Roger Federer fan wakes from 11-year coma to find Federer still at the top of the tennis world


It's hard to think of a more evocative example of Roger Federer's staying power than this: A diehard fan of the tennis great fell into a coma in December 2004, only to wake up in August 2015 to find that Federer was number two in the world and playing in the U.S. Open final.
"It came like a flash to my mind and I asked about Roger," [Jesus] Aparicio told Tennisworld USA after speaking to his parents about all he had missed. "I thought he had retired.""When I knew that, at 34 years, he is still playing and is No. 2 in the world, I thought they were kidding me. When I heard that he reached 17 Slam titles, I put my hands on my face." [ESPN]
While Federer is no longer the dominant figure he once was, his remarkable ability to stay healthy has given him an edge in the career Grand Slam race over rivals like Rafael Nadal.
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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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