He heard all the talk all tournament long. The gasps from a very supportive New York crowd who have been pulling for him to make some more history.

Roger Federer wasn’t the same player anymore. How could he be when he’d not won a major so far this year even falling on his favorite Centre Court in an epic five setter to chief rival Rafael Nadal?

Before this season, the Swiss Maestro entered ranked as the world’s top player for a fourth consecutive year having won all 12 of his grand slams spanning the past five years (2003-07) taking five straight at the All England Club while reeling off four in a row here in New York along with three more down under. One of the most remarkable runs in the sport of tennis.

Maybe the way he made most of those championships look spoiled us as he inched closer to Pete Sampras’ slam record 14. That’s when discussion began about just how many Federer could win. It wasn’t whether he’d match Sampras and win the three required to become the most successful male singles tennis player of all-time. Just a question of when.

That’s when things got more interesting that first month in Australia when Novak Djokovic got the better of him in straight sets in the semis en route to his first career major over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It later came out that Roger wasn’t totally right coming back from mono.

He still wasn’t 100 percent losing more than usual before the French Open. Even surprise first-time U.S. Open quarterfinalist Mardy Fish served him off the court in two sets and Andy Roddick finally snapped his losing streak. Federer still ran through his first six opponents in Roland Garros for a third rematch against the king of clay Nadal. The last two times, he took a set off the Spaniard but this time wound up getting smoked in such humiliating fashion like no one had ever seen.

Just like that, murmurs started that Federer was being gained on quickly by Nadal. Up till that point, all their grand slam finals had been very competitive including Roger’s tying fifth straight at Wimbledon matching legend Bjorn Borg in which he dug deep in a fifth set to keep the Spaniard from celebrating a French and Wimbledon in the same year. But this time, most predicted the changing of the guard with the torch being passed. What they got was arguably the greatest tennis match given the circumstances. Though Federer fought valiantly back from two sets down, he still came up just a little short allowing Nadal to finally do the unthinkable conquering him on his favorite court.

Even if he didn’t have the No.1 ranking at that juncture, he’d become the first male player to sweep the French and Wimbledon in the same year since Borg and deserved the top spot. Eventually, Federer’s slump continued losing earlier than expected in hardcourt events while Nadal won one and finished runner-up to Djokovic. Finally, he was No.1 and carried that new pressure into this year’s final slam here in Flushing Meadows.

Perhaps this boded well for Federer who still came in as the four-time rating champion because for once, the pressure was off. Sure. Many expected the recently turned 27 year-old to go deep into the tournament. However, even in this space, we took Djokovic to beat him and then defeat Nadal for his second slam of the season.

There was the former top ranked player struggling two rounds earlier to get by feisty Russian baseliner Igor Andreev changing tactics by going to the net to pull out a very hard fought five setter advancing to the quarters versus surprise qualifier Gilles Muller, whose name last rang to prominence in these parts when he upset Andy Roddick in 2005. Even against the rejuvenated lefty from Luxembourg, Federer had to come up with his best to oust him in straights taking two close tiebreakers emerging into the semis where he awaited the Djokovic-Roddick winner.

Djokovic had already been pushed needing a very close four to edge young Croat Marin Cilic and then with conditioning becoming a factor showed resolve besting Tommy Robredo in five to setup his now well documented encounter with Roddick where pre-match banter fired the 21 year-old No.3 ranked Serb up inspiring him to a hard fought four set triumph.

The final rematch was set between the two best hardcourters. With steady rain in Saturday’s forecast due to Tropical Storm Hanna, U.S. Open officials moved the much anticipated first semi to 11 AM at Ashe Stadium. Would that give an edge to someone? It didn’t really matter as both had to prepare for the earlier start unaware if they’d even complete their match while pondering what would happen with the other semi between Nadal and soon to be new No.4 Andy Murray.

Federer is six years older than Djokovic but nobody strikes a bigger ball than the fiery Serbian who ticked off fans with his comments the other night adding fuel to the fire. There’s little doubt that his time is coming which was precisely why I took him to capture his first U.S. Open adding it to the Australian.

That said, there was the champ bringing his ‘A’ game. Especially on his much overlooked serve where he served 20 aces to his opponent’s six with many of them proving large. There also was the trademark footwork along with the great defense shifting to offense playing a very crisply finishing with 51 winners while committing 28 unforced errors. This came against a bigger guy who was crushing the ball as hard as he could trying his best to dictate rallies. Instead, it was Djokovic who had eight less winners (43) while making 19 more errors (47).

At a set apiece late in the third set, Federer wouldn’t allow Djokovic to gain the upperhand. Trailing 4-5, he easily held serve to stay alive putting the pressure squarely back on Novak, who came unraveled at 30-all letting a fan bother him. Though he still got into the point, he missed an easy forehand netting it showing the frustration by motioning with his arms at the crowd as if to say, ‘Thanks a lot.’

When Federer’s at his best, he has that uncanny ability to seize the momentum a la Sampras. With the crowd urging him on, he played an excellent point drawing Djokovic in and then ripping a hard backhand which the Serb couldn’t handle volleying it way out for the key break. He then followed up by easily serving out the third set pulling within one more of a fifth consecutive U.S. Open final.

“I had moments out there where I really felt, ‘This is how I normally play on hard court’—half-volleys, passing shots, good serving, putting the pressure on, playing with the wind, using it to my advantage,” he would later say.

“I definitely had moments during today where I thought, ‘This is how I would like to play every time.’ So it was a very nice feeling, actually, to get that feeling back.”

At that point, a weary Djokovic was almost out of fuel. He stayed on serve the first couple of games but it was just a matter of time before Federer got him. Sensing that his tired opponent was going for broke trying to end rallies quicker, the experienced Swiss champ wisely used his defense to keep points alive and let Djokovic self destruct handing him the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.

After serving out of trouble to consolidate the break, Federer went for the kill grabbing the moment when Djokovic misfired again to get the insurance. With his opponent defeated, Federer served it out at love and left the court with that huge winner’s grin you’ve grown accustomed to seeing.

He had displayed a lot more emotion following his fourth round win over Andreev pumping his fists and screaming, “Yeah” at the top of his lungs. The New York crowd definitely loved seeing that kinda emotion from a classy champion who usually doesn’t let it all out for everyone to see.

“I feel a little bit New Yorker right now,” Federer acknowledged. “I definitely appreciate the efforts from the fans, supporting me and pushing me forward.”

Nobody can ever question his hunger as it’s never wavered despite the disappointments of the last three slams. Now, here he is in a third straight slam final looking for more history trying to match Bill Tilden and win five straight U.S. Open championships.

With Nadal trailing Murray by two sets 2-6, 6-7 (5), 3-2 with the conclusion later today and the final awaiting tomorrow, he’ll now patiently await the winner looking to capture grand slam No.13 which would be only one behind Sampras.

When asked who he preferred, a man who always seems to know what to say in these moments gave the appropriate answer to loud cheers:

“Who do I prefer?” a smiling Federer said before answering:

“I prefer the trophy. That’s what I prefer.”

What else would you expect?