When Roger Federer lost to Andreas Seppi in the third round of the Australian Open, he chose to look at it as an opportunity, rather than a problem, following a busy 2014 season.
"I had champagne with my team that night," Federer told the press before this week’s tournament in Dubai, his first since the Australian Open.
"The way I look at it, [Seppi] gave me an extra nine days off. That allowed me time for training and for some vacation," he added.
Federer, who reached the Wimbledon final and U.S. Open semifinals in 2014, capped his year with a Davis Cup victory, and began 2015 with a title in Brisbane. He also reached the final of the ATP World Tour finals, but had to withdraw from the title match with a back injury. That led him to put down the racquets for a while after the Australian Open.
Federer described his two-week vacation as, "One of the longer ones I've had in years, but it was necessary because I did feel I was playing a lot of tennis."
Federer says he is not pursuing the No. 1 ranking at the moment. He had a opportunity to take it from Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Finals, but couldn’t string together the necessary results. Since then, Djokovic has won the Australian Open, increasing his lead further.
"Novak is playing great at the moment. I'm so far behind him," said Federer.
Federer is the defending champion at the Dubai tournament.