One can?t easily accuse Roger Federer of having delusions of grandeur. He owns more major singles titles (16) than any man in history. He?s fabulously wealthy. He rarely gets injured. He?s happily married with two children. Put Federer up against some of the world?s most influential, and luckiest, people and one would still say the former world No. 1 has lived a charmed life in comparison.
Federer is still convinced that there are more accomplishments, even major ones, ahead. As he prepared to travel to Montreal for the start of the summer hard court swing and his 30th birthday, Federer spoke to reporters from Switzerland, where he has trained for the last few weeks.
?I think I?m really close to making something special happen,? he said. ?I haven?t been thinking too much of what?s been happening. I?m more looking forward to what?s hopefully to come.?
For Federer, what has happened for most of 2010 and all of 2011 are late-round losses. He hasn?t won a major title since the 2010 Australian Open and now finds himself ranked behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, two younger and more confident stars. At Wimbledon, he squandered a two-sets-to-love lead at a Slam for the first time in his career. He hasn?t won the U.S. Open since 2008, when he won the last of five straight titles.
So is Federer talking a big game, deluded, or honestly at ease with his chances at this year?s U.S. Open and in future majors? I?ll go with the latter?because he should be.
Djokovic and Nadal are both better than Federer right now. They?re younger, faster, steadier and less likely to make strings of errors with one stroke, as Federer sometimes does with his backhand. Federer can serve better than either of them and has more options to attack, but he can?t out-defend them and defense, in today?s hyper-athletic tennis, usually prevails.
Still, I can?t recall a 30-year-old in the Open Era who had more going for him than Federer. His health has been remarkable over the years, thanks to a strict training regimen and a carefully planned schedule (not to mention the gene that gave him grace). He still likes to travel and doesn?t sound burned out or frustrated by the sport: As Federer put it, ?the mind is there.?
Now consider the case of Andre Agassi. At 30, Agassi had been both high and low, content and fed up, dedicated and lazy. He never moved as well as Federer and didn?t have as many weapons. Through persistent training, he won two major titles in his 30s and reached two other finals, including one against Federer at the U.S. Open (Agassi, a heavy underdog, played Federer more closely than people expected before losing in four sets).
Agassi?s greatest asset in those years was pragmatism, and that?s how the soon-to-be 30-year-old Federer sounds to me. Work hard. Enjoy it. Concentrate. Get to the later rounds?and then hope that things break your way. Maybe a younger, fitter player on a long winning streak gets tight, as Djokovic did at this year?s French Open. Maybe someone gets injured. Maybe the draw implodes and you play Rainer Schuettler in a major final. These and many other things can happen in tennis, and if a player is good enough to stay alive in a tournament until they do, the result might well be a title.
?I?m at peace with myself,? Federer said. ?I know my abilities. I don?t want to say I?m overconfident, but I also know what I can do and I also know, how do you say, my limits. Hopefully that allows me to play the best tennis I can each day.?
It?s a philosophy that has worked in the past?and it can work again.
Tom Perrotta is an editor-at-large at TENNIS. Follow him on Twitter.
Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-features/~3/-WwVkjh0Z3E/
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