Roger Federer: Why the Swiss Is More Dangerous Than Ever Entering French Open

The 2012 French Open, which is slated to begin at the end of May, has been the toughest tournament for Roger Federer to have continued success at.

Fortunately for the Swiss, he has great momentum entering France after a clay court tourney victory in Madrid. We'll dive into his 2012 performance later on, but first let's check out some other reasons why Federer is more dangerous than ever before.

Nothing to Lose

Although Roger Federer has just one championship victory at the French Open, that's also just one particular tournament. Looking at his entire body of work including the other grand slams, Federer's career speaks for itself.

The man has nothing left to prove about his Tennis ability at the highest of levels. Year-in and year-out he's always ranked among (or above) the elite, so it's not like losing the French Open this year will take away from all that Federer has accomplished.

Other elite competitors like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic still have at least another five or six years to accumulate wins and grand slam victories, so missing out now will cost them later on. From an all-encompassed career perspective, everyone is chasing Federer's records that may never be broken.

Current Legacy

To some extent, Federer's legacy ties into him having nothing to lose because it's not like anyone is going to strictly look at his French Open success, or lack thereof by comparison to other tournaments.

The most impressive and favorable position about Federer right now is he can only continue to build on his current legacy. Losing isn't going to change anything, but winning will just add to his dominance. After all, 16 grand slams (five straight at Wimbledon and the US Open) is unheard of.

Also, Federer won three of the four major events in three different years (2004, 2006, 2007) and he even won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the doubles format.

The Swiss is arguably the most complete player in the history of the sport, as he can play off the net, serve aces, win volleys against anyone and drops shots from anywhere on the court.

Momentum Rolling In

In addition to winning the Madrid Open, Roger Federer has won four of his last five tournaments in 2012.

What's more important though, is the level of confidence the 30-year old still possesses. In an article from the Global Times in early March, Federer expressed himself after winning over Andy Murray in Dubai:

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"There is no substitute to confidence," said Federer. "I'm defending much better than I was in the middle of last year where I felt like I couldn't come out of tough defensive positions anymore. I was able to turn it around. Now, I just have to keep it up."

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The final sentence of that quote was the perfect hit when he said, "Now I just have to keep it up." It pertains to consistency and maintaining a high-level of performance regardless of age.

Twice this year Federer responded with impressive performances after losing. After losing to Rafael Nadal in Australia, the Swiss took three straight singles tournaments before falling to Andy Roddick in Miami. He then made a quick rebound with the victory in Madrid to regain full momentum.

The French Open, however, has undoubtedly been Federer's Achilles' heel, but his recent production says otherwise for 2012.

John Rozum on Twitter.