It says a lot about the standards that Roger Federer sets himself that he is probably disappointed with his 2015 season. The world No 3 reached nine ATP finals, two of which were majors, and won five titles in 2015.
Very good, most would surely agree. But a man who has won 17 grand slams in his career does not settle for very good.
The 34-year-old Swiss is driven by his bid to win an 18th major, a quest he has been on since 2012.
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He may be currently ranked No 3 in the world, but this year has seen him reestablish himself as the second-best men's player on the planet behind Novak Djokovic.
The only area he has come up short in is in beating the Serb in major finals, losing in four sets at both the Wimbledon and US Open finals. Federer did not do a whole lot wrong in those defeats, but that will not stop him striving to improve for the remainder of the year, starting this week at the Swiss Indoors tournament, and also includes three appearances for the UAE Royals in the International Premier Tennis League, one of which is in Dubai on December 14-16.
Federer has nothing to prove in a sport in which he has already won everything, so the fact he still pushing himself to find new ways to win the big titles again is refreshing.
He refined his serve this season in a bid to get back to the top, and the rest of 2015 should give us an early hint of what he plans in 2016 to try to dethrone Djokovic.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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