Roger Federer slipped back into Melbourne Park, once more round the block for the four-time champion of the Australian Open before settling back into a lounge chair. His jeans bore a trace of a hole in the right leg - so he is not perfect - his RF cap was placed at a jaunty angle on his knee and he could have just stepped off a yacht at the Mornington marina. Has there ever been a more contented champion?
He talked animatedly of re-invention, of finding his game again after 2008, a year that did not sit well with him at all. The 28-year-old won just a single grand slam, lost in two finals and was a semi finalist in the third, glorious to most, semi-par for such as he. In the face of demands that he mend his ways with a 'named' coach, he burrowed away diligently with a man few people could name (Severin Luthi, Switzerland's Davis Cup captain) or place. It has fallen back into place. The woes he had a year ago seemed as far away as Switzerland on a gloriously sun-kissed afternoon.
Remarkably, only a year ago Federer fostered doubts about whether he could regain his ascendant levels. Three grand slam championships out of the next five events - he lost in five set finals in the other two - would suggest he is back, better than ever. A couple of wobbles aside, he breezed the Australian Open. But his thoughts drifted back a couple of years. "Maybe I started to doubt my body, I started to doubt the situation," he said.
"I felt that eventually I wouldn’t be as successful as I had been. which was strange because at the end of 2007 I was practising that I was playing my best tennis of my life. Then I got sick and I got here to Melbourne, I couldn’t practise, but I still thought I managed to play a great tournament to make it to the semis"But after that I had to catch up with so much, the other guys were playing tough and the margins are small at the top of the game. It was definitely interesting to go through it, because a career is not meant to be easy. You always have to go through ups and downs. And I think I was well prepared for it. That’s why even when it was tough I was still able to enjoy it and stay calm, because I always question myself, even in the best of times.
"I have had to work really hard. Now, my backhand is where I want it to be, my forehand is back because I think that also left me a little bit when my footwork wasn’t at my best because I knew I didn’t want to play defence and pressed too much with my forehand. I don’t do that too much any more and my confidence is back, so it’s a lot easier to play again now.”
It is a worrysome thought for Federer's fellow professionals - a prospect to savour for the rest of us.
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