Why hasn’t 2018 Federer performed as well as 2017 Federer?

One of the reasons for the extremely good 2017 performance for Roger Federer is that he has rested quite well due to an injury and nobody expected Roger to be back in such good form.

Not only his much improved backhand and more practice with his new racket, he reset himself in the matches avoiding pressure getting the better of him.

By 2018, the expectations of Roger Federer were too high for the extremely good 2017 comeback and now he feels a bit pressured in final rounds, mostly because he’s closing more and more with Connors’ 109 titles (Federer has 98 for now) and he clearly knows that he won’t have at least 3 more good years.

Also Federer 2018 didn’t have a big break from tennis to recharge his energies and going all out on this year. Even in his incredible 2017 season, he needed several breaks to even stay competitive and got injured in Montreal 2017 destroying his chances in faster Cincinnati and the US Open.

From 2003 and not counting 2013 and 2016 when Roger was injured, Federer had won at least 4 titles during a season, so with a title in Shanghai and/or Basel, he’ll keep up with his target.

However, let’s remember his records in this 2018:

• 20th Grand Slam in the Australian Open (absolute men’s record).
• Oldest N°1 ever with 36y 10m on June 24th.
• Improved his record with overall weeks at N°1 to 310.
• Longest non consecutive spans at the Top of the Rankings with 14 years and 4 months.
• 176 wins on grass (absolute record) with 18 titles on the surface (also absolute record).
• First male player to have a 6x2 in Grand Slams with 6 Aus Opens and 8 Wimbledons.
• Improved his best start ever for a season with 17 straight wins at 36y 7m. His former personal best was in 2006 with 16 straight wins to start the season (he was 24y 6m).
• Tied Jimmy Connors with 19 straight seasons with at least 1 final reached.