Roger Federer reaches 1,000 match wins!

It was a good day at the office for my favorite tennis player.

Roger Federer reached his 1,000th career victory by winning the ATP tournament in Brisbane for the first time in his career.

It was a victory that was hard-earned as he edged out world number eight Milos Raonic of Canada 6-4, 6-7 (7-2), 6-4 at Pat Rafter Arena.

At 33, Federer is ranked number two in the world and won the 83rd title of his stellar career – 17 of those titles are at grand slam tournaments.

Only two men, Jimmy Connors (1253) and Ivan Lendl (1071), have claimed more than a thousand victories in ATP Tour history.

Federer was awarded the tournament trophy by Roy Emerson and a special award for 1,000 wins by fellow Australian legend Rod Laver.

“To get to 1,000 wins in front of you two greats means a lot to me,” Federer said after the match. “I’ll never forget this moment… Special moment. I’m glad I got it.’

“Clearly it’s a special day for me, winning a title plus getting to the magic number of 1,000,” he also said. “It feels very different to any other match I’ve ever won. All those [milestone] numbers didn’t mean anything to me, but for some reason 1,000 means a lot because it’s such a huge number. Just alone to count to 1,000 is going to take a while.”

It’s excellent preparation for the year’s first major, the Australian Open, which begins in a week. Federer has won there four times but not since 2010. But he has made at least the semi-final round at Melbourne Park every year since 2004.