#RF65: Looking back at each step of Roger Federer's 65-Slam run (Part 2)

Roger Federer's withdrawal from the 2016 French Open earlier this year ended his ironman streak at the Slams—the Swiss had played in a record 65 straight singles main draws.

Federer returned to major tournament play at Wimbledon—where he reached the semifinals—but on Tuesday he announced that he would miss the remainder of the 2016 season, including the Rio Olympics and the U.S. Open, with a knee injury. In his honor is a recap of the 65 consecutive majors he played in from 2000-2016.

Part one, stretching from 2000-07, can be seen here. Now, it's time for part two:

33. 2008 Australian Open: Novak Djokovic had worked his way to No. 3 in the world and, despite losing in straight sets, played Federer tough in the 2007 U.S. Open final. But it was still shocking to see Federer fall to the 21-year-old star-in-waiting in the semis. Also: Federer nearly bowed out in third round to Janko Tipsarevic, but escaped 10-8 in the fifth.

34. 2008 French Open: Just a few years into his professional career, Nadal was making a strong case to be called the "King of Clay,"and his 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Federer in the '08 French final was a most convincing piece of evidence. And as it turned out, it would be Nadal's penultimate push ahead of Federer on grass, too.

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35. 2008 Wimbledon: The greatest match ever played. We often wonder how great athletes from different generations would fare against each other at the peak of their careers. This match was a real-life example of that barroom debate. Every set was dramatic, and every shot meaningful (and often brilliant), but Roger and Rafa saved their best for last. In the fourth set, Federer saved two match points to force a decider, but Nadal won the fifth set for his first Wimbledon title, which simultaneously ended Federer's five-year run as champion. The sun fell as rapidly as Nadal's career was rising. For Federer, double trouble at the French Open and Wimbledon put him firmly behind Nadal in the pecking order for the first time in his career.

36. 2008 U.S. Open: How would Federer—who also took a surprising loss to James Blake at the Beijing Olympics—rebound after a summer of heartbreak? By doing as he often does in New York: Winning. Andy Murray was Federer's final victim this time, and not for the last time.

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37. 2009 Australian Open: Federer ended a major title drought—for him—at three tournaments with his win in New York, but Nadal remained a massive problem. He gave it his best shot in Melbourne, but ultimately lost in five sets, leading to this emotional admission. (Also worth remembering: Federer beat Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.)

38. 2009 French Open: Call it karma for his '08 heartbreak if you want, but Federer was unquestionably opportunistic in Paris. When Nadal took a shocking fourth-round loss to Robin Soderling, Federer knew his moment had arrived. It wasn't without difficulty—he needed five sets to get by Tommy Haas and del Potro—but the Swiss finally snagged his missing major title with a 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 final-round victory over Soderling.

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39. 2009 Wimbledon: In Part 1 I mentioned that Federer had lost more of his major "epics" than he won. This is the exception. In what was one of Andy Roddick's best matches—aside from a killer volley miss in the second-set tiebreaker—Federer prevailed 16-14 in the fifth for his sixth Wimbledon championship. Federer was never broken in the final and struck 50 aces.

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40. 2009 U.S. Open: Del Potro figured into a significant portion of Federer's 2009 season, none more so than in the U.S. Open final. Despite the resistance he showed Federer at the French, and his 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Nadal in the semis, few could have anticipated the unbridled firepower the 21-year-old Argentine would display in the Flushing Meadows final. Down two sets to one, del Potro kept firing forehands, winning a fourth-set tiebreaker and then the match for his first major title.

41. 2010 Australian Open: We didn't know it at the time, but Federer was about to enter a new, less-dominant stage of his playing career. But not just yet. The 28-year-old built upon his Grand Slam singles title record with his 16th in Melbourne, obliterating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals (6-2, 6-3, 6-2) before keeping Murray at bay in the final (6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (11)).

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42. 2010 French Open: Soderling strikes again. With a four-set victory, the Swede sent Federer out of a major tournament before the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2004 French Open (23 consecutive Slams).

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43. 2010 Wimbledon: When the defending champion was taken five sets by Alejandro Falla in the first round, you knew this wasn't going to be one of Federer's typical strolls through the English lawn. He rebounded from that concerning performance over the next few rounds, but fell to eventual runner-up Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

44. 2010 U.S. Open: Djokovic returns. The Serb had floundered since his breakthrough in Australia two years earlier, and looked to be five-set fodder for Federer in the U.S. Open semis. But Djokovic rallied from two-sets-to-one down—and saved two match points—to stun the five-time champion.

45. 2011 Australian Open: Djokovic would put forth one of the greatest seasons in tennis history in 2011, and began it with an Australian Open run that included a straight-sets semifinal victory over Federer.

46. 2011 French Open: Djokovic incredibly entered his semifinal showdown with Federer—now their third consecutive meeting at a major—on a 43-match winning streak. But the "underdog" put an end to it as darkness fell over Paris, winning a fourth-set tiebreaker 7-5. Once again, Nadal ended Federer's French campaign in the final, but it was a memorable tournament for Federer nonetheless.

47. 2011 Wimbledon: Up two sets at Wimbledon seemed like a stone-cold lock for Federer, but Tsonga hit him with a stunner by winning the third, fourth and fifth sets, all by 6-4 counts. The Frenchman's pulverizing serve and forehand were devastating on the fast grass of the All England Club, which Federer discovered all too well.

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48. 2011 U.S. Open: Up two sets at the U.S. Open seemed like a stone-cold lock for Federer, but he was playing Djokovic, who had quickly become one of his chief nemeses. Somehow, the Serb not only clawed his way back from the deep deficit, but once again saved two match points in victory.

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49. 2012 Australian Open: Federer saw his way to the semifinals without losing a set, but he lost three of four to Nadal once he got there.

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50. 2012 French Open: In a Roland Garros semifinal rematch, Djokovic didn't let Federer take control this time. One round earlier, Federer rallied from two sets down to beat del Potro.

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51. 2012 Wimbledon: After what seemed like an eternity, Federer finally claimed his 17th Slam. (SPOILER ALERT: He hasn't won one since.) The fruitful fortnight included another comeback from two sets down—against Julien Benneteau in the third round—and victories over Djokovic and Murray. The below highlight video, which I did not create, is titled "The Triumph of A God."

52. 2012 U.S. Open: Berdych scored a rare victory over Federer in the quarterfinals, marking the first time Federer failed to reach the final four in Flushing Meadows since 2003. "I just didn't come up with the goods tonight," Federer said after the four-set loss. "It was unfortunate."

53. 2013 Australian Open: After outlasting Tsonga in a five-set quarterfinal, Federer fails to do the same against Murray in the semis, losing the decider 6-2.

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54. 2013 French Open: Frequent Slam opponent Tsonga gets the better of Federer in his home country, to the—delight?—of the Parisian crowd. Federer is beloved at Roland Garros, but he went down meekly to Tsonga in the '13 quarters, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

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55. 2013 Wimbledon: With losses to Murray and Tsonga at the Slams and no trips to a major final, 2013 already felt troubling for Federer. But it all came to a crash at Wimbledon, where he took a second-round defeat to serve-and-volleyer Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5). It was Federer's earliest loss at a Slam since the 2003 French Open.

56. 2013 U.S. Open: It got worse from there, as a presumptive match-up against Nadal at Flushing Meadows was derailed by another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo. To the abject shock of the tennis world, Federer, who had dominated Robredo for nearly a decade, lost a straight-sets fourth rounder.

57. 2014 Australian Open: New year, new Federer. In Melbourne, he takes out rivals Tsonga and Murray to make the semifinals, but ol' Rafa is there to halt any further progress. Nadal wins in straights.

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58. 2014 French Open: Some obscure names have found their way onto this list, but "Ernests Gulbis" might be the most surprising. The erratic but irrevocably talented Latvian took out Federer in five in the fourth round.

59. 2014 Wimbledon: Federer's best play at the majors in recent years has come at Wimbledon, and it's still the venue most would expect Slam No. 18—if it ever happens—to come at. The 32-year-old lost just one set en route to the final, but Djokovic—on a bit of a Slam title drought himself—bested Federer in a classic five-setter.

60. 2014 U.S. Open: In one of the stranger Slams this century, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori defeated, respectively, Federer and Djokovic in the semifinals. Federer offered the least resistance, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, one round after executing a comeback from two sets and match point down against Gael Monfils.

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61. 2015 Australian Open: In his first loss before the semifinals of the Australian Open since 2003—one of Federer's most amazing and underrated stats—the Swiss fell to Andreas Seppi in the third round, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5).

62. 2015 French Open: Stan Wawrinka, who would go on to win the tournament, scored an uncommon victory over his more celebrated countryman at a major, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in the quarterfinals.

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63. 2015 Wimbledon: Once again, the strawberries and cream, and whatever is in Federer's actual Wimbledon diet, proved tonic. Federer cruised into the semis and eliminated Murray with a throwback performance, clinically dissecting the Scot at his home Slam, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4. Once again, Djokovic would deny Federer in the final—7-6 (1), 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-3—but even in defeat, it remains of of Federer's more memorable majors.

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64. 2015 U.S. Open: It's looking more and more like Djokovic, rather than Nadal, will come closer to challenging Federer's number of career Grand Slam singles titles. The Serb earned his 10th in New York by defeating Federer in a four-set final. Leading up to the match, Federer hadn't lost a single set.

65. 2016 Australian Open: The final Slam of #RF65 ended when Djokovic—it had to be him or Nadal, right?—defeated Federer in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

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