By ADAM ZAGORIA
NEW YORK — It has been a full decade since Roger Federer won the last of his five straight US Open titles in 2008.
The 37-year-old Swiss Maestro has captured every other Grand Slam title more recently than the US Open, including his lone win at the French Open in 2009. He captured his 20th — and most recent Slam title — at this year’s Australian Open.
Now, with the Open set to begin on Monday, Federer, the No. 2 seed, says it’s important for him to try to win in New York for the first time in a decade.
“It would mean the world to me,” he said Friday. “It would mean a lot to me, of course. It’s even a bigger priority this year, the US Open, than it has been last year.”
Federer said his major focus in 2017 was on winning Wimbledon — which he did for an eighth time — because he lost in the 2016 semifinals to Milos Raonic while battling a knee injury that ultimately required surgery and kept him of the tour for the remainder of that year.
“Wimbledon was key for me last year,” he said. “I wasn’t well the year before that, so last year we wanted to be ready for Wimbledon. Even skipped the French for that.”
If Federer is to win a sixth US Open title — and 21st career Slam — this year, he may have to overcome an especially tough draw. He could potentially face No. 6 seed and Wimbledon champ Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, either No. 4 Alexander Zverev or No. 7 and 2014 champ Marin Cilic in the semis and then potentially defending champ and No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the final.
Both Djokovic and Nadal have winning records against Federer, who many consider to be the GOAT of men’s tennis.
“The draw, it is what it is, and I’ve got enough stuff to worry about anyway in the earlier rounds,” said Federer, who faces Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round. “My focus is the first round. Nothing else.”
He pointed out that had Djokovic not risen to No. 6 in the world after a strong summer, the Serb could have been ranked lower, which would have made him an even tougher “floater” for the top seeds at the Open.
“Sure, you sometimes wonder, like, is it easier to play guys with not such a résumé like a Novak so early in the tournament?” he said. “But because he won Cincinnati, I could have also played Novak in the fourth round if he wouldn’t have made a move in the rankings.
“So I think we are all happier that he’s higher ranked so we don’t have to face him already in the first round, like Stan [Wawrinka] is playing [Grigor] Dimitrov back to back. From that standpoint, the quarterfinals is already quite deep in a tournament.”
There was a time when Federer was the King of New York.
He won 41 straight matches from 2004-09 before losing in the 2009 final in five sets to Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Nadal in the semis.
In both 2010 and 2011, Federer had match points on Djokovic in the fifth set in the semifinals. In 2011 , Federer was serving for the match at 5-3, 40-15, only to see Djokovic make an out-of-this-world forehand return on the first one. Federer then smacked a forehand of his own into the net on the second match point.
In 2015, Djokovic beat Federer in four sets in the final.
After Federer missed the 2016 Open because of his knee surgery, he and Nadal were on track to meet for the first time ever in New York in the semifinals a year ago, but del Potro knocked Federer out in four sets in the quarterfinals. Nadal went on to win his third title.
Now 37 and having earlier this year become the oldest man ever to become No. 1 in the world, Federer has some perspective on it all.
“I don’t remember the years anymore, but the two semis with match points were tough against Novak,” Federer said. “The finals was rough here. I have won some and lost some close ones here in New York. And then, you know, some years I just lost against a better guy. And some years it just didn’t work out.
“I think there are explanations for everything, especially the last two years, and the other ones were just close, which is unfortunate, I guess. But for me it’s not puzzling. I won the US Open five times. So I stand here pretty happy, to be quite honest. It’s not like, God, the US Open never worked out for me. It hasn’t the last couple years, but it’s all good.”
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