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Roger Federer Is Not Done Yet

By Siddhant Guru

SHANGHAI, CHINA - OCTOBER 11: Roger Federer of Switzerland looks on against Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain during they third round of the 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters on Day 5 at Qi Zhong Tennis Centre on October 11, 2018 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
SHANGHAI, CHINA - OCTOBER 11: Roger Federer of Switzerland looks on against Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain during they third round of the 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters on Day 5 at Qi Zhong Tennis Centre on October 11, 2018 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) /
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Roger Federer
MASON, OH – AUGUST 17: Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland during Day 7 of the Western and Southern Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on August 17, 2018 in Mason, Ohio. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

October 15, 2017– Roger Federer wins his 6th title of the season at Shanghai, beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets and continuing a stellar season to 44-4.

October 13, 2018– Roger Federer meekly surrenders his Shanghai title in the semi finals, losing to Next-Gen star Borna Coric, in straight sets, continuing a wretched run of form (by his standards) with a 39-7 record. At this stage, he only has 3 titles to his name, compared to 6 in 2017.

It’s a remarkable fall from grace for the 20-time Major winner. He started with a career-best 17-0 for the season (21-0 if you count the Hopman Cup wins), with wins in Melbourne and Rotterdam and a loss in the final of Indian Wells, where he held match points on serve in the deciding set.

However, since then, his season has unraveled pretty fast. A shock loss in the second round of Miami, was followed by Federer announcing that he was going to skip the Dirt for the second consecutive year. He did go on to win Stuttgart, but a loss in the final of Halle to Coric, was quickly compounded by a shock loss from 2 sets to love up, in the Quarter finals of Wimbledon, where he was the defending champion.

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The loss suffered next in the Cincinnati final to arch rival Novak Djokovic, followed by another uncharacteristic loss in the fourth round of the US Open meant that Federer’s season went downhill very fast. The chinks in the armour are growing bigger and bigger. Federer, at 37, no longer has the speed to engage in long rallies with his younger counterparts. That, coupled with the fact that the famed Federer forehand has been uncharacteristically poor this season, has led to a poor run of results.

Yet, it would be foolish to write off Roger Federer. If history is anything to go by, finding solutions to the problems faced, is something Federer has excelled at in the autumn of his career.

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