Roger Federer’s path to the 2015 Cincinnati Open title, a run he called the ‘perfect tournament’

Cincinnati 2015 stands out as perhaps his most complete tournament — and it took place exactly ten years ago.

Roger Federer’s flawless run in Cincinnati

Going into the 2015 tournament, Federer wasn’t quite having the kind of year we were used to seeing from him. He was 34 by then, and there were signs that time was starting to catch up.

He hadn’t won a Grand Slam that season. He’d gone out early in Melbourne and only made it as far as the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

There were still some deep runs, but Djokovic had his number in the finals of Indian Wells, Madrid, and Wimbledon.

Cincinnati, though, was different. It was his only warm-up event before the US Open that year, and he made it count.

Federer eased through to the semi-finals with straight-set wins over Roberto Bautista-Agut, Kevin Anderson and Feliciano López. That set up a clash with Andy Murray, who was ranked second in the world at the time.

He got past Murray in two close sets before finally getting one back on Djokovic in the final. Remarkably, Federer didn’t drop a single set throughout the entire tournament.

Afterwards, he said: “Oh yeah this is a perfect week so I’ll see how I feel tomorrow but today I am just really happy.”

Roger Federer was the king of the American hard courts

Frustratingly, Federer would then go on to lose yet another final to his Serbian nemesis in New York, once again thwarted by Djokovic on the biggest stage.

And yet, the 43-year-old remains the undisputed king of the American hard courts, with only Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors able to match his five titles at the US Open.

However, that merely scratches the surface of Federer’s brilliance during this period of the year, as the record-holder at Cincinnati for most titles won (seven).

He remains the only man ever to have won the US Masters’ hard-court treble, as the winner of Indian Wells, Miami and Cincinnati Masters tournaments all in 2005.

And he has actually twice completed a perfect tournament at each event too, winning both titles without dropping a single set.

Whilst Federer is synonymous with grass as Wimbledon’s most successful male champion, he was also a serious threat during this part of the season following his usual All-England Club triumphs.