Roger Federer :New season, new hope

When Roger Federer looks back at his achievements in 2011, he might not have a Grand Slam victory to his credit, but ended the year on a high note, indicating that the New Year could be a different scenario for him.Despite his failure to win Grand Slams, it was interesting that he lost only 12 matches this year, while winning a whooping 64.After losing to Novak Djokovic at the US Open, the Swiss maestro went on to win 17 consecutive matches and won titles in Basel, Paris and London — giving a strong signal to his opponents that he is back to his best.Federer, who will play his opening match at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship here on Friday, seems to have set his target on regaining his world No. 1 ranking.“I started to practice really harder from mid-December. I had few days off — the last couple of days. I am getting ready for the tournament here. It is a nice start to the season. I enjoy it a lot,” Federer told reporters at a press conference at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex in Zayed Sports City on Thursday.“I spend a lot of time in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi. For me it is something like playing at home a bit. It is quite nice to be honest. For me it is different just coming here from far away and trying to prepare and I see it more as a chance to get back into the tournament mode. It is exciting.“I like it as sort of a good change between vacation, practice and something like this tournament and then move ahead step by step. I know I will be well prepared for Australia anyhow, but this is going to be helpful,” he explained while talking about his preparations in the UAE for the tournaments ahead. He is also realistic about his chances in the New Year and analyses the game in a clinical fashion.“Rafa was obviously my main rival and I had many other rivals throughout the years. Novak, Murray and other players have announced themselves some four-five years ago. Novak was quite able to put together an extraordinary season this year and I expect from Murray, Djkovic, Rafa another great season next year because we all did play very well this year.”Federer was also quite content with his performances this year. “I had a great finish to the season. It gives me a lot of positive feelings for this upcoming year. Physically I have been feeling better this whole year and I don’t have any issues and that is a good thing while looking ahead. Rivalry with Novak is really good because I think we have had some very exciting matches.”While asked about the remarkable turnaround in his performance in the latter part of the season, he said: “The match in Australia was extremely close. I had some disappointing matches in Miami and Dubai where I lost. Other than that I was actually very consistent. I played solid throughout the year. What was missing was the last breakthrough and a couple of tough losses at Wimbledon especially, then the French Open final and the US open semis. So for me it was just about keeping my cool and staying mentally healthy and not going crazy over multiple tough losses was important. I liked the reaction I had showed since losing and I haven’t gone into a hole and faced the facts.”