Federer: 'I've Got To Keep Pushing Forward'

He said it himself. Only moments after his round-robin victory over Novak Djokovic on Tuesday in London, Roger Federer observed, “The way I know Novak, he’s going to find a way to be tougher to beat from now on.”

After 43 FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters, you learn a thing or two about your opponent. You pick up on the subtleties, the intangibles. Federer knew good and well that the World No. 1 would adjust, retool and put the 7-5, 6-2 Group Stan Smith defeat behind him. As the Serb sagely observed earlier this year, in the midst of one of the most dominant seasons the sport has ever seen, “If there’s one thing that I learned in the sport it’s to recover fast and to leave things behind.”

The 28-year-old Belgradian’s short memory served him well in Sunday’s winner-take-all showdown at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, where two of the game’s all-time greats squared off for the second time in a matter of days, their eighth meeting of 2015. From the moment the first ball was struck, it was clear that Djokovic had put the past behind him; his only concern the task that lay ahead.

Though Djokovic would avenge Tuesday’s loss and level their FedEx ATP Head2Head history at 22-22 with a 6-3, 6-4 win, becoming the first player to win four straight titles in the tournament’s 46-year history, Federer won’t hang his head for long.

He finishes the year at 63-11 overall, including a 39-6 mark on hard courts. Though coming into the final at The O2 he still had a shot at No. 2 in the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings, he will finish in the Top 3 for the 12th time in the past 13 years. At 34, he is the oldest player in the Top 10 since No. 7 Andre Agassi (35) in 2005.

It was a year in which he claimed six titles (Brisbane, Dubai, Istanbul, Halle, Cincinnati and Basel), second only to Djokovic (11). He compiled a 6-5 record in finals, with all five losses coming to Djokovic. In ATP Masters 1000 play, he went 16-6, highlighted by the title in Cincinnati, where he beat Andy Murray and Djokovic in succession, the first time in his 17-year career that he defeated the Nos. 1-2 players in same tournament.

With his win over Canada’s Milos Raonic in the Brisbane final, he became one of only three players in the Open Era to hurdle the 1,000-win mark, joining Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

“I’ve got to keep pushing forward,” said Federer. “Got to keep practising hard, being serious about all the things I do. Now rest, recover, enjoy my family, my wife. Just have a great time there. Then once I get back to practice, the gym, enjoy that part as well, which I do. Thankfully, I found a way to embrace that part as well over the years.”

If he’s proven one thing in 2015, it’s that he is far from done. Some 17 years into his professional career, Federer still has the desire, the determination to grind it out it week to week on the ATP World Tour in search of titles.

“I think this year had a lot of great things in my game,” he said on Sunday. “How I’m able to play at net now, how I’m moving and feeling at net in particular is a great thing to have. Then my serve has been really working very consistent, very well throughout the year more or less. Maybe if I can just get that to work slightly better at times, that would be incredibly helpful. I’ll work on that as well.

“I haven’t thought about it too much in terms of what is my number one, number two, number three goals,” he added. “Usually, I go into a season with two or three really big goals, then maybe four or five other ones that are really important to you. The rest of the tournaments I just really enjoy playing. I’d like to defend my titles. But right now my mind somehow doesn’t go further than the Australian Open.”