Roger Federer celebrates after defeating Robin Soderling during their men’s singles final match of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Sunday. The victory gives Federer 14 Grand Slams, tied for the most ever.

PARIS — Through the years and the disappointments, as Roger Federer imagined what it might be like to finally win the French Open, it was surely not quite like this.

How could he have imagined that his opponent in one of the most important matches of his life would be Robin Soderling, a relatively unknown Swede, instead of his nemesis, Rafael Nadal?

How could he have thought that an intruder would jump out of the stands, run toward him and brusquely attempt to place a hat on Federer’s head, leaving him shaken?

How could he have predicted, on top of the pent-up expectations weighing upon him, that he would also have to deal with some of the dankest, dampest weather ever experienced during a modern major singles final?

No, it was all quite extraordinary, but Federer shrugged it all off and kept his focus on the one Grand Slam singles trophy he was lacking. By winning the French Open on Sunday, Federer tied the record of 14 major singles titles held by Pete Sampras. But Sampras, the retired American champion, never won the French Open, the only one of the game’s four most prestigious tournaments to be played on clay. A strong case can now be made for Federer in the inevitable, probably irresolvable debate over who deserves to be considered the greatest player ever.

Federer became the sixth man to win the singles title at all of the Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open. The other men to have managed it are Don Budge, Fred Perry, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Andre Agassi.

“This could be my biggest victory, the one that takes off the most pressure,” said the 27-year-old Federer, who was in tears (not for the first time this season) after the 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 victory. “Now for the rest of my career, I can play relaxed and never hear again that I never won the French Open.”

Sampras, who won the last of his 14 Grand Slam singles titles at the 2002 U.S. Open, said he was content to share his record with Federer, with whom he has become friendly during exhibition tours. “I didn’t think it would take only seven years to tie,” Sampras told the men’s tour’s Web site. “It feels like I’m in good company with Roger.”

Agassi presented the trophy to Federer on Sunday, which was an appropriate coincidence considering that Agassi also completed his collection of major titles in Paris by winning by surprise in 1999.

“It was destiny I guess in many respects,” Agassi said of Federer. “Roger has earned his place, his rightful place in the game. Winning here was just something that would have been a bit of a crime if he never did. He’s been the second best clay-courter for five years running, and if it weren’t for one kid from Majorca, he would have won a handful of these things.”

The kid from Majorca is Nadal, who supplanted Federer at No. 1 last year. Federer has won the Australian Open three times, Wimbledon five times and the U.S. Open five times. But the French Open had eluded him because of Nadal, who beat him in the semifinals here in 2005 and in the final the last three years.

Last year, when Federer was in the midst of his four-year run at No. 1, Nadal embarrassed him, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, in the French Open final. It was a harbinger of bigger disappointments. Nadal ended Federer’s five-year run at Wimbledon, won the Olympic gold medal in singles and took over the No. 1 ranking. Although Federer recovered to win his fifth straight U.S. Open title in September, he lost again to Nadal in this year’s first Grand slam tournament, the Australian Open.

During the trophy ceremony in Australia, Federer sobbed uncontrollably and was comforted by Nadal, who had, at that stage, beaten him five times in a row and 13 times in 19 matches. With questions increasing about his state of mind, Federer took a six-week break because of a lingering back problem. After his return, he failed to win a tournament until he unexpectedly beat Nadal on clay in the Madrid Open final last month.

On Sunday, Federer jumped out to a 4-0 lead and swept through the opening set in 23 minutes. In the second set, with Soderling trailing, 1-2, and serving at 15-0 in the second set, a red-clad man jumped on to Federer’s side of the court and was soon face to face with him behind the baseline. The intruder then tried to force a cap onto Federer’s head before being tackled by a security guard.

But he regrouped to win the second set. And in the third set, the suspense was dissipating, but not the historic opportunity. Federer served for the title at 5-4 with his nerves jangling.

“It was almost unplayable for me,” he said. “I was just hoping to serve some good serves and hoping he’d make four errors. It was that bad.”

But after winning the match, Federer was on his knees and soon crying in earnest as the Swiss national anthem played during the awards ceremony. It was hard not to flash back to Australia earlier this year when his tears were flowing for quite a different reason.