7 things for Roger Federer to look forward to in 2015

Roger Federer will look to add more titles to his impressive trophy cabinet in 2015After a tumultuous 2013 season, Roger Federer came back on his old track by registering one of his best seasons ever. Federer won the most number of matches (73) and had an impressive winning percentage of 87.5.As the season has closed, talks have begun over possible scenarios for Federer in 2015. For one thing, he will have much to defend and face challenges in the form of emerging players and back pain. But to go by Federer’s performances in the ATP World Tour Finals, the doubts over his performances in the coming season are still unfounded.Let’s look at seven crucial issues which Federer will be considering during the next season:

#1 Fitness

Fitness will be the top most priority for Federer

2015 may possibly be Roger’s penultimate year of professional tennis. Although, he is still able to play at a very high level at the age of 33, it only requires an injury to cause a premature end to his career.

Roger Federer will definitely place fitness at the top of his priority list, and will consequently draw his other objectives.

#2 Aggressive play

Federer will look to avoid long rallie

Aggressive play has helped Federer a lot throughout this season. It has enabled him to cut short rallies, confound baseline players, and kept him from taking too much toll on his body. Federer will look to hone his skills and try other strategic options to compensate for the losses, which comes naturally from aging, such as poor returns.

#3 Davis Cup

Davis Cup win will propel him next year

Although he finally won it for Switzerland this year, he will push for another Davis Cup victory for two obvious reasons. Switzerland is the defending champion and Federer may not let the opportunity slip when Wawrinka is in the form of his life.

The other reason being that in order to qualify for Rio Olympics, Federer will have to win at least a single rubber.

#4 No. 1 Ranking

Federer missed out on No.1 ranking this year

He may not converge all his energy to this particular task, but Federer will certainly hope for an opening towards the top spot. The Swiss ace was close to clinching the year-end top ranking after winning the Shanghai Masters.

#5 Grand Slam No. 18

Federer will look to end the Grand Slam drought

Federer came very close to winning a Grand Slam for a record 18th time this season. The way he had performed in the World Tour finals and the Davis cup rubber against Gasquet, the 18th Major looks far from improbable.

#6 Schedule

Federer may skip some clay tournaments to ease his tight schedule

Everyone was surprised at Federer’s smothering schedule. He skipped just one Masters event due to the birth of his boys, and added Davis Cup to his already tight schedule. The reasons for such a schedule were made clear by Federer who attributed it to his coach, Stefan Edberg. Edberg wanted Federer to play as much as he can to keep the body in rhythm.

But after his back troubled him and forced him to withdraw from World Tour Finals, it will be interesting to see how Federer plans his time table. European clay swing might have little modifications.

#7 Challenge from emerging players

Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic are fighting hard to win big tournaments

If this year’s World Tour Finals were any indication, then we may see the new guys knocking on doors of big occasions. Kei, Raonic, Dimitrov et al. they are waiting to break the persistent wall of the “Big 3” i.e Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, and Federer.

Federer will be keenly noticing their growth and will try to tame their rising aspirations to avoid extra hurdles in the path of more title victories.