Federer hungry for more

Dubai: World number one Roger Federer is enjoying his stay at the top of the ATP Tour rankings as long as he can.

"My records will be hard to break and even if someone does break them – which will happen eventually – it won't be overnight… it will take some time before that happens,'' Federer told the media a day before the start of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open.

Federer creates a landmark today for being the world number one player for 161 consecutive weeks, breaking Jimmy Connors's record for most consecutive weeks at the top of the rankings.

"I've come a long way and this record is the outcome of a long, hard-working process,'' Federer insisted.

Federer's range of achievements looks like a dream tale.

In 2004, he became the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three of the four Grand Slam titles in one year. Last year, the Swiss player repeated the feat and became the first man in the Open era to win at least 10 singles tournaments in three consecutive years.

Federer has won his 10 Grand Slam titles in 31 appearances, three Tennis Masters Cup and 12 ATP Masters Series, and he is the only player to have won both the Wimbledon and US Open titles in three consecutive years between 2004 and last year.

"Becoming the number one is really tough and to stay there at the top takes so much of an effort,'' he stated.

At the beginning of this year, Federer won his third Australian Open without dropping a set – the first player to do so in a Grand Slam since Bjorn Borg at the 1980 French Open and the first to do it at the Australian Open since Ken Rosewall in 1971.

"There was a time in the beginning when I was vulnerable on court. But over a period of time, I am a much better player and I really do not mind going into five sets because I have improved in all aspects of my game,'' Federer said.

He still has his eyes on Connors's record of most number of titles. "That record will stay like that for a long time, and probably it will not get eclipsed,'' Federer said.

However, the Swiss star also knows that all this glory is merely passing.

"It has to all go one day, and I would tip Nadal as the one to take over from me as the best player in the world,'' Federer predicted.

Order of play: (February 26)

Centre court (Start at 2 pm): Dominik Hrbaty vs Omar Behroozian; Tomas Berdych vs Mohammad Al Gareeb; (7 pm) Roger Federer vs Kristian Pless; Fabrice Santoro vs Tommy Robredo.

Court No.1 (Start at 2 pm): Igor Andreev vs Marc Gicquel; Florent Serra vs Jonas Bjorkman; (5 pm) Igor Andreev/David Ferrer vs Marcos Baghdatis/Gilles Simon.

Court No.3 (Start at 4 pm): Hyung-Taik Lee vs Olivier Rochus; (5 pm) Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor vs Rohan Bopanna/Younes El Aynaoui; Olivier Rochus/Kristof Vliegen vs Omar Behroozian/Mohammad Nader.

Results (February 25)

Final round of the men's qualifiers: Andreas Seppi beat Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-4; Rainer Schuettler beat Konstantinos Economidis 6-2, 7-5; Younes Al Aynaoui beat George Bastl 6-4, 6-4; Oliver Marach beat Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 6-2.