Roger Federer is a man who possesses more talent than most of us could only dream of, with one of the Swiss’s powers seemingly being his ability to go back to the future.
Or, that’s what it feels like anyway as Federer is set to defy time again.
This week, fresh from his record-breaking 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month, he will begin his campaign at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and the end goal of becoming the world’s oldest number one in the history of the ATP World Tour.
The 36-year-old, who lies just 155 ranking points behind current top dog Rafael Nadal, can surpass his great rival if he makes the semi-finals at an event he has won twice previously.
Injury-stricken Nadal is not due to play until Acapulco at the end of the month, meaning a last-four berth this week would see Federer replace Andre Agassi as the eldest statesman to accomplish the feat. The American has held the record since 2003, when he topped the world aged 33 years and 131 days.
Federer, himself, is of course a man with a great affinity to top spot having been at the summit for a record 302 weeks throughout his career, with 237 of them being consecutive from February 2004 to August 2008. Obviously, that was another squiggle in the history book next to his name.
The fact he hasn’t been atop of the rest since November 2012 just adds another dimension to a man who seems to be getting better with age.
A master of his schedule, the Swiss was granted a late wildcard by tournament director and former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek to enter the event – knowing full well that his window to go top was small given he has plenty of points to defend at Indian Wells and the Miami Open next month. For UAE tennis fans, it is disappointing that we won’t see Federer in action at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship this year but again, it’s easy to see why he chose to play in the Netherlands.
Federer, who only dropped two sets en-route to a record-equalling sixth major crown in Melbourne, will face Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans in the first round on Wednesday and could take on compatriot Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals. That’s not a foregone conclusion despite the three-time Grand Slam champion’s indifferent form, but Alexander Zverev potentially awaits in the semi-final and Grigor Dimitrov in the final.
Few would argue against him going all the way to the title.
