Roger Federer Reveals 2 Disappointments Of 2018, Although Happy With 4 Titles

Roger Federer may have dropped to number three in the world and won only four titles in 2018 compared to seven the previous year, but he is still delighted with how the season panned out. But he did reveal a couple of disappointments.

The Swiss ace started off the year almost similarly to how he ended 2017 by being the in-form player on the ATP Tour. Federer defended his title at the Australian Open in January and then followed it up with a title at the Rotterdam Open the following month.

The win in the Netherlands saw him overtake long-time rival Rafael Nadal and become the oldest world number one in ATP history. Federer’s reign at the top did not last too long as the Spaniard would go on to take over at the top once the clay court season started.

Federer, similar to 2017, made the controversial decision to skip the entire clay court campaign and focus on the events on grass and hard courts. He won the title at the Stuttgart Open but failed to defend his Wimbledon title going down Kevin Anderson in the quarter-final.

He was also one of the favorites going into the final Grand Slam of the year in New York but went down tamely to John Millman in the round of 16. Federer then went on win his the Basel Open.

The 20-time men’s singles Grand Slam champion is happy with how the season has gone thus far with the final tournament of the season – the ATP Finals in London – underway at the moment. The only two disappointments according to Federer are his losses in the two majors.

“If I would have known that last year, this would have been the season [I would have], I would have taken it,” Federer said, as quoted on Tennis World USA. “I am very happy that I won a Grand Slam. I am very happy that I played as well as I did throughout the season. Maybe Wimbledon and the US Open didn't go the way I was hoping, but those were really the only two disappointments of the season. I won a bunch of tournaments again and played great at the Australian Open."

“Again, I won my home tournament in Basel. I have just had a really solid season. I stayed injury free also, for most of the year, so I am actually very happy with this season so far,” he added during a recent interview in London.

Federer is likely to finish the season as the world number three, but this year unlike in 2017 he has had to battle Nadal and the resurgent Novak Djokovic, who has beaten both the veterans and reclaimed his place as the new world number one on the ATP men’s singles rankings.