World No. 3 Roger Federer believes the No. 1 ranking is still within his grasp, despite the dominance of Novak Djokovic on the ATP World Tour. The Swiss was dethroned at the top of the South African Airways ATP Rankings in June 2010, one week shy of equalling Sampras’ all-time record of 286 weeks at No. 1.
“I’m a believer that if I do things the right way it will come back. I just have to keep working hard and hopefully I’ll get back to it and break the record,” said Federer on Sunday, during a round table interview session at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, where he is staying for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“I feel like if I play really well from here till the US Open, obviously there’s a shot,” the Basel native continued. “But then there’s a shot for probably 10 players to do that. I feel like I’m on a good run right now. I’ve won a lot of tournaments in a short period of time, which obviously gives me a lot of confidence.
“But the focus right now is to try and play well day-by-day, make sure I get through a tough stretch here between Dubai and Miami. World No. 1 will probably be decided for the majority of players between the French Open and US Open period where there are so many highlights.”
The 30-year-old Federer is the holder of a record 16 Grand Slam singles titles, but has been trophy-less at the majors since the 2010 Australian Open, when he defeated Andy Murray in the final. He was beaten by Nadal in the 2011 Roland Garros final, and held two match points before falling to Djokovic in a heartbreaking US Open semi-final loss in September.
“I’ve been extremely close,” said Federer. “I’m working hard, making all the right decisions and hopefully down the road I will pick up a few more. Did I miss some big opportunities? I think I put it more down to that than actually not playing as good [as previous years]; at times I think I was even playing better. I’ve had some tough losses over the last couple of years, which have denied me a few Slams I believe.”
Federer is set to compete as one of eight of the world’s Top 10 players at the ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in Dubai, which begins on Monday. The four-time former champion is coming off his 71st tour-level triumph at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and will open his Dubai campaign against Marseille runner-up Michael Llodra.
“I feel good. The week in between Rotterdam and Dubai was very helpful because I did play a lot of tennis already. I’ve physically recovered again, feel good about my game and I’m really excited about playing here in Dubai,” said Federer.
“It’s a tough draw and [Llodra is] playing well at the moment in Marseille, so he’ll be coming in with confidence, which is always a tough position. It’s such a strong tournament. It’s tough conditions here; it’s always pretty quick. I’ve struggled early on in the tournaments here in the past. I hope that this time around it’s going to be a good tournament for me.
“I’ve already won it four times, so you kind of draw out of that and hope you can do it again. Five [titles] would be amazing, but the competition is really tough.”
