Wednesday at Court Philippe Chatrier, on the grounds of the Roland Garros tennis complex, a fortunate French crowd gathered to witness one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of professional sports.

Roger Federer isn’t just rewriting the history of tennis. The 27-year-old from Switzerland is achieving the kinds of feats that casual sports fans can’t possibly ignore. Team sports such as football (the global kind, not the American kind), basketball and baseball earn more publicity and television coverage than tennis, but when the career of the fabulous Federer is ultimately measured, the Swiss will be celebrated for what he did in the 2009 French Open quarterfinals against native son Gael Monfils.

Federer survived a tense first-set tiebreak and cruised from then on, scoring a 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4 win over his 11th-seeded foe. With the victory, Federer reached his 20th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, a round-numbered milestone whose significance is hard to adequately convey.

What does it mean to reach the final four at 20 straight major tournaments? Let one count the ways.

* For one thing, it means that the Swiss has made slam semifinals–without interruptions, injuries or breaks–for a full five-year period. Tennis–like golf–plays four major championships each calendar year, so a 20-tournament run encompasses five years’ worth of competition.

* Making 20 straight slam semis also means that Federer has won at least five matches in those 20 tournaments, good for a minimum total of 100 wins.

* The 20-tournament threshold attained Wednesday by Federer means that the Swiss has doubled the previous record of 10 straight slam semifinal appearances, a mark originally set by Rod Laver and then tied by Ivan Lendl.

* The “Big Two-Oh” comes near the end of a tournament in which Rafael Nadal’s Grand Slam semifinal streak was stopped at five by Robin Soderling’s fourth-round upset this past Sunday. Federer’s mark is four times as long as Rafa’s commendable run of slam semis.

All in all, Federer’s record represents a standard of tennis excellence so high as to be unfathomable. It could well be that another legend will come along, in 10 or 15 or 20 years (maybe Nadal could even be the guy, but bodily wear and tear will work against the Spaniard in that regard) and pull off the same awesome accomplishment against a new set of fearful foes. However, anyone intent on sniffing this mark, which–by the way–is likely to be extended to 21 at the upcoming Wimbledon championships, will have to possess Fed’s knack for worming his way out of tight spots, which was on display in this match against Monfils.

Federer and Monfils played in last year’s French Open, as the two men sprinted around the Chatrier clay in a high-level semifinal match. Federer absorbed a second-set loss but righted the ship to earn a hard-fought four-set triumph. Monfils might have lost, but the young Frenchman nearly took the Swiss superstar to a fifth and deciding set. One year later, it was reasonable to think that in light of Fed’s inconsistent play at Roland Garros, Monfils could put the pieces together and deliver a significant upset. The shock value of a Monfils victory would not have equaled the Nadal-Soderling spectacle, but it would have reverberated through the tennis community just the same.

Why did a history-changing surprise not occur? Let’s just put it this way: You don’t make 20 straight slam semis without finding a way to play through–and overcome–a handful of points freighted with fear and pressure.

Pete Sampras won 14 slams because the American was simply the best big-point player of his time. Whenever he found himself in a Wimbledon final, Sampras would consistently manage to dig out of love-40 situations by thumping three aces in a row. Federer doesn’t have quite the serve of Pistol Pete, but the Swiss has cultivated the same remarkable ability to win the few points that matter most in a match.

A 40-love point early in a set is one thing; a deuce or ad point quite another. A 1-all point in a tiebreak is one thing; a 5-6 point another. Federer lost a pair of mini-break leads to Monfils in a consequential first-set breaker, but when serving on set point for Monfils at 5-6, the world No. 2 calmly carried himself through an extended backcourt rally that ended with an error by the Frenchman. Federer would hammer a first serve after the changeover to hold for 7-6, and when given his own first look at a set point, the Swiss pressed the advantage and knocked away an overhead to tuck the first set in his pocket. When a dispirited Monfils failed to compete vigorously in a very quick second set (it lasted all of 28 minutes), the handwriting was on the wall. A break of serve at 4-all in the third enabled a relaxed Federer–no longer playing from behind as he did in prior matches at Roland Garros–to serve out the quarterfinal encounter, and give new meaning to the number 20.

Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 straight baseball games.

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a basketball game.

Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters golf championship by 12 strokes.

Now, there’s another mark that deserves its place in the sporting pantheon: Roger Federer has reached 20 straight Grand Slam singles semifinals.

The record looks good on its own; it looks even better in the company of other great sports achievements.

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