User:Bluedogtn/Roger Federer in 2006

Roger Federer won three slams in 2006, and was in all four slam finals, which the only loss came against Rafael Nadal in the French Open in 6-1, 1-6, 4-6, 6-7(4), and this was the first-time they met in a slam final. In the other three slams of 2006, Federer would play Nadal again in the Wimbledon Championships, which Federer won in 6–0, 7–6(5), 6–7(2), 6–3, and the Australian Open would defeat Marcos Baghdatis in 5–7, 7–5, 6–0, 6–2. The US Open, Federer would best Andy Roddick, the 2003 champions in 6–2, 4–6, 7–5, 6–1. In addition, Federer made it to six ATP Masters Series 1000 finals, winning four on hard surfaces and losing the two on clay to Nadal. Lastly, Federer would win one ATP 500 series event in Tokyo, and capture the Year-End Championships for the third time in his career.

Year synopses
Federer won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments for the second time and ended the year ranked World No. 1, with his points being several thousand points greater than World No. 2 Nadal's total. Federer won the year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, by defeating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in four sets. This was Federer's seventh consecutive victory in a Grand Slam final (2003 Wimbledon – 2006 Australian Open), a record to start a career, and second overall only to Pete Sampras's eight consecutive wins (1995 Wimbledon – 2000 Wimbledon).

He also successfully defended his Masters titles at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, and became the first player ever to win the Indian Wells-Key Biscayne double in consecutive years. Federer then started the clay-court season by reaching the final of the ATP Masters Series event at Monte Carlo losing in four sets to Nadal. He then reached the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome where he lost to Nadal, 6–7(0), 7–6(5), 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(5) in an epic five-set match that culminated in a decisive tiebreak. At the French Open, Federer found himself in final for the first time but lost to defending champion Nadal in four sets. Although the French Open title eluded him, Federer became one of only two active players who had reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, the other being Andre Agassi.

Federer entered Wimbledon as the top seed and reached the final without dropping a set. There, Federer beat rival Nadal in four sets to win the championship, and his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title. He then started his North American tour and won his second Rogers Cup title in Toronto, defeating Richard Gasquet of France in the final. During the US Open, the year's last Grand Slam tournament, he defeated American Roddick in four sets for his third consecutive title at Flushing Meadows. During the open era, 2006 is the only year in which same man (Federer) and woman (Justine Henin) reached the finals of all four Grand Slams. At the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, Federer defeated defending champion David Nalbandian in one of his three round robin matches and Nadal in the semi-finals. Federer then defeated American James Blake 6–0, 6–3, 6–4 in the finals to win his third Masters Cup title. Federer won 12 titles in 2006, which included 3 Grand Slam titles and 4 ATP Masters titles. During the year he lost to only two players, Nadal in the French Open, Rome, Monte Carlo, and Dubai finals; and Andy Murray in the second round of the Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati loss to Murray was Federer's only straight-sets loss of the year and the only tournament out of 17 in which he did not reach the final.