I just watched Borna Coric pull of a routine victory in the Semi Finals of Shanghai. On the losing end was Rodger Federer. Is father time finally catching up to Roger Federer? That’s kind of an unfair question considering that in the last two years, he’s won three Grand Slams, which include two Australian Opens and one Wimbledon. Usually, professional tennis players are retired by the age of 33. Fortunately for Roger Federer, he’s unusually talented, and in amazing playing shape.

He had an exceptional start to the season, defending his Australian Open title, and winning at Rotterdam. However, it seems that since losing in the Indian Wells final to Del Potro in three tough sets, he’s had a dip. He’s been a top five player for sure, but not the world’s best that we’ve seen since January 2017. For someone like Federer, top five is substandard.

He followed up Indian Wells by losing in the first round of the Miami Open. He then decided to skip the clay court season for the second year in a row to prepare for Wimbledon. In the two Wimbledon tune ups, he won at Stuttgart and lost in the final of Halle to Borna Coric.

So maybe Federer is not in decline, but it is Coric that is on the upswing. Sure, one can come to that conclusion, but what about Roger’s loss to Anderson in the quarters of Wimbledon? Or falling once again to Djokovic in the finals at Cincinnati? But more importantly, losing in the round of 16 of the US Open to John Millman?

By any other standards, Roger is having a great year. He’s won three tournaments, including the Australian Open, and also defended the Laver Cup. However, the losses to Kokkinakis in the first round of the Miami Open and Millman at the US Open are certainly concerning. Also, losing in the round of 16 at the US Open is not something he’s used to.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season pans out. There’s still the Paris Masters to play along with the ATP World Tour Finals in November. One thing is for certain, it will be tough for him to finish this year number one. Nadal and Djokovic have accumulated too many points, and the way Djokovic has been playing, it very likely he finishes the year number one.