The 20-time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer was once a ball boy on the courts of Basel and today the same lad pulls off his ninth title on the same arena. The legend has achieved a milestone in front of his 12,000 natives present in the stadium. As Federer bags his the crown in Basel, his ATP career titles stretch out to 99. His hour and a half tussle against Marius Copil in the final of the Swiss Indoors aided him to win his 21st ATP 500 crown surpass Rafael Nadal who has 20 of them.

Emotions were gushing through him as the spirit of his home ground was overwhelming. “I’d like to say a few words to the people on the TV around the world,” Federer said.”Thank you so much for supporting me this week, it’s been a magical week and I can’t thank you enough. It’s been a dream run for me so thank you for coming out.” The Swiss maestro’s challenging week in Basel glorifies his 25th indoor title. His first title with Uniqlo and the 151st singles final on the ATP tour has redesigned his records. Federer has never lost a championship match to an opponent ranked below World Number 87.

The Basel title is his first win since the Stuttgart Open in Germany, where he managed his tennis schedule with the FIFA World Cup matches. Federer saw off the Romanian Copil, 7-6, 6-4. Copil managed to break Federer’s serve in the second set but could maintain the lead for a long time. The 22 winners and 14 unforced errors from the Swiss’ end produced a difficult situation for the Romanian. While Copil’s 25 winners were negated by his 31 unforced errors. The 93rd ranked Romanian landed in Basel with $1.67 million. The amount significantly less than what Federer earned in Melbourne in January. After Copil’s final defeat he rises his ranking to his career-best. Copil will move to the World Number 73 ranking from Monday.