MASON, Ohio — After a skid on grass and clay, Roger Federer is hoping the firm hardcourts of the United States will provide some needed sure-footedness to what has been one of the most disappointing years of his career.
At his last major event, Wimbledon, his streak of 36 straight runs to the quarterfinals of Grand Slam events was ended in the second round by 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky. Federer then uncharacteristically decided to return to clay, entering smaller tournaments in Hamburg and Gstaad and experimenting with a larger racket. Plagued by continuing back pain, Federer lost in the semifinals in Hamburg and then in his first match in Gstaad. He pulled out of this week's Masters tournament in Montreal to give himself more time to prepare for the tournament here in suburban Cincinnati.
In his pretournament news conference Saturday at the Western & Southern Open, Federer admitted that the last month had been difficult.
"Not great, to be honest," he said of his time since Wimbledon. "I was ready to get over the Wimbledon loss as quick as I could – which I did. Took a short break, and then started practicing extremely hard, and things were great. Tested rackets, and was ready to go to Hamburg and Gstaad and play tournaments I really enjoy playing. But I couldn't enjoy them in the end, then, because I just had too many problems with my back, and my body."
He added: "So that was a frustrating part, that I couldn't actually play proper tennis, get into the right routines, play the right shots at the right time, because you start compromising a bit. So for me it was a disappointing last two weeks there — clearly I lost some time. I was very motivated going to Hamburg and Gstaad right after Wimbledon, so that was another sort of a setback I had to get over as well. Then pulling out of Montreal is not something I really wanted to do, but it gave me more time to then really work hard, and then come here really well prepared. I had two tougher moments I had to get over, the Wimbledon loss and the Hamburg and Gstaad, just-not-feeling-well moment.
"But now I'm fit again, and I'm mentally motivated, which is very important at this part of the year right now."
Federer said his motivation had not slipped. But with his aging body, he added, the sport has become more time consuming than it once was for him.
"The motivator is the passion, clearly," he said. "If passion doesn't overweigh the rest, the end is extremely near. Because as nice as the travel is, and playing matches, and practicing, and all these things, I think if the passion's not there, it just becomes so much harder. And then you might be doing it for the wrong reasons. And for me, there's no question about that; my passion is sky high. That's why I'm still doing it. I love what I'm doing; I feel very fortunate that I do have this opportunity day in, day out to do it. But clearly I've played a lot of matches, I've played for a very long time, so I feel like I just have to do more in terms of getting myself ready than I ever have.
"You know, when I was younger, a teenager for instance, I would jump up and down for two minutes and then go, 'O.K., here we go' for a five-set match. Today I take half an hour. It's no problem, but that can also wear you out, eventually, to do all these little things next to it just to get ready."
While his passion remains high, Federer's status has slipped. Ranked No. 1 a year ago, Federer is now No. 5, his lowest ranking since 2003, and he could slip even lower by the United States Open. He is defending 1,000 points this week from winning the title here last year, his fifth triumph on the fast courts of this warm-up event.
"I still feel the rankings are important to me," he said. "Maybe not as much as when I was coming up or when I was world No. 1, but nevertheless rankings are always going to be part of you as a person."
Federer clarified, however, that his goals for the short term should not be rankings-based, given his recent setbacks.
"I'm coming from a different situation now," he said. "You always have to see also that the rankings are not always as important for each and every player, depending if you're coming back from injury, or where have you been the last couple weeks, months, and so forth. So maybe you have a different goal. Maybe you say the rankings right now, it is what it is, but you focus on maybe achieving something at a particular tournament, let's just say. That's always very personal.
"Sometimes the media then uses what they have to to make a good article for them, which makes sense, but right now for me it is getting back playing well, going deep into tournaments, and then the ranking will follow automatically, up or down.
"Clearly I hope to rather move up than down."
Having won five titles here, Federer said he had high hopes for this tournament, though he was not willing to get ahead of himself in the draw.
"I'm motivated, I'm feeling better, and I am entering Cincinnati with a good mind-set," he said. "That right now is key, and if I can win more matches, that clearly would be very good, because I did win the title here, and that makes me believe I can do something great here. But as in every other event, you always start with the first round."
After receiving a first-round bye, Federer will start here against the German Philipp Kohlschreiber or the American Mardy Fish.
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