Roger Federer finds himself in a very difficult phase in his illustrious career. What has been a cause for worry for Roger Federer is the fact that he has lost in the quarterfinals of French Open and Wimbledon, his pet tournament in which winning the tournament was a foregone conclusion once he decides to participate.
Losses in quarter final stages in French Open and Wimbledon this year seems to have sown seeds of suspicion in his mind as to whether his game is still good enough to win Grand Slams at will or have the opponents caught up with him. The truth is neither has his game gone down nor have the opponents caught with him and it has got to do more with mindset than anything else. Federer was accustomed to making finals in every Grand Slam that he did not realize that the sequence has had to break one day and that happened at the French Open. It is not Federer's fault because any sportsman in any field however great he is a brilliant run cannot last forever and it has to break one day and that is what exactly happened with Federer and to give credit to Federer he had a run which a sportsman in any field cannot imagine of.
Federer now in his pursuit of a 7th straight U S Open final needs to change his mindset. In the first place Federer should keep short term targets and his first target should be the quarter finals. Federer should understand one thing that reaching quarter finals may not be a great thing by his own high standards but for any player in the world reaching quarterfinals is a achievement to be proud of. Federer should ease through the quarterfinals purely on the basis of his consistency and class and once he reaches the quarterfinals it is a matter of concentrating and pushing a shade harder in the quarter finals, semi finals and finals.
One great advantage Federer has over his competitors is the fact that he usually is at his brilliant best in semi finals and finals. Federer has had an impressive track record of tearing apart opponents like Andy Murray, Marat Safin and others in Grand Slam Semis and Finals and if Federer wants to reclaim the U S Open he should change his mindset and the U S Open is there for his taking.