Roger Federer arrives in Brisbane keen to return to winning ways in 2014
CUE the Rocky soundtrack. This is where the old champ, from somewhere, somehow finds it in himself to do it one more time.
Roger Federer comes to Brisbane late this week after a year in which he lost 17 matches - the most he has dropped in 11 years.
He made no Grand Slam finals and, hampered by back pain for a prolonged period, could brook no argument with Novak Djokovic when the Serb reckoned he was not as fast as he was.
Federer has always been a humble champion and so is better equipped than some to handle the blow to the ego which comes from winning just one title in 2013, compared to 12 in 2006 and 11 in 2004 and 2005. That golden three-year run netted him eight of his 17 major titles.
Just as Rocky went back to his old gym, or like Andre Agassi kept sprinting up the hill near his training base in Las Vegas throughout December and won the Australian Open four times, Federer has dedicated himself this month with a singular passion for a better 2014.
The most prolific winner in men's tennis history says he is the sort of personality who is beguiled more by the idea of winning than driven by a hatred of defeat.
"Some great players have a `I hate losing' attitude. I'm a guy who loves winning more than I hate losing,'' Federer told The Sunday Mail from his training base in Dubai.
"Both work, as we have seen over the years from so many players, the ice in the veins sort of guys and the fire in the stomach sort of players.
"I feel I found the right combination for me to be successful on the tour.
"In the beginning, maybe I was too nice to be successful. You need to have that fire, that grit, that toughness to be successful for a long time.''
At 32, Federer has long known the feeling of being written off.
The Swiss master won his 17th Grand Slam title - no other man has won more than 14 - at Wimbledon in 2012, when he turned back Andy Murray.
That was 17 months ago, but what with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal swapping ownership of the No1. ranking and Murray seizing his opportunities to win two majors, it feels like longer.
"I started falling behind and it feels as if I have picked it back up again,'' Federer said.
"Things weren't always easy in the last few months. I was playing sometimes in pain and sometimes I shouldn't have played.
"My body didn't give me such problems in the last few weeks and my results (a final and two semi-finals) were a big step. It makes me want more.''
Federer, wife Mirka, twin four-year-old daughters and support team will arrive in town a few days after Christmas to play in his first Brisbane International, which starts next Sunday.
"I need to find my way and that's what I am arriving early (in Australia),'' he said.
"I will be to have some fun things, around New Year's, with the family. I'm in the final stretch of my practice and I'm thinking of Brisbane more and more.
"I have high hopes Brisbane will be very successful for me and that the next (Grand Slam title) will be the Australian Open. That's what I am training for right now.''
Defeats this year by names like Federico Delbonis, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Daniel Brands stung, as did his collective 0-7 record in matches against Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.
When he lost in the semis to Djokovic at London's ATP World Tour finals, he was asked if he could take positives from running the world No.2 to a deciding sets in consecutive weeks.
"Yeah, sure ... it was great to win two sets off Novak and lose four. Losing a match, it's really exciting," Federer said with uncustomary sarcasm, but the unmistakable pride of a man used to winning.
He was 21 when he broke through for his first major and said at the time he felt the men's game was getting away from him.
There are lessons in it all for the third act of Federer's career, following his rise and his sustaining of such excellence.
"I was like a rough cut diamond. That's how a lot of people saw me. I needed polishing,'' he reflected.
"I came in at a time when Lleyton (Hewitt) was unbelievably successful at a young age. So was (Andy) Roddick, so was (Marat) Safin, so was (Juan Carlos) Ferrero. They were just a bit ahead of me.
"I don't want to say I was frustrated, but I didn't understand why it wasn't happening for me. I was far enough behind that I was, `OK, let's push myself a little more'.
"Day in day out, my mentality improved, always being professional.
"I understood more and more how important fitness was. I didn't know why I was lifting weights, when it was going to help me later in a tennis match.
"The physical strength and the mental strength were the last things to fall into place.
"The mental part of my game, that was the hardest part for me … the consistency I have been able to have for long, I am quite surprised I have managed to do it for so long. ''
Tennis' most successful male champion reckons that through his injuries and losses in 2013 he lost his "usual aggression … and somehow became a different player'', something he needs to get out of his mindset.
"This stretch is very important for me and I really don't want to have any more setbacks,'' he said.
"I feel very confident about my chances, not only in Brisbane and Melbourne, but also beyond that.''
CUE the Rocky soundtrack. This is where the old champ, from somewhere, somehow finds it in himself to do it one more time.
Roger Federer comes to Brisbane late this week after a year in which he lost 17 matches - the most he has dropped in 11 years.
He made no Grand Slam finals and, hampered by back pain for a prolonged period, could brook no argument with Novak Djokovic when the Serb reckoned he was not as fast as he was.
Federer has always been a humble champion and so is better equipped than some to handle the blow to the ego which comes from winning just one title in 2013, compared to 12 in 2006 and 11 in 2004 and 2005. That golden three-year run netted him eight of his 17 major titles.
Just as Rocky went back to his old gym, or like Andre Agassi kept sprinting up the hill near his training base in Las Vegas throughout December and won the Australian Open four times, Federer has dedicated himself this month with a singular passion for a better 2014.
The most prolific winner in men's tennis history says he is the sort of personality who is beguiled more by the idea of winning than driven by a hatred of defeat.
"Some great players have a `I hate losing' attitude. I'm a guy who loves winning more than I hate losing,'' Federer told The Sunday Mail from his training base in Dubai.
"Both work, as we have seen over the years from so many players, the ice in the veins sort of guys and the fire in the stomach sort of players.
"I feel I found the right combination for me to be successful on the tour.
"In the beginning, maybe I was too nice to be successful. You need to have that fire, that grit, that toughness to be successful for a long time.''
At 32, Federer has long known the feeling of being written off.
The Swiss master won his 17th Grand Slam title - no other man has won more than 14 - at Wimbledon in 2012, when he turned back Andy Murray.
That was 17 months ago, but what with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal swapping ownership of the No1. ranking and Murray seizing his opportunities to win two majors, it feels like longer.
"I started falling behind and it feels as if I have picked it back up again,'' Federer said.
"Things weren't always easy in the last few months. I was playing sometimes in pain and sometimes I shouldn't have played.
"My body didn't give me such problems in the last few weeks and my results (a final and two semi-finals) were a big step. It makes me want more.''
Federer, wife Mirka, twin four-year-old daughters and support team will arrive in town a few days after Christmas to play in his first Brisbane International, which starts next Sunday.
"I need to find my way and that's what I am arriving early (in Australia),'' he said.
"I will be to have some fun things, around New Year's, with the family. I'm in the final stretch of my practice and I'm thinking of Brisbane more and more.
"I have high hopes Brisbane will be very successful for me and that the next (Grand Slam title) will be the Australian Open. That's what I am training for right now.''
Defeats this year by names like Federico Delbonis, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Daniel Brands stung, as did his collective 0-7 record in matches against Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.
When he lost in the semis to Djokovic at London's ATP World Tour finals, he was asked if he could take positives from running the world No.2 to a deciding sets in consecutive weeks.
"Yeah, sure ... it was great to win two sets off Novak and lose four. Losing a match, it's really exciting," Federer said with uncustomary sarcasm, but the unmistakable pride of a man used to winning.
He was 21 when he broke through for his first major and said at the time he felt the men's game was getting away from him.
There are lessons in it all for the third act of Federer's career, following his rise and his sustaining of such excellence.
"I was like a rough cut diamond. That's how a lot of people saw me. I needed polishing,'' he reflected.
"I came in at a time when Lleyton (Hewitt) was unbelievably successful at a young age. So was (Andy) Roddick, so was (Marat) Safin, so was (Juan Carlos) Ferrero. They were just a bit ahead of me.
"I don't want to say I was frustrated, but I didn't understand why it wasn't happening for me. I was far enough behind that I was, `OK, let's push myself a little more'.
"Day in day out, my mentality improved, always being professional.
"I understood more and more how important fitness was. I didn't know why I was lifting weights, when it was going to help me later in a tennis match.
"The physical strength and the mental strength were the last things to fall into place.
"The mental part of my game, that was the hardest part for me … the consistency I have been able to have for long, I am quite surprised I have managed to do it for so long. ''
Tennis' most successful male champion reckons that through his injuries and losses in 2013 he lost his "usual aggression … and somehow became a different player'', something he needs to get out of his mindset.
"This stretch is very important for me and I really don't want to have any more setbacks,'' he said.
"I feel very confident about my chances, not only in Brisbane and Melbourne, but also beyond that.''
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