Battling his way to his 16th win of the year at the Miami Open, the formidable Roger Federer refuses to call his current form the best of his life.
Facing Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round on Tuesday, the 35-year-old battled to a 7-6(5), 7-6(4), win. Unlike recent matches which has seen Federer sublime behind his serve, the Swiss struggled to maintain any dominance due to a resilient performance by Bautista Agut. Struggling to find his usual consistency, the 18-time grand slam champion produced 32 errors compared to 30 winners.
“I just think it was tough to find the perfect rhythm.” Said Federer. “Some day sessions, it’s tough. The sun was coming in from the side.”
“I think Roberto was doing a nice job keeping me off balance to some extent. Maybe I couldn’t play quite as inspired as I did in previous matches.”
Despite the patchy display, Federer continued his unbeaten Indian Summer run by outclassing his Spanish rival at the key moments of the match.
Bautista Agut is 11 years younger than Federer. Despite the disparity in age between the two players, the seemingly ageless Federer is refusing to let his veteran status slow him down. It might take him longer to recover from matches than in the past, but the Swiss believes careful scheduling of tournaments will help him cope with the issue.
“You can’t maybe think that you could play 25 events like a 24-year-old. I think the body just needs a bit more recovery overall.” Federer explained.
“I think coming out of a brutal match and then feeling fit like a fiddle in the morning, it’s like when you go clubbing.You don’t feel the same when you’re older.”
Despite the inevtiable drawbacks of getting older, it is hard to say it is a bad thing for Federer. Coming back to the tour from a six-month injury hiatus in January, he won a record 18th grand slam title at the Australian Open. Then at the Indian Wells Masters he blitzed his way to the title No.90 without dropping a set.
Already back up to 6th in the ATP rankings, some have hailed Federer’s resurgence as his best tennis yet. Within his first three tournaments of the season, he has recorded six wins over a top-10 player. He now boasts a 16-1 win-loss on the tour this season. His only blip was a shock loss to Evgeny Donskoy at the Dubai Tennis Championships last month.
“I think I play different to when I was 24; I think my technique has changed from when I was 19.”
So is Federer really playing his best tennis at the age of 35? It is hard to establish for a player who has achieved so much throughout his career. Even the man himself struggles to answer the question.
“ Is it the best I’ve ever played? For me it’s hard to say yes to that question, because there has been years where I lost four matches or three matches, then four matches, five matches the following year. In those two years I won like 150 matches and lost like 8 or 9. It’s hard to feel better than in that time.” The former world No.1 concluded.
Federer’s next test will be against Tomas Berdych, a player who he defeated in straight sets earlier this year. Berdych secured his place in the Miami quarter-finals by dismissing France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5. The head-to-head between the two is heavily in Federer’s favour. He leads Berdych 17-6 and won their six most recent meetings on the tour.
“I think it’s going to be a tough match. He’s beaten me at the, I don’t know, Olympics, US Open, Wimbledon, in big moments, so I know he can do it.” Federer said about the upcoming match.
Declaring that he is playing ‘better than he ever has’ from his offensive side, Federer has the luxury of having a day off before the Berdych showdown on Thursday.
