Federer's obsessions at the crossroads: "17+1"

By Sebastian Fest Jan 27, 2012, 19:48 GMT

Melbourne - Roger Federer spent hours in Australia playing the Swiss card game 'jass' and enjoying his twin daughters.

However, the relaxed attitude and invariably pleasant demeanour of the former world number one are not enough to hide the debate: While his tennis is at an excellent level, that may just not be enough for him to win another Grand Slam tournament.

'Tennis is not just about strokes,' another former world number one, Spain's Rafael Nadal, said after beating Federer for the eighth time in 27 matches.

Just before midnight Thursday, Federer made a striking comment to curb the growing uncertainty that he perceives from international media at press conferences: 'Don't feel sorry for me!' he said.

The Swiss, a man with possibly unprecedented talent, is time and again stumbling against a goal that can be summed up in the number 17.

He has won 16 Grand Slam tournament titles, but he has been trying to add a 17th for almost two years.

In the meantime, Nadal is getting ever closer: After beating Federer in the Australian Open semifinals, he is to have the chance Sunday to reduce to five his delay with respect to the Swiss, by winning his 11th Grand Slam tournament.

'Roger was very disappointed after the match, more than after the US Open semifinal against (Novak) Djokovic,' someone very close to Federer told dpa Friday.

Federer left Australia almost immediately and returned to his country to prepare for the first-round Davis Cup tie against the United States.

Why was he so disappointed? Defeat against Djokovic should probably have hurt more, since it came after two match points in the Swiss' favour.

But there is a reason. Disappointment rests on the fact that Federer has big plans for 2012, a year in which he hopes to win the Olympic gold medal in singles and lead Switzerland to a historic first Davis Cup trophy.

He also wants to get back to the number one spot, so he can beat Pete Sampras' record 287 weeks at the top: Federer is two weeks short, currently at 286.

And it hardly sounds extravagant for the Swiss to want to be world number one again. Djokovic will have trouble staying at the level he showed in 2011, especially during the first half of the year, so his 13,630 points appear bound to go down.

The problem for Federer, beyond Djokovic, is Nadal, who stands on 9,595 points, above Federer's 8,010.

In order to have a shot at the number one spot, beating Nadal appears a must. He had a chance Thursday, when he played well and had Nadal against the ropes for quite a while. But he paid a high price for missed opportunities, for letting breaks in favour be neutralized in the second and third sets and for allowing a break point to slip away when he could have pulled 5-3 ahead in the fourth set.

In comments to Swiss media, Federer again insisted that Nadal is at an advantage because he is left-handed.

'I have to make much more of an effort than him to adapt my game to his,' he argued.

Nadal, in turn, thinks the difference lies elsewhere. He thinks that Federer is better than him in terms of strokes, physical aptitude and natural talent. But tennis rests on more than strokes, the Spaniard insists, and he lists aspects in which he tops Federer.

'Match intensity, mental intensity, which is more or less the same, and probably leg intensity,' Nadal notes.

Federer is to have a busy February. He is scheduled to play the Davis Cup and the indoor tournament in Rotterdam, both of which he did not play last year and which will allow him to get extra points.

Then, he is to defend the final in Dubai and the semifinals at Indian Wells and Miami, along with early exits in Monte Carlo, Rome and Wimbledon to build on.

The dream - the '17+1' he still believes in - is at stake over those six months, in which Federer will keep his two main rivals in the corner of his eye.