself, angry at the moment of carelessness, but in the tiebreaker Federer jumped to a 4-0 lead in a matter of a minute.

Sampras won the fourth of his 14 major titles in the 19th Grand Slam event he played. Federer has taken 22 Slams to do the same.

“I hope, for the people who know me, this is not a normal thing I am doing right now,” he said. “This is something out of this world for myself. I’ll look back with a smile, that’s for sure.”

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Just Grand

Since Rod Laver won the Grand Slam in 1969, only three men have won three of four majors in the same year:

* 2004: Roger Federer (Australian, Wimbledon, U.S. Open).

* 1988: Mats Wilander (Australian, French, U.S. Open).

* 1974: Jimmy Connors (Australian, Wimbledon, U.S. Open).

Note: Connors was banned from French Open because he played in World Team Tennis league.