Last February, when Roger Federer arrived in Dubai for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, he was bombarded with questions about his slide down the men’s tennis hierarchy.
The Swiss sounded supremely confident in his reply. “I feel my best tennis is around the corner,” he said, pausing for a moment to look around the room.
Federer must have sensed those words did not seem convincing coming from a man who had just had his worst year on the tennis circuit since 2001, winning a solitary title in 2013.
A lingering back problem did contribute towards his disappointing show last season, but most felt Father Time had a greater role in his struggles as Federer crashed out in the second round at Wimbledon, bringing an end to his proud run of reaching at least the quarter-finals at 36 consecutive grand slam tournaments.
Federer failed to progress beyond the fourth round at the US Open and though he started 2014 with a run to the final in Brisbane, witnesses described his loss to Lleyton Hewitt as the worst they had seen the Swiss play.
At the Australian Open, Federer showed glimpses of recovery by defeating Andy Murray in the quarter-final, but was then swamped by Rafael Nadal in the semis.
So, few in Dubai were willing to take Federer at his word, but he insisted. “I know I’ve said that a few times, but this time I really feel it’s the case,” the Swiss world No 8 – his lowest ranking since 2002 – said. “I am confident for the year ahead.”
In the following week he proved it with victories over Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych on his way to the final.
In 2013, Federer had only four wins against top 10 players, but had matched that number in the first 60 days of the new year.
Cynics, who had already written Federer off, were left dazed. Analysts were confounded; they had already announced Federer’s departure from that elite group called the Big Four.
The Swiss, though, has managed to turn back the clock. Binning all those gloomy predictions, he has risen to world No 2 following his triumph at the Shanghai Masters and could well finish as the year’s No 1.
Djokovic still has a 990-point lead on the Race to London leader board, but the Serb cannot add any more points to his tally since he is the defending champion at the two remaining events on his calendar – Paris and the Tour Finals. He could also miss both as his wife is expecting a baby next month.
Federer, on the other hand, could still add 3,000 points to his tally and, if he does that, it might just make up for the absence of a grand slam title since 2012.
It would be a fantastic turnaround, especially for a player of 33 years of age.
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