For Federer, No Fading Away. Fuente: The New York TimesFed

Federer

BOSTON — After working and winning indoors in Europe for most of November, Roger Federer is now in the sunshine at a distant, undisclosed resort with his wife, Mirka, and twin daughters. But even with sand between the toes and the rackets in very temporary storage, tennis remains part of the lounge-chair conversation.

“The vacation has only just started, and I had quite a trip trying to get down here,” Federer said by telephone. “But once down at the beach with the nice weather and the alone time with Mirka, I definitely look back and go, ‘I can’t believe I was just in my 100th final, and it’s already my 70th title.’ That’s what I told her. I got together with her when I had zero titles, and we kind of went through all this together, and now we have a family. It’s been pretty incredible.”

Until the home stretch, Federer’s 2011 season was better defined by frustration than fulfillment, but after a timely six-week break, his mental and physical freshness helped him produce tennis reminiscent of grander years as he won his last three tournaments: his home city event in Basel, the Paris indoors and the elite year-end championships, known as the Masters Cup, in London.

Novak Djokovic was the man of the year, winning three of the four Grand Slam singles titles. Rafael Nadal won his sixth French Open. But though Federer lost four of five matches to Djokovic and failed to win a major singles title for the first time since 2002, he is the only one of the game’s lead pack who will be carrying major momentum and a long winning streak into the new year.

“By Roger’s incredibly lofty standards, 2011 was a down year in that he didn’t win a major,” Jim Courier, the U.S. Davis Cup captain, said in an e-mail. “I think his fall win streak is testament to his intact talent, the effortless aspect of his game compared to his peers and intelligent scheduling. I suspect he will continue to be a strong contender at the majors until his speed of foot starts to fall off, which seems to occur in top-level athletes around the age of 32 or 33.”

If so, Federer, who won’t turn 31 until August, still has time to keep covering the corners, even if he is now the oldest man in the top 25 of the rankings .

“Am I surprised I’m still so hungry at this age?” Federer said. “Not really, because I always expected myself to be this way. I never saw myself sort of just all of the sudden fading, fading away and at the end having no love left for the game. I just really think it’s a thing that maybe the body decides or something else decides when it’s over, but it’s not just all of the sudden not going to be there anymore.”

It has been a bustling phase on and off the court for Federer, and 2012 could be even busier, as he is expected to chase the only two significant prizes he lacks: the Olympic singles title and the Davis Cup. The Olympic event will be on grass at the All England Club in late July, shortly after Wimbledon.

“It’s not as complicated as other Olympic years,” he said, chuckling. “We couldn’t be better prepared this time around, whereas the last times have been brutal.”

Federer said he was close to committing to the first round of Davis Cup in February, in which Switzerland will play host to Courier and the United States. This would be a major shift considering that Federer has not played a nonrelegation round in Davis Cup’s World Group since 2004.

“I think it looks good that I will play, but I still just have to finalize my schedule,” he said.

Federer also said that he had extended his relationship with Paul Annacone, his co-coach along with Severin Luthi, after the U.S. Open semifinal loss to Djokovic in which he squandered two match points on his serve.

“I know when someone is doing a good job and when someone is not,” said Federer, who said he told Annacone, “Just because Novak smashed a forehand past me, and I missed match point, has no effect on my decision in working with you.”

Federer also revealed that he and Nadal had met in London before Nadal left for Spain in an attempt to talk through their differences about the direction the men’s game will take off the court.

Federer is president of the player council, Nadal is vice president, and there is much to resolve.