And with his greatest rival, the world number one and Wimbledon defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain, sidelined with tendinitis in both of his knees, Federer is a heavy favorite to claim his sixth career singles crown next Sunday.

Federer won the Wimbledon singles title five years in a row from 2003-2007 before losing an epic five set final in near darkness last year to Nadal. The match and the two players' rivalry both are considered by many to be the greatest of all time.

As a player who lacks any main weakness, Federer dominated men's tennis from 2004 until last year when Nadal broadened his game to become an all-court player.

Federer first became the ATP Tour's number one player in February of 2004 and held the top spot for a record 237 consecutive weeks. If Federer makes a strong showing this and next week in London, he would after Wimbledon once again return to the top spot.

With a Wimbledon win this year, Federer would also surpass the American Pete Sampras' 14 career grand slam wins to become arguably the greatest tennis player of all times. At the French Open earlier this month, Federer's title win give him a title never won by Sampras.

"In an era of specialists, you're either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist or a hard court specialist or you're Roger Federer," the American great Jimmy Conners said of Federer.

In the semifinals at Wimbledon, Federer could face the 4th seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Should Federer reach the championship final, he is likely to meet either the 6th seeded Andy Roddick of the USA or the 3rd seeded crowd favorite Andy Murray of England and Scotland.

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