Roger Federer
2012: Wimbledon title, return to No. 1, and Olympic silver

Federer began the 2012 season by reaching the semifinal of the Australian Open, which he lost to Nadal. He then won the Rotterdam Open for the first time since 2005, defeating del Potro in the final. In the Dubai Championships, he defeated Murray in the final. Federer then won the Indian Wells Masters after defeating Nadal in the semifinals, and John Isner in the final.

Federer went on to compete at the Madrid Masters on the new blue clay surface, where he beat Tomáš Berdych in the final, thus regaining the No. 2 ranking from Rafael Nadal. In the French Open, Federer reached the semifinals before losing to Djokovic in straight sets, in a rematch of the previous year's semifinal.

At Wimbledon, Federer played a five-set match in the third round against Julien Benneteau on his way to winning the tournament, defeating Djokovic in the semifinals and then Murray in a four-set final to win his seventh Wimbledon championship, tying Sampras' Open Era record. With this victory, Federer returned to the top spot in the world rankings and, in doing so, broke Sampras' record of 286 weeks atop the list. In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Federer defeated Del Potro in a 4-hour 26-minute semifinal by winning 19–17 in the third and final set. Clearly exhausted from his clash with Del Potro, Federer then lost the final to Murray in a surprisingly lopsided match, thus winning a silver medal for his country.

In August, Federer won the Cincinnati Masters, beating Djokovic in the final. In the US Open, Federer was defeated by Tomáš Berdych in the quarterfinals. At the Shanghai Masters, after defeating Wawrinka in the third round, Federer confirmed his 300th week at No. 1, thus becoming the first player to reach this milestone. Federer ended the season by reaching the final of the ATP Finals, where he lost to Djokovic.
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