At 33, tennis legend Roger Federer climbs back to #2 in the world by winning the Shanghai Masters

People who have a favorite sports team will understand this: When Roger Federer loses a big match, it can kind of ruin my day (still recovering from this year’s Wimbledon final). But when he wins a big match, it can really make me unreasonably happy.

I write this post a happy man.

Federer – my friend Henry and I refer to him as Our Roger – beat world number one Novak Djokovic on Saturday then Frenchman Giles Simon today to win the Shanghai Masters.

The win propels Federer, at the age of 33, past Rafael Nadal into the number two ranking.

It was his fourth tournament win of the season and 81st overall – only Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors have won more titles and no one in the men’s game has won more majors (17) than Federer,

“Usually everything slows down at the end of the season,” Federer told reporters in China after the match. “Not for me this time. This year everything is going really well. I have so many highlights to look forward to for the end of the season, which is nice.”

There are a few more tournaments left to play in 2014 then in January, Federer should be in a solid position to try and win the Australian Open for the fifth time.