“The vacation has only just started, and I had quite a trip trying to get down here,” Federer said in a phone interview last week. “But once down at the beach with the nice weather and the alone time with Mirka, I definitely look back and go, ‘I can’t believe I was just in my 100th final, and it’s already my 70th title.’ That’s what I told her. I got together with her when I had zero titles, and we kind of went through all this together, and now we have a family. It’s been pretty incredible.”
Until the home stretch of the season, Federer’s 2011 was better defined by frustration than fulfillment. But after a timely six-week break following a stunning loss to Novak Djokovic in the United States Open semifinals, his mental and physical freshness helped him produce tennis reminiscent of grander years as he won his last three tournaments: his home city event in Basel, the Paris indoors and the elite year-end ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Djokovic was the man of the year, winning three of the four Grand Slam singles titles. Rafael Nadal won his sixth French Open. But although Federer lost four of five matches to Djokovic and failed to win a Grand Slam singles title for the first time since 2002, he is the only one of the game’s lead pack who will be carrying momentum and a long winning streak into the new year.
“By Roger’s incredibly lofty standards, 2011 was a down year in that he didn’t win a major,” Jim Courier, a tennis analyst and the United States Davis Cup captain, said in an e-mail. “I think his fall win streak is testament to his intact talent, the effortless aspect of his game compared to his peers and intelligent scheduling. I suspect he will continue to be a strong contender at the majors until his speed of foot starts to fall off, which seems to occur in top-level athletes around the age of 32 or 33.”
If so, Federer, who will turn 31 in August, still has time to keep covering the corners, even if he is now the oldest man in the top 25.
“Am I surprised I’m still so hungry at this age?” Federer said. “Not really, because I always expected myself to be this way. I never saw myself sort of just all of the sudden fading, fading away and at the end having no love left for the game. I just really think it’s a thing that maybe the body decides or something else decides when it’s over, but it’s not just all of the sudden not going to be there anymore.”
It has been a bustling phase on and off the court for Federer, and 2012 could be even busier, as he is expected to chase the only two significant prizes he lacks: an Olympic gold medal in singles and the Davis Cup. The Olympic event will be shortly after Wimbledonat the All England Club, where Federer has won six titles.
“It’s not as complicated as other Olympic years,” said Federer, who competed at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics. “We couldn’t be better prepared this time around, whereas the last times have been brutal.”
Federer committed to playing the first round of Davis Cup in February, in which Switzerland will host to Courier and the United States. Federer has not played a nonrelegation round in Davis Cup’s World Group since 2004.
Federer also said that he had extended his relationship with Paul Annacone, his co-coach along with Severin Luthi, after the United States Open semifinal loss to Djokovic in which he squandered two match points on his serve.
“I know when someone is doing a good job and when someone is not,” said Federer.
He said he told Annacone, “Just because Novak smashed a forehand past me, and I missed match point, has no effect on my decision in working with you.”
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