At 33 years of age, Roger Federer is at the top of his game. Winning championships after championships, he is reeling with awards and at the prime of his career.
Even his own success surprises him and the top seed is excited as Switzerland playing France in the Davis Cup final next month. And being the top seed, achieving another win will put him on top of the rankings.
Federer has been training on clay for the Davis Cup showdown but is now back to total concentration on the slow indoor hardcourt at the St Jakobshalle.
He commented "It's a nice feeling being back in an arena that I know so well and have had so much success. It feels great right now, I'm happy I'm playing so well since the (spring) birth of (twin sons) Leo and Lenny."
Adding "I'm happy Switzerland made the Davis Cup finals. We've put ourselves in an exciting position. An away tie in France is cool. And the fact that I've gotten so close to the number one ranking is a bit of a surprise for me. I've not won a Slam this year but I was extremely close at Wimbledon (fifth set against Novak Djokovic.)."
"But I've played very consistently or I would not be in this position. It's a very different year end for me. But If I don't win a few more titles number one won't happen. Right now, it's all to play for, I want to start it well here in Basel."
But aside from all those responsibilities, Federer is also rooting for the eight-man World Tour Finals in London as well as he is concentrating on the week prior to the Davis final.
To this Federer said "I had considered not playing Shanghai and then playing Vienna. But at the end, I decided to go to Shanghai. If that had not gone well, I might have even skipped Paris (next week) to train on clay. But in the current situation, I'm feeling good. I had two weeks of vacation after the (September) Davis Cup semi-finals. There was even the possibility of not playing her for safety in case I had felt tired or injured after Shanghai."
Adding "The team discussed everything: what was the best for energy, what was my passion, what to do. I'm happy I decided to play here. I'll take it from here but it's likely I'll also play Paris."
