The solitary tear that rolled down Roger Federer’s cheek as he stood with the runners-up trophy on Centre Court was perhaps one of the most enduring images from last year's Championships.
He had just finished battling Novak Djokovic over five glorious sets on that final Sunday, having succumbed 6-4 in the final stanza after almost four hours. At nearly 33 years of age, many felt it was perhaps the Swiss champion’s last realistic shot at winning another major singles title.
It was a heart-breaking defeat, yet not one that broke him entirely. Federer has since done a remarkable job of moving on from it, carving out a fabulous 12 months in which he has won eight titles – the coveted Davis Cup for Switzerland among them – and cemented himself at world No.2.
“I'm not sure that last year's finals actually does anything to my performance this year. If it does something, it goes to show that last year I was playing well. I wasn't playing great, and I made the finals,” he reflected.
“I didn't expect myself to right away make the finals. To be honest, I was still somewhat on the way back (from injury).
"But things went faster than I thought they would. If I do look at last year, I see more the positives more than actually the heart-breaking loss in the final.”
It has been three years since Federer won the last of his 17 major singles titles. But rarely has he felt so good coming into a Grand Slam.
On Saturday at Wimbledon, the seven-time champion discussed how he felt more comfortable with his new racket, how his coaching relationship with Stefan Edberg had settled into a good groove, and how he had been able to gear his year around the tournament that means the most to him.
His record is 34-6 for the year, with four titles already under his belt. One of them was at the recent Halle event on grass in Germany, a tournament Federer has come to own over the past decade. That victory came amid an extended grass-court season which he believes has played perhaps the most significant part in supplying the confidence for his 17th visit to the All England Club.
“(The extended season has) changed everything, to be honest. You might think that a week is not a lot, but a week is so much for us players. The good thing is you can heal problems you might have carried over from the French rather than taking chances right away running onto the grass, or not playing a warm-up event.
“I could rest and relax and then really train and prepare properly, for a change, for a good grass-court season. Just the moving on grass takes some adjustment. Also, in my opinion, some physical adjustment, which I had all the time to do. That worked well. I could go early to Halle, train a lot, rest again. Same here. Arrived two days after the finals. Trained for three days, off today.
“I can totally pace myself, which is huge in an athlete's career and life.”
Although a player winning a Grand Slam singles title at nearly 34 would be unprecedented in this era – it has not happened since the early 1970s – Federer is genuinely shaping up as one of the favourites for the title.
It remains to be seen how Djokovic will respond to his crushing defeat in the French Open final. Rafael Nadal has yet to pull himself out of an extended funk that has seen him fall to No.10, and has not gone deep at Wimbledon in three years. Andy Murray must contend with a pressure-cooker environment of a Grand Slam event on home soil. Top five stars Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori have historically struggled on grass, while last year’s beaten semi-finalists, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov, have endured their own woes – Raonic with injury, Dimitrov with form.
Federer, meanwhile, is in a great place. And he couldn’t be feeling better about it. “Winning Halle has given me the extra confidence I guess it's going to take me to win this title here,” he said.
“It’s probably been the best preparation I've ever had for Wimbledon.”
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