Every time a question arises about Roger Federer, he fires a winner down the line past the doubters, as long as he avoids having one of those days.
A month after getting bounced from the third round of the Australian Open - the first time he didn't reach at least the semifinals in a dozen years - the 33-year-old Swiss legend came up with another masterpiece in taking down top-ranked Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win the Dubai Championship over the weekend.
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"Playing against Novak is always special. I think we get the best out of each other," Federer said, according to BBC.com, after winning his seventh Dubai title and 84th overall in his 126th ATP final. "I definitely won the big points tonight so I am pleased I came up with some good serves."
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After his four-set loss to Andreas Seppi, a player to whom he had never lost in 10 previous tries, No. 2-ranked Federer said he didn't feel right that morning when he got up.
The comment raised speculation that at 33, Federer is bound to have those kinds of days much more frequently, which would start to close his window of opportunity to reach No. 1 one more time and extend his record of weeks at No. 1, currently at 302.
USA TODAY Sports wondered whether Federer will win another major.
Federer certainly didn't have one of those days in the final against Djokovic. He saved all seven break points he faced and broke Djokovic on both his break chances. The second came in the 11th game of the second set after the Serb had a 40-love lead in the game.
In the process of his 6-3, 7-5 victory over Djokovic, Federer also became just the fourth player ever to hit 9,000 career aces, according to tennis.com. He had 12 in the win over Djokovic.
Federer moved to 20-17 all-time against Djokovic. His kryptonite had been Rafael Nadal, but Nadal is doing everything he can these days just to stay healthy and has dropped to No. 4 - although he did win the Argentina Open - on clay, of course - for his first title since last year's French Open.
So if Federer can just avoid those not-feeling-right days during the big tournaments, week No. 303 at No. 1 may not be far away.
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