Federer adds more awards to his collection

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer of Switzerland has been named men's player of the year by the Tennis magazine of the United States for the fifth consecutive time.

Justine Henin of Belgium took the women’s award.

“Roger’s serve is more of a weapon than it may appear, and that forehand is deadly,” 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras of the US comments in the January issue.

“What most impressed me, though was the speed at which he can go from defence to offence. His ability to take command from any place on the court, at any stage of a point, may be his greatest gift of all.”

The magazine described Federer’s victory over Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final as the best men’s match of 2007.

In its view, Henin’s victory over Maria Sharapova of Russia at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid was the best women’s match of the year.

On Monday, the International Tennis Federation named Federer and Henin the 2007 ITF world champions. It was the fourth year running Federer had received the honour and the third time overall for Henin.