Roger Federer.
To me, the greatest tennis player ever.
But I knew I'd see the day where he declined. 2010 was only one slam. 2011 was no slams. 2012 was still only one slam. Last year was none. Frankly, I'm not sure he'll ever win another.
Last year started out like where 2012 left off. He made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open again, but lost to Andy Murray. And from there, he was a near-miss in several tournaments. But Federer's back flared up soon after. Despite his win at Gary Weber, Roger struggled the rest of the season.
But a pretty good fall saw Roger reach the semis or better of his last three tournaments of 2013. Federer failed to win any of the three, but only because of players named Nadal, Djokovic and Del Potro. No shame there.
This year. New coach. New racquet. New Back. And maybe...
After reaching the finals in Brisbane to start the year, Federer reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, only to have his nemesis Rafael Nadal beat him, again. Well, that dropped the "Never To Be Failed To Mentioned Head To Head" record of Roger to 10-23 against Rafael. But what no one seemed to talk about was it brought Federer's streak of consecutive Australian Open semis to eleven! Novak Djokovic, who like Federer has won four Australian Opens, lost in the quarter-finals. So Federer has got a huge edge over both his rivals there.
So, I figured, okay, that will be the highlight of what could be a long year for Roger Federer. He won his only Davis Cup match against 268th ranked Ilija Bozoljac. But Bozoljac didn't look like a bozo in his loss. The first two sets were close, and then Federer's experience took over in the third.
Then came Dubai, where I figured Federer would lose. Well, it was the Roger Federer of old. Here in Dubai, Federer was looking to buy a few more years of tennis greatness. With back-to-back wins over both Djokovic and Tomas Berdych (who had beaten him the year before), Roger had his first title of the year. His first (and only) title of 2013 came in June!
Here's a stat I find interesting. That is, the definitive proof of Federer's return to glory this year.
# of wins over Top 10 players, all of 2013: 4
# of wins over Top 10 players, so far in 2014: 4
And how about a side-by-side comparison of The First Five?
To me, the greatest tennis player ever.
But I knew I'd see the day where he declined. 2010 was only one slam. 2011 was no slams. 2012 was still only one slam. Last year was none. Frankly, I'm not sure he'll ever win another.
Last year started out like where 2012 left off. He made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open again, but lost to Andy Murray. And from there, he was a near-miss in several tournaments. But Federer's back flared up soon after. Despite his win at Gary Weber, Roger struggled the rest of the season.
But a pretty good fall saw Roger reach the semis or better of his last three tournaments of 2013. Federer failed to win any of the three, but only because of players named Nadal, Djokovic and Del Potro. No shame there.
This year. New coach. New racquet. New Back. And maybe...
After reaching the finals in Brisbane to start the year, Federer reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, only to have his nemesis Rafael Nadal beat him, again. Well, that dropped the "Never To Be Failed To Mentioned Head To Head" record of Roger to 10-23 against Rafael. But what no one seemed to talk about was it brought Federer's streak of consecutive Australian Open semis to eleven! Novak Djokovic, who like Federer has won four Australian Opens, lost in the quarter-finals. So Federer has got a huge edge over both his rivals there.
So, I figured, okay, that will be the highlight of what could be a long year for Roger Federer. He won his only Davis Cup match against 268th ranked Ilija Bozoljac. But Bozoljac didn't look like a bozo in his loss. The first two sets were close, and then Federer's experience took over in the third.
Then came Dubai, where I figured Federer would lose. Well, it was the Roger Federer of old. Here in Dubai, Federer was looking to buy a few more years of tennis greatness. With back-to-back wins over both Djokovic and Tomas Berdych (who had beaten him the year before), Roger had his first title of the year. His first (and only) title of 2013 came in June!
Here's a stat I find interesting. That is, the definitive proof of Federer's return to glory this year.
# of wins over Top 10 players, all of 2013: 4
# of wins over Top 10 players, so far in 2014: 4
And how about a side-by-side comparison of The First Five?
| Tournament | 2013 | 2014 |
| Brisbane | DNP | F |
| Australia | SF | SF |
| Davis Cup (Jan) | DNP | 1-0 |
| Rotterdam | QF | DNP |
| Dubai | SF | W |
| Indian Wells | QF | F |
| Miami | DNP | ??? |
| Madrid | R16 | Not Held Yet |
| Events Entered | 5 | 5 |
| Matches Played | 19 | 22 |
| Overall (W-L) | 14-5 | 19-3 |
| W % | 0.737 | 0.864 |
| Titles Won | 0 | 1 |
| Finals Or Better Reached | 0 | 3 |
| SF " " " | 2 | 4 |
| QF " " " | 4 | 4 |
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