Roger Federer concedes there was a time he was renowned as the weak guy on tour – gifted, but mentally brittle. The pressure in his early years was eating him up.
He defines that period as “from about age six to 22”, all part of the journey to landing his maiden triumph at a major.
Some 19 Grand Slam titles later, married with four children, and the Swiss rightfully admits life now is unbelievable.
“In my vision I never had this, that I’d be playing tennis with four kids. That was not part of my dream,” Federer said. “My dream was hopefully holding up a trophy of some kind – my hometown tournament in Basel, a Wimbledon trophy or being world No.1.”
Not somewhere he imagined he’d be at 36, in those early, self-confessed “weak guy” years.
Federer has arrived in Melbourne to begin the defence of an Australian Open crown for the fifth time, making an appearance at the official draw at Margaret Court Arena on Thursday night.
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His run to the title last year as the No.17 seed – on the back of a six-month lay-off to rejuvenate an ailing body – and turning the tide on his great rival Rafael Nadal in a five-set final was again not something he could have seen coming in those early years.
“It was an amazing final, an amazing moment in my life,” Federer said of his 2017 Australian Open.
“I [thought I] was probably going to lose at some stage – the quarters, semis at best – because I would just run into a red-hot (Novak) Djokovic, or (Andy) Murray or Nadal, somebody.
“My game wasn’t going to be good enough for that day and it was. I had all these great five-setters, and at the end, the epic match against Rafa.”
Federer describes feeling like a different player after winning six or seven matches at a major.
Only a handful of players on tour know the feeling, and even less know what it’s like to drift into that zone regularly.
“You feel like you can’t miss anymore,” he said. “The fifth set [against Nadal] was probably the best I’ve ever played. A huge surprise especially after the six months off I had, what a comeback it was.
“It was a definitely a highlight of the year – it even beats Wimbledon and all the other tournaments from last year.”
A 17th-seeded Federer gaining the better of a ninth-seeded Nadal in a Grand Slam final – they were numbers that didn’t read well as a prefix to two of the game’s greatest names.
They were a reflection of a dire 2016 for both, though, and a reflection of the grit summoned to return to the top by year’s end.
Fitting then, they should return to Melbourne as the top two seeds in 2018.
“It is strange to some extent, but I think with Rafa, he’s still in his prime,” Federer said. “I was always hoping to play for a long time, and once you’ve been world No.1 and have won the amount of slams we have, same as Novak, at some stage you believe you can always achieve greatness again as long as you keep yourself in shape and are hungry and motivated. We both are very much so.”
Federer openly admits the pair benefited from a slew of top rivals succumbing to injury in the second half of 2017, making their return to the top two somewhat easier.
“But we still had to do it the hard way,” he said. “And it all started here in Australia when everyone was competing.”
The weak guy became the tough guy pretty quick after Grand Slam title No.1. And there’s still time to extend that run.
“The domination bit, it’s fun,” he said. “Of course it’s fun winning.”
