Roger Federer's 2016 tennis season officially commenced on 3 January 2016, with the start of the Brisbane International, and ended on 8 July 2016, with a loss in the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships.
This season saw Federer suffer from a knee injury which sidelined him for the majority of the year. After surgery, Federer returned but was hindered by a back injury which kept him out of the French Open, therefore ending his record of 65 consecutive appearances at Grand Slam tournaments.
On July 26 Federer officially ended his season early, not wanting to risk damaging his knee further.AP. "Federer to miss Rio Olympics, rest of season to protect surgically-repaired knee", Tennis, 26 July 2016. Retrieved on 15 February 2018. Federer would thus end the year at No. 16 in the ATP rankings, marking the first time that he dropped out of the top 10 since 2002. Additionally, this was the first season since 2000 in which Federer did not win a singles title.
Year summary Early hard court season Brisbane International Federer opened his season at the Brisbane International for the third consecutive year, after winning the title in 2015. As the top seed, he received a bye in the first round. Although suffering with the flu virus, he beat Tobias Kamke in the second round in straight sets. He then defeated Grigor Dimitrov in three sets to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, he defeated Dominic Thiem in straight sets to advance to his third consecutive final at the tournament. He faced Milos Raonic in a repeat of the 2015 final, losing in straight sets. According with himself, Federer's performance was hindered throughout the tournament due to the flu virus.
Australian Open
Federer entered the Australian Open as the third seed. He defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili and Alexandr Dolgopolov, both in three straight sets to advance to the third round. There, he beat Grigor Dimitrov in four sets, in a win that marked Federer's 300th match win at a Grand Slam. He became the first man in the open era to reach this milestone and the second overall player behind Martina Navratilova, who won 306 matches. He reached the quarterfinals with an easy three set win over David Goffin in the fourth round. He then defeated Tomáš Berdych in straight sets to advance to his 12th Australian Open semifinal, where he faced Novak Djokovic in their first match of the year and their 45th meeting overall. Federer lost the match in four sets and this loss put Djokovic ahead in their rivalry for the first time.
Injury hiatus In the day after his loss to Djokovic, Federer sustained a knee injury. In early February, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus, thus missing both the scheduled Rotterdam Open and Dubai Tennis Championships. Later in the month, Federer announced he would also miss the Indian Wells Masters. In March, it was confirmed that he would make his return at the Miami Open.
Miami Open As the third seed, and after a first round bye, Federer was scheduled to face Juan Martín del Potro in the second round in his comeback match. However, he would pull out of the tournament due to contracting a stomach virus, thus prolonging his time on the sidelines.
Spring clay court season Monte-Carlo Masters After a ten-week hiatus, Federer made his return at the first clay court Masters 1000 tournament, the Monte-Carlo Masters. As the third seed, he received a first round bye and in the second round won his first match since January by defeating Guillermo García López in straight sets to advance to the third round. He proceeded to defeat Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets despite being two points away from the win.
Madrid Open Federer was expected to play the Madrid Open, but he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a back injury.Rothenberg, Ben. "Roger Federer Withdraws From Madrid Open, Citing Back Injury", The New York Times, 2 May 2016. Retrieved on 5 July 2018.
Italian Open Upon pulling out of Madrid, Federer entered the Italian Open. Despite that, and after a first round bye, he stated that he almost withdrew prior to his opening round due to lingering fitness issues. However, after a morning practice, he decided to play rising teenage star Alexander Zverev, defeating him in straight sets. Again at the last minute, Federer decided to play his third round match against Dominic Thiem, but this time he was beaten in straight sets as the back injury continued to hamper his speed and movement. This tournament cast further doubt on Federer's participation in the upcoming French Open.
Federer ended up withdrawing from the second major of the year not wanting to further aggravate his injury before the start of the grass court season. That marked the end of his all-time record run of 65 consecutive appearances at majors, which began in the 2000 Australian Open.
Grass court season Stuttgart Open Federer took advantage of the recently expanded grass court season, first instituted in 2015, by playing in a newly minted grass court tournament, the Stuttgart Open. After a bye in the first round he started the tournament by defeating Taylor Fritz in three sets, in a rainy match played over two days. In the quarterfinals, he defeated qualifier Florian Mayer in straight sets, advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, he lost to No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem after holding two match points in the second set tiebreak. He lost a grass court match after having a match point for only the second time in his career.
Halle Open Federer then entered the Halle Open as an eight-time champion and three-time defending champion. He defeated Jan-Lennard Struff, Malek Jaziri and David Goffin in the first three rounds, reaching the semifinals without losing a set in the process. In the semifinals, however, he lost to 19-year-old Alexander Zverev in three sets. Remarkably, this was the first time in which Federer lost before the final in this tournament since the 2002 edition.
Wimbledon
After a short break, Federer travelled to London to play Wimbledon, his second major of the year. He began the tournament with victories over Guido Pella, qualifier Marcus Willis, Daniel Evans and Steve Johnson, all in straight sets, reaching the quarterfinals in the process. In the quarterfinals he played and defeated Marin Čilić in an extremely tight match, in which he lost the first two sets before coming back to win the next three, saving three match points in the fourth set. However, he ended up losing to world No. 7 Milos Raonic in the semifinals after another tight five-setter.
Out for the rest of the season On July 26 Federer announced that he would not play anymore in 2016, due to a knee injury, therefore not being able to defend his titles at the Cincinnati Masters and the Swiss Indoors as well as the runner-up position at the US Open. As a result, Federer dropped out of the top 5 in the ATP rankings for the first time since the week of 3 March 2014. His ranking also fell out of the top 10 for the first time since 2002, ending a remarkable 14-year streak. This was also the first season since 2000 in which Federer did not win a singles title in a calendar year.
All matches This table chronicles all the matches of Roger Federer in 2016, including walkovers (W/O) which the ATP does not count as wins or losses.
Singles matches
Schedule Singles schedule DateTournamentLocationCategorySurfacePrev.resultPrev.pointsNewpointsResult 3 January 2016–10 January 2016 Brisbane International Brisbane (AUS) 250 Series Hard W 250 150 Final (lost to Milos Raonic, 4–6, 4–6) 18 January 2016–31 January 2016 Australian Open Melbourne (AUS) Grand Slam Hard 3R 90 720 Semifinals (lost to Novak Djokovic, 1–6, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6) 21 March 2016–3 April 2016 Miami Open Miami (USA) Masters 1000 Hard A N/A N/A Withdrew due to stomach virus 10 April 2016–17 April 2016 Monte-Carlo Masters Monte Carlo (MON) Masters 1000 Clay 3R 90 180 Quarterfinals (lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6–3, 2–6, 5–7) 30 April 2016–8 May 2016 Madrid Open Madrid (ESP) Masters 1000 Clay 2R 10 N/A Withdrew due to back injury 9 May 2016–15 May 2016 Italian Open Rome (ITA) Masters 1000 Clay F 600 90 Third round (lost to Dominic Thiem 6–7(2–7), 4–6) 6 June 2016–13 June 2016 Stuttgart Open Stuttgart (GER) 250 Series Grass A N/A 90 Semifinals (lost to Dominic Thiem, 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 4–6) 13 June 2016–19 June 2016 Halle Open Halle (GER) 500 Series Grass W 500 180 Semifinals (lost to Alexander Zverev, 6–7(4–7), 7–5, 3–6) 27 June 2016–10 July 2016 Wimbledon London (GBR) Grand Slam Grass F 1200 720 Semifinals (lost to Milos Raonic, 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–4, 5–7, 3–6)Total year-end points difference
Yearly records Head-to-head matchups Roger Federer has a ATP match win–loss record in the 2016 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings is . Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins:
Grigor Dimitrov 2–0 David Goffin 2–0 Nikoloz Basilashvili 1–0 Roberto Bautista Agut 1–0 Tomáš Berdych 1–0 Marin Čilić 1–0 Alexandr Dolgopolov 1–0 Daniel Evans 1–0 Taylor Fritz 1–0 Guillermo García-López 1–0 Malek Jaziri 1–0 Steve Johnson 1–0 Tobias Kamke 1–0 Florian Mayer 1–0 Guido Pella 1–0 Jan-Lennard Struff 1–0 Marcus Willis 1–0 Alexander Zverev 1–1 Dominic Thiem 1–2 Novak Djokovic 0–1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 0–1 Milos Raonic 0–2
Finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) CategoryGrand Slam (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP World Tour 500 (0–0)ATP World Tour 250 (0–1)Titles by surfaceHard (0–1)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Titles by settingOutdoor (0–1)Indoor (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Brisbane International, Australia 250 Series Hard Milos Raonic 4–6, 4–6
Earnings Event Prize money Year-to-date Brisbane International $37,900 $37,900 Australian Open A$750,000 $552,325 Monte-Carlo Masters €90,010 $654,873 Italian Open €46,740 $708,171 Stuttgart Open €30,790 $743,163 Halle Open €90,235 $844,669 Wimbledon £500,000 $1,527,269 $1,527,269 Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.
Awards Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award Record twelfth award in career (sixth consecutive) ATPWorldTour.com Fans' Favourite Record fourteenth consecutive award in career
See also 2016 ATP World Tour 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season 2016 Novak Djokovic tennis season 2016 Andy Murray tennis season 2016 Stan Wawrinka tennis season
References
External links
ATP tour profile