Tennis-Open-Written-off Federer reappears in style in Paris

By Julien Pretot

PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - Roger Federer had been written off by fans, pundits and former players, and yet, the Swiss lifted the French Open trophy for the first time on Sunday.

After losing his Wimbledon crown and his number one spot to Rafael Nadal last year, he suffered another blow when the Spaniard beat him in an epic Australian Open final in January.

Federer left Melbourne Park in tears and his confidence in tatters. On Sunday he also left the Roland Garros Centre Court in tears but at least this time he had the Musketeers' Cup tucked safely under his arm after beating Robin Soderling 6-1 7-6 6-4.

"People talked a lot about me having lost the grip and stuff. To some degree I guess it's true, because I lost my number one ranking," Federer, who recently got married and is an expectant father, told a news conference.

"But I didn't fall out of the top 10 or the top 1,000. I still played very consistent, especially at grand slam level. My record shows it there," added Federer, who has contested 15 of the last 16 grand slam finals.

"But important for me was to continue working hard. I had issues last year. We all know what they were. People sometimes don't give you time to actually let them heal or let you figure them out."

At the start of the 2008 season, Federer turned up to defend his Australian Open title but had been unaware that he was suffering from the energy-sapping illness, mononucleosis. Despite his problems, he still reached the semi-finals.

This year back pains have also caused him trouble.