With the Australian Open just over a month away, Roger Federer will be looking to do what he does best – prove the doubters wrong and smash more records.
He will do so in the usual elegant manner only he can produce with a racket.
Roger will be 33 years and 5 months come January, and will need no reminding that a man of his age has not won a grand slam since Andre Gimeno (34 years and 10 months) took out the 1974 French Open.
Once the most dominant athletes on the planet, Federer has spent the last few years playing the role of dangerous underdog to his younger rivals, namely Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.
After an abysmal 2013 by Federer’s dizzyingly high standards, the old dog hired his childhood idol, Stefan Edberg, and learnt a few new tricks from the stoic Swede.
Increased forays to the net on serve and return paid handsomely throughout a year that saw Federer go 73-12 on the season, his most matches in a year since 2006 and the most wins for the tour.
Federer complimented his old-school aggressive approach with an updated racket, providing a bigger head and more power for the wily Swiss.
His previous stick had been a 90-square-inch model from the early 2000s, a custom spin-off of the same racket that was used by Pete Sampras from the early 1990s. Federer had been bringing his Swiss army knife to a gunfight for years and doing rather well.
To put that into terms more familiar with the average sports fan this summer, imagine a batsman putting up record-breaking numbers year after year with a bat Tubby Taylor used to swing around back in his heyday.
It’s been bloody impressive stuff to watch, but by all accounts the update has proved successful.
Despite these changes and return to form, Federer still fell short of what he really wants.
Slams. Majors. Winning in the big smoke.
History remembers slams, and for all his shot making and consistency across the year, you could bet your house he would swap all 72 wins for a seven-match romp to a major title.
A five-set loss to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final showed everyone he still has it, but a single tear shed in the ceremony following the defeat confirmed to us that there are no moral victories for a man accustomed to greatness.
The Australian Open has been happy hunting ground for Roger, making the semi-finals or better in his last 11 appearances and lifting the trophy on four occasions.
With Rafael Nadal returning from appendicitis surgery and Murray coming off his worst season in recent memory, Federer will like his chances given his hot run of form to finish 2014.
Any betting man would like his odds too, given that Djokovic is the red-hot favourite. Federer won three of their five matches throughout 2014, and threatened his throne atop the rankings late in the year.
Just four matches shy of his 1000 match win throughout a career spanning 16 years, Federer has little left to achieve in a game that he has made his own.
When he does reach that milestone it will be a reminder to us all that his tours down under are numbered, and that every effort should be made to see him perform live.
He truly is poetry in motion.
In a game that has turned brutish and robotic in recent times, Federer plays the game with vintage flair. He strolls causally between points, his outfit mimicking a Sunday picnic affair.
Fluid strokes set up with ballet footwork create some of the most jaw-dropping shots seen in history. Half-volley backhands, forehand chips and drop volleys are performed with an air of arrogance, as if the inventors of the game made it all too easy from the beginning.
Despite this demeanor, winning in January won’t be easy. Making history never is.
Federer won’t mind the doubters though, or the odds. If there’s one thing he’s shown us over the years, it’s that records are there to be broken.
And break them he does.
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