There are 1,000 reasons to admire phenomenal Roger Federer

It was fitting that Del Potro should have been Federer's opponent for his landmark match. The Argentine is one of only six players (the others are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Marat Safin, Gaston Gaudio and Andy Roddick) who have recorded the unusual feat of winning a Grand Slam during the Fed-era - beating Federer himself over five sets in the 2009 US Open Final.

Del Potro, 23, is also one of the young dogs who is supposed to be sniffing down the old stag, snapping at his legs, eager to put him away for good.

And perhaps Del Potro's time will come. But today it felt like Federer is still a couple of ditches ahead of his pursuers. Today he looked like the old Federer. He barely wavered. He showed that he still has more in common with Nadal and Djokovic than the likes of Del Potro, Tomas Berdych and Mardy Fish.

If he is going to win the Australian Open - which would be his first Slam title for two years - Federer will have to beat the winner of Nadal and Berdych's quarter-final, followed most likely by Djokovic in Sunday's final.

Whether he does that or not, it is still worth reflecting on what he has brought his sport since he thundered onto the world stage in 2001, aged 19, when he knocked Pete Sampras out of Wimbledon in the fourth round.

Statistically, Federer is one of the greats. Only eight other players (Ilie Nastase, Brian Gottfried, Connors, Andy Murray's coach Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg and John McEnroe) have played 1,000 or more matches.

Of them, Federer has the most Slam titles and the most consecutive weeks (237) as world No1. The 30-year-old's victory over Del Potro today equalled Connors's record of 232 Grand Slam singles match victories.

Only Sampras was more dominant in his time and the American never won at Roland Garros, unlike Federer, who was successful there in 2009.

During Federer's hottest streak, between Wimbledon in 2005 and the Australian Open Final in 2010, he appeared in every Grand Slam final bar one. He does not have the greatest career win percentage of all time - that record belongs to Bjorn Borg.

However, he has a raft of other achievements which may never be bettered: the most consecutive Slam finals (10), semi-finals (23), quarter-finals (31) and wins (27). He has also - and why not be mercenary for a second? - made more money from the game than anyone else.

But Federer's greatness is stylistic, as well as statistical. He has looked, since he shook himself out of the angry-young-man persona with which he began his career, like the perfect player. He moves and plays like fluid steel.

At the height of his dominance Federer resembled Robert Patrick's T-1000 from Terminator 2: implacably determined, totally malleable and virtually impossible to wound or destroy.

That he is now more reminiscent of Arnie's T-800 - still a machine but humanised, vulnerable, covered in flesh and blood - says a lot for brilliance of the new stars of the game, Djokovic and Nadal. It also makes the battle between these top three all the more compelling.

Judging by his performance today, Federer has several more seasons and perhaps another Slam or two in him.

Even if he retired today, though, he would have achieved something no other tennis player can dream of.

A study of 50,000 people carried out last year by the Reputation Institute found that only one human being - Nelson Mandela - was more admired and trusted than Federer. (Trailing in Federer's wake were Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Bono and Her Majesty Elizabeth II.) This peculiar record recognised Federer's extensive charitable work around the world and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

It also recognised, you would assume, the wholesome, clean-cut image of sporting excellence that he has cultivated over his millennium of matches. He has elevated sporting stardom above even the marketing-friendly level on which he can send housewives giddy and flog their husbands razor-blades. He is to many people around the world a real hero and a form of sporting statesman.

Follow me on Twitter @dgjones