Roger Federer: I’m Extremely Happy With My 2017 Season

Fedal fans have alot to be happy about this year, both sets of fans can sleep pretty easily with their favorites achievements ….

November 20th, 2017 at 11:33 am

Yes, Federer has been extremely happy with his 2017 season. He was probably already ecstatic with the Australian Open. He was extremely happy with Indian Wells and Miami. Euphoric with Wimbledon, his 19th Grand Slam championship. Federer could have probably won the US Open as well and/or the No. 1 ranking had he really wanted it.
http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/21458600/atp-world-tour-finals-tennis-roger-federer-did-numbers-stellar-season

Federer’s 2017 season proves what I have said several times before: Federer could have won several additional Grand Slam titles (4-8), ATP Finals titles (1-2) and Year-End No. 1 (1-2) if only he had been more motivated, more focused and made a greater effort over much of the past 8 years since 2010 Australian. Given Federer’s level of performance this season, he certainly had the capability to perform at the same or even higher levels from the 2010 to 2016 seasons – but he chose not to do so. Virtually everything Federer did differently this season – from racquet to tactics — was suggested to him many times, many years ago. It’s nothing new, except implementing it through practice. But at age 28, after his 16th Grand Slam title and almost 285 weeks at World No. 1, Federer probably felt he achieved downshifted and started cruising through long periods of the ATP seasons since 2010 Australian, as his business and other off court activities distracted him. Despite being underprepared, Federer was still able to grind and win against lesser ATP opponents due to his competitive toughness and natural talent. From 2010 to 2016, the only period when Federer put in consistent effort for a long period was from 2011 US Open to 2012 Cincinnati – with his old smaller head racquet he returned to No. 1 when he won 9 titles within a 52-week period: Wimbledon, ATP Finals, 4 Masters (Paris, Indian Wells, Madrid, Cincinnati) and 3 ATP 500 (Basel, Rotterdam, Dubai). Just as he did this year, in 2012 Federer squandered the Year-End No. 1 ranking: after the 2012 US Open, instead of chasing ranking points and titles, he chose to play a meaningless Davis Cup tie and showed up underprepared in 2012 Shanghai (Federer’s win-loss percentage in the three months after 2012 Cincinnati was similar to his 2013 season).

Back to Federer’s 2017 season. After Wimbledon, the second half of the year was gravy for Federer. Although Federer won Shanghai and Basel, he could have won a few more titles if he really wanted.

After Wimbledon, Federer’s biggest focus was probably to ensure the success of his Team8’s first Laver Cup. With Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka, Del Potro, Nishikori and Raonic suddenly unavailable for the Laver Cup – Federer’s top priority was surely to persuade Nadal to participate and promote the event. Given Nadal’s ‘me-first’ attitude, it seemed unlikely that Nadal would risk adding more hard court matches into his schedule that would put at risk his aspirations to win the US Open and Year-End No. 1. Perhaps these two prizes as well as a big appearance fee were the price for Nadal’s participation in the Laver Cup and explain Federer’s (a) convenient injury that affected his Montreal-Cincinnati-USO stretch but not the Laver Cup and (b) Federer’s unwillingness to challenge Nadal for points at Beijing and Paris (while willing to play 3 Laver Cup matches and 1 Murray exhibition match).

Federer is too smart and experienced a planner to have – curiously — showed up in Montreal at all. Worse, he showed up underprepared and claimed in a post-match interview that “practice is overrated”. He surely knew that focusing on Cincinnati and the US Open would be enough to assure him both the US Open and the No. 1 ranking. He looked rusty in Montreal and his convenient injury gave him the excuse to tank the Montreal final, skip Cincinnati and tank the US Open. If Federer was capable of finishing the Zverev Montreal match, it is questionable why his back injury conveniently dragged on for three weeks into the US Open, where he struggled in most matches and even practiced in Central Park which he tweeted for publicity. In his US Open match against Del Potro, Federer hit too much into Delpo’s forehand, building up Delpo’s confidence to stay in the match and hit his backhand more freely. Did Federer tank to Delpo, to give his Team8 contracted player Delpo the limelight of playing Nadal as well as stay out of Nadal’s path to the US Open title?

At the ATP Finals, some expert observers felt Federer was nursing an injury. My belief is that his relatively rusty performances (while not as bad as Montreal), especially in the round robin, were due to under-preparation after he won Basel. Federer seemed to be trying to play himself into form, which he has done many times before. Instead of practising more before the Cilic match, Federer took Wednesday off for a family visit with Prince William’s family at Kensington Palace. In the semifinal, when Goffin raised his level, Federer lacked the confidence and consistency to do the same and reverted back to his round-robin levels. Or perhaps Federer’s questionable plays at the start of the second set (e.g., serving three serves into Goffin’s forehand wheelhouse) were aimed at tanking the match… and leaving the door open for his Team 8 player Dimitrov to take the title. Federer seemed to lack that focus that he had for Australia, Indian Wells, Wimbledon, Laver Cup and Shanghai.

From his business perspective, Federer surely was deliriously happy with his Team8’s successes in the Laver Cup as well year-end rankings and titles: No. 2 Federer, No. 3 Dimitrov and No. 11 Juan Martin del Potro (could easily have been No. 10 with just 20 more points). Federer is no longer playing just because he is a great competitor and he loves tennis. For several years now Federer’s business growth and revenue have benefited simply from his being on the ATP Tour. Among active athletes in all sports, Federer’s business is the biggest of all.

Federer is surely pleased that he beat Nadal in all four meetings this year, including 3 finals. After Wimbledon, Nadal practiced on his island Mallorca with baby-fed Grigor Dimitrov – probably hoping this would help him against Federer in the second half of the season. Federer has now won their last five matches since 2015 Basel (winning 4 finals and dropping only 3 sets). Federer has a 7-6 record over Nadal since the 2011 ATP finals (where Federer beat Nadal 6-3, 6-0). Federer is 9-10 since 2009 Madrid clay (where Federer beat Nadal 6-4, 6-4). Nadal knows this and in future surely will try his best to avoid playing Federer whenever Nadal does not feel in top form.
http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/21426324/atp-world-tour-finals-how-rafael-nadal-helped-turn-grigor-dimitrov-season

Despite their changed fortunes on the court, the biggest change in the Federer-Nadal relationship may well be in their off-court business collaborations and mutual admiration publicity since 2016 (e.g., Rafa’s tennis school, Roger’s Laver Cup). such collaborations between Federer and Nadal, Djokovic and Murray will probably increase with each passing year as these athletes seek to generate much more income from their collaborations off court than from their matches on court.

November 22nd, 2017 at 11:06 am

I JUST DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY WE ARE BEING BOMBARDED WITH THESE REPETITIVE POSTS!
I just do not understand why we are being bombarded with these repetitive posts!
I just do not understand why we are being bombarded with these repetitive posts!
#youknow

November 22nd, 2017 at 11:23 am

^Don’t read them.
Remember Brando? CF1? C’mon man just scroll if you don’t like them. Everyone knows you’re reading them though lol…
I kinda enjoy them, better than twit picks. ;)

November 22nd, 2017 at 11:34 am

I Really miss MMTs fair and wise posts, very balanced seeing things from all angles not just from his personal favorites, a rare commoditie on this forum ….

November 22nd, 2017 at 12:07 pm

And Grendels SOH ;-)

November 22nd, 2017 at 12:34 pm

This is a blog about Federer. Yet two-thirds of all previous posts here (including the only repetitive post from Giles) are from Rafa fans bombarding us with what is unacceptable/acceptable to write about Federer… as well as how easily/uneasily other posters should sleep. I thought Fox News was the only arbiter of what is fair, balanced and wise… :)

Federer achieved what he did despite spending his energy on four exhibition events this season (Hopman Cup, Laver Cup, Federer-Murray in Switzerland, Federer-Murray in Scotland) in addition to the other circumstances I mentioned above.

November 22nd, 2017 at 7:12 pm

My apologies, i shouldve said Federer fans have alot to be happy about, and his can sleep easily in their beds, this thread is about Federer though not the blog so feel free ….

November 23rd, 2017 at 3:44 am

Apologies are not necessary for enthusiasm. Regardless, the term ‘blog’ can be defined the way I did. So this particular blog is clearly about “Roger Federer: I’m Extremely Happy With My 2017 Season.”
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/blog

November 23rd, 2017 at 9:10 am

Swiss tennis experts felt that Federer lacked mental freshness, was mentally tired or mentally burned out during the ATP Finals

Swiss tennis writer Rene Stauffer
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sport/tennis/zuletzt-menschlich-zuvor-ueberragend/story/16749485

former Swiss player Marc Rosset
https://www.tdg.ch/sports/actu/Marc-Rosset-Federer-etait-crame-mentalement/story/18713478

November 23rd, 2017 at 9:18 am

As i said already, apologies and feel free , your happy and Federers happy,im out of my depth here anyway, its all yours Toni N ….

November 23rd, 2017 at 10:47 am

“Federer and Rafa Nadal are the greatest modern rivals in tennis, but they’re also great friends. I’m personally a big fan. Did an illustration of these guys a while back. You can check it out and download it for free if you want on the following link:

https://goo.gl/fvi7HY

Let me know what you think :)”

November 23rd, 2017 at 3:06 pm

Roger Federer’s 2017 season was just perfect, he went with plan & conquer what he wanted to. Hope, 2018 will be the same :) Good Luck.

December 14th, 2017 at 11:27 pm