Why Roger Federer's horrifying 2013 may have actually been the best possible thing for his career

Roger Federer at the 2014 Australian Open

I wrote a piece on the great man’s chances in the coming clay season last year and in hindsight I feel the tone of my words in a way reflected his attitude on the court. There was a sense of expectation that all his fans were grappling with since the start of the year, especially after the level of tennis that he had produced the year before. Something had not been going quite right. It could have been the bad back, diminishing confidence from the losses piling up or age in general. A lot was being said and every loss just made matters worse.

It was as if he had started to play not to lose instead of exercising that killer instinct that had always made him the player he was. A less than flattering record against his long term foe Nadal aside, he had started making mistakes at crucial junctures in a lot of his matches.

The fiasco at Indian Wells (losing to Nadal 6-4, 6-2 in the quarters) exactly one year after he had beaten Nadal in straight sets was rather difficult to watch, not because of the scoreline it ended at but because of the manner in which that defeat was inflicted. While on one side there was a man who was coming out of injury with a point to prove, the other guy looked less than lacklustre, a bare reflection of his former self , dragging his feet trying to defend his serve in the second set of the match. It was not just another bad day; there was a pattern which ran the risk of turning into a norm.

Clay came and went. Madrid was a blink of an eye affair with a second round exit to Kei Nishikori, a match which he lost against the run of play. Rome was better till he got drubbed in the finals by Nadal, a match in which he struggled to get points on his own serve for the major part. He did pick up his level of play at Roland Garros, as all great players do, but it was very evident that it was taking him too much effort to actually get to the business end of the tournament.

Gilles Simon, who was one of the three Frenchmen he faced at the French Open last year, took out a lot out of him in five gruelling sets. The result was a humiliating straight sets loss against the strong Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter finals. The match was not really a contest, as Tsonga wreaked havoc with Federer’s defense, hitting winners off both the sides. The dismal count of unforced errors from Federer’s racquet didn’t really help matters either.

From this point, it was a downward spiral as far as results went. He lost in the second round to Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon, who put up a display of old-school grasscourt tennis in his own right to beat the great champion at Centre Court, which had been witness to so many of his legendary victories over the years. It was heartbreaking for tennis fans all over the world, especially as it came a day after a limping Rafael Nadal had left Centre Court beaten by the hitherto unknown Belgian Steve Darcis.

The US Open series didn’t bring any joy as Federer continued to bleed points that he had accumulated last year. The final nail in the coffin, or so it seemed, was the fourth round exit in the US Open to another ageing Spaniard Tommy Robredo. The match ended on a note which had become quite customary of late, with a despondent Federer leaving the court with his head buried deep in despair in the final Grand Slam of the year, beaten square.

The decision to test out the new racquet in a couple of clay tournaments post Wimbledon had not really done a lot of good to his confidence and that continued to show through the latter part of the season. Nothing was going right and it looked like curtains for the man with 17 Major titles. The defeat to Nadal at the season ending World Tour Finals was in fact a fitting end to the worst season Federer had ever seen since he won his first Slam in 2003. Was it the end the end of the road? 2014 would tell.

The start of the season at the Australian Open under the careful watch of Stefan Edberg, the newest addition to Federer’s team, saw him advance to the semis after beating Andy Murray comprehensively. While Murray was certainly not playing his best, Federer went about his business clinically, avenging his five-set loss to the Scot in Rod Laver Arena the previous year. While he was beaten again by Nadal in the semis, there were signs of resurgence. He was playing more freely and being aggressive at the base line as well as the net.

It was good to see the great man defending and fighting for each point again, which finally paid dividends at Dubai where he won the first title of the season by first beating Djokovic in a tough three-setter and then Berdych similarly in the final. There were sparks of brilliance in the second and third sets against Nole which were very heartening to see. For those fleeting moments, it was the old Roger Federer again and that was reassuring.

So it’s that time of the year again. Will all the hard work actually start to pay off, or will history repeat itself? While the last year on face value was rather dispiriting in terms of results, it did some good too. The pressure of the Major quarterfinal streak, of winning more than one title let alone a Slam, of maintaining his supremacy on grass – all that is finally gone. There is nothing to protect any more. There are no worries. There is everything to win and almost nothing to lose.

There is a meagre gap of about 400 points between him and the World No. 3 ranking. But there are bigger fish to fry. There are greater heights to sore. Let the game begin.