Sport360° view: Much work for Federer despite Dubai win

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • It’s easy for tennis fans to get over excited sometimes.

    They also panic just as fast.

    That has been the case in the tennis world with regard to the one and only Roger Federer. For a man whose tennis has been larger than life, staying at the top for the better part of a decade meant that when the time came for others to try and outshine him, it sent ripples of shock across the sport’s ecosystem.

    His ability to avoid major injuries over the course of his career, also made people expect him to stay healthy forever and assume he would always perform at his very best.

    When he stepped over to the wrong side of 30, people still expected him to play like a 25-yearold, and began writing him off over and over again – some even going as far as asking him to retire.

    He was written off in 2011 when he didn’t win a major, then hailed once again when he won Wimbledon in 2012.

    Last year he made some wrong decisions, playing through back problems, which in his own words made for some “mediocre” results.

    So far this season we’ve seen a healthy, motivated and in-form Federer and, after taking out two top-10 players en route to the title in Dubai in the form of Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych, everyone is already buzzing about Federer 2.0 (or 3.0) and how he’s officially back and set to dominate the rest of the year.

    In truth, Federer, just like any other top athlete in the world, goes through cycles.

    He may have been impressively consistent during a large stretch of his career, but that in itself was just a cycle.

    And just like writing him off earlier was a mistake, getting too excited about his past few months – starting from his last three tournaments of 2013 up to now – is an unwise overreaction.

    Yes, it’s normal to expect a better year from the Swiss than the last one, but claiming “The King is back” after winning an ATP 500 tournament on the fast courts of Dubai is over the top.

    It remains a positive step in the right direction, rather than an all-out second coming.

    He looked fitter than he’s been in a long time and pulled off two comebacks that he perhaps would not have managed 12 months ago. But he’s also had the benefit of a lengthy training period in Dubai prior to this tournament and the faster courts favour him more than other players.

    A final in Brisbane, a semi-final in Melbourne and a title in Dubai still leaves him at No8 in the world.

    It will take a few more months to really see how much damage Federer can do this season and it will be interesting to see how his body fares after a long trip to Indian Wells, where he’ll be joined by the very best in the Californian desert.

    What we’ve witnessed so far from the 32-year-old in 2014 has been an exciting prospect.

    Now it’s time to wait and see how far he’ll go, and whether he can continue to overcome his lower seeding in difficult draws.

    Recommended