Roger Federer on mentality change in 2017 and injury to Murray and Djokovic dampening the US Open

Roger Federer has revealed that his ability to move on from disappointing results quicker and easier than in the past has been one of the main changes in his approach to the game this season, which has contributed to a strong 2017.

The Swiss ace has lost just four times in 43 games played this season and he has bounced back strongly every time he has been on the losing side. Federer's first loss came in the second round of the Dubai Open; he followed it up with back-to-back wins at the Indian Wells and Miami Masters.

His next loss came at in the second round of the Stuttgart Open, which he followed up with wins at the Halle Open and Wimbledon. The other two losses were in the finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal and the quarter-finals of the US Open.

"I have more perspective. You absorb losses faster and easier, even though it hurts. You move on with it, you know you were well prepared, you know you tried your best," Federer said, as quoted by Tennis World USA.

"Rather than wasting negative energy on something you can't change anyway, you take it on the chin, you learn from it and move on."

The 36-year-old also spoke about the number of top players sidelined with injury this year. Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic missed the US Open due to injury and all four are unlikely to play again this season.

Federer admits that the final Grand Slam of the year was not the same as previous years, but does not take away from the success of the tournament. Rafael Nadal won his 16<sup>th major title, while for the first time in over 20 years there were four Americans in the women's singles semi-finals.

"I think that all of the guys had to take a break because either they are carrying an injury for a while or they are really not doing well, some have had surgery," the Swiss star added.

"I think this is just a freak moment in time that it hit a lot of the guys at the same time. The US Open wasn't quite the same. It was still a successful event — Rafa played phenomenal and four of the women in the semis were American, so the tournament was a success. But you did miss those guys, it's normal."

The 19-time men's singles Grand Slam winner, meanwhile, admitted that he was not expecting the kind of start he had to the 2017 season after spending the last six months of 2016 recovering from a knee injury.

Federer won the Australian Open, which was his first ranking tournament since Wimbledon in 2016, and then followed it up with back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami. He started the season ranked No 16, but was ranked number eight after two months.

The Swiss tennis legend is currently ranked number two in the world following his record breaking eighth title at Wimbledon and is still in the running to end the year as the number one if he can take maximum points in the upcoming events.

"My plan was to play, maybe the quarters at best, at the Aussie and then take it from there.

"By winning all those big three events at the beginning of the year, it allowed me to sit there in the top eight of the world already after a few months of the season and not worry about being ranked no. 35 if I had lost early in the Australian Open because of the points I had to defend," Federer explained.

"It changed the entire mindset. Thank God it happened like this."