Roger Federer's 2014 tennis season officially began on 30 December 2013 with the start of the 2014 Brisbane International. This season was a resurgent season for Federer after a poor 2013 season. Before the start of the season Federer appointed Stefan Edberg as his coach and he also changed racquets for the first time, moving on from his longtime frame of 90 square inches to a 97 square inch frame. Federer reached a total of 11 finals, the most since his 2007 season. One of those finals included the Wimbledon final, his first major final since he won Wimbledon in 2012. After winning Shanghai, Federer returned to No. 2 in the world for the first time since May 2013. He also won the Davis Cup for the first time. Federer ended the year at No. 2 with 5 titles and with the most match wins since 2006.
Year summary
Australian Open and early hard court season
Brisbane International Federer opened his season at the Brisbane International in Brisbane. His first match was in the second round against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. Though Nieminen challenged Federer in the first set with some aggressive play, Federer ultimately won the first set and went on to win the next set, and the match, handily, continuing his undefeated record against Nieminen. He next played Marinko Matosevic of Australia in the quarterfinals and swept him in straight sets under an hour, allowing only two games to Matosevic. Federer next played Jérémy Chardy of France, whom he had defeated in doubles earlier in the tournament, for the first time in singles in the semifinals. Federer won the first set after breaking Chardy, but Chardy matched Federer in the second set, forcing a tiebreak during which Chardy pulled away from Federer to even the match. The third set looked to be close, but Federer found a break near the end of the set and closed out the match in just under two hours. Lleyton Hewitt won in the final against Federer.
Australian Open Federer's next contest was the men's singles event of the 2014 Australian Open in Melbourne. His appearance at the 2014 Australian Open marked a record-breaking 57 straight Grand Slam appearances. He finished in the semifinals last year, losing to Andy Murray in five sets. Federer was the sixth seed in the tournament, and began his tournament by playing Australian wildcard James Duckworth in the first round, breaking him four times en route to a straight-sets win. He then played Blaž Kavčič of Slovenia in the second round. Federer swept through the first two sets, but errors in the third set allowed Kavčič to force a tiebreak, which Federer won to close out the match. Federer broke him six times in total and won seven of the last eight points in the tiebreak to win his seventieth match in Melbourne. Federer played Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the third round for the first time in six years. He saved five break points and broke Gabashvili's serve five times en route to a straight-sets victory. Federer played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the fourth round, and won in straight sets. Federer found breaks in each set, including one at the beginning of the first set, and dictated at the net, using aggressive play to keep Tsonga at bay. With his win, Federer reached his eleventh consecutive Australian Open quarterfinal, and has now reached 41 Grand Slam quarterfinals, tying the all-time record held by Jimmy Connors. Federer faced Andy Murray in the quarter-finals and defeated him in four sets after missing several break opportunities and squandering two match points in the third set tiebreak. Federer lost to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, in straight sets.
Davis Cup World Group 1R Federer would make a surprising announcement, revealing that he would represent Switzerland in the World Group for the first time since 2012. He along with compatriots Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer would help Switzerland defeat Serbia, defeating Ilija Bozoljac in his first round rubber. Federer's win would help Switzerland advance to play Kazakhstan in the Quarterfinals beating Serbia 3–2.
Dubai Tennis Championships
After playing in the Davis Cup Federer took a three-week break and returned to competition at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Federer won his opening match against Benjamin Becker in the opening round with ease, and faced Radek Štěpánek in the second round. After a solid first set by Federer, Štěpánek tied the match after winning the second-set tiebreak. Federer then climbed out of a three-game deficit in the third set, winning five straight games to seal the match. In the quarterfinals, Federer played his first match against Lukáš Rosol of the Czech Republic. After having his serve broken in the first game, he won the next six games to clinch the first set and held his serve in the second to win the match in straight sets in just under an hour. Federer faced defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, and dropped the first set to Djokovic. After a rain delay in the second set, Federer converted breaks in the second and third sets against Djokovic and won his first match against Djokovic in 18 months. This was also the first time he had beaten Djokovic after dropping the first set. Federer then played Tomáš Berdych, who had beaten him in the semifinals last year. The two exchanged breaks in the first, but Berdych secured another break and won the first set. In the second set, Berdych broke Federer again, but Federer took advantage of errors on Berdych's part to get two breaks and level the match at one set all. Federer claimed a crucial break in a tighter third set, and held the lead to win in just under two hours. Federer won a record sixth Dubai title and won his 78th career title, surpassing John McEnroe for the third-most titles won in the Open Era. The win also ensured that he would continue his streak of winning at least one title per year since 2001.
Indian Wells Masters Federer next played at the Indian Wells Masters in Indian Wells. After a bye in the first round, Federer played Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, and defeated him in straight sets, winning three break points and a second-set tiebreak. He then played Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in the third round. Federer and Tursunov both won two break points against each other, and Tursunov forced tiebreaks in both the first and second sets. Federer, however, won both of the tiebreaks, taking the match in straight sets. He then met Tommy Haas in the fourth round, and won in straight sets, though Haas kept the match close. Federer played Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the quarterfinals. In the first set, Anderson held off Federer on numerous break point opportunities, but Federer broke in the last game of the set to take the lead. Federer then jumped out to a five-game lead in the second set, and won the match in straight sets. Federer then played first-time semifinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov in the semifinals, and raced through the match, winning four break points and allowing Dolgopolov only four games en route to a win in just over an hour. Federer was narrowly defeated in the final by Novak Djokovic in a final set tie-break.
Miami Open Federer next played the Miami Open in Miami. He played Ivo Karlović in the second round after a bye in the first round. Federer broke Karlović early in the first set and, after holding to take the lead, defeated Karlović in the second-set tiebreak. Federer then cruised into the quarterfinals, beating Thiemo de Bakker and Richard Gasquet both in straight sets. However, in one of the tour's biggest upsets, Kei Nishikori would improve his head-to-head record against Federer to 2–1, beating Federer in three sets. Unfortunately, Nishikori would retire before his semifinal match, most probably sustaining a groin injury during their quarterfinal meeting.
Davis Cup World Group QF Switzerland played against Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals. This was the first time Federer had played in the Davis Cup quarterfinals since 2004. Federer defeated Mikhail Kukushkin to equalize the tie at 1-1. Federer and Wawrinka then played doubles but fell in four sets. After Wawrinka brought the Swiss to parity at 2-2, Federer was tasked with winning the first deciding fifth live rubber of his career. Federer led the Swiss to a 3–2 victory by defeating Andrey Golubev in straight sets.
Spring clay court season and French Open
Monte-Carlo Masters Federer began his clay season with a wildcard entry into the Monte-Carlo Masters. Federer experienced great success during his second and third round meetings against Radek Štěpánek and Lukáš Rosol, defeating both in straight sets. He then defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from a set down for the first time in his career, in a match where he failed to convert any of his first 15 break points. He ousted world No. 2 and defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, ending the Serb's unbeaten run in Masters 1000 tournaments dating back to the 2013 Shanghai Masters. He lost his fourth Monte Carlo final, this time to compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka.
Madrid Open Federer was seeded 4th, but withdrew from the tournament to be with his pregnant wife, Mirka. On May 6, he announced that they became parents to twins again, this time boys – Leo and Lenny.
Italian Open Federer next played in Rome at the Italian Open, where he was a three-time finalist, including in 2013. He was seeded 4th. He suffered a shock defeat to Jérémy Chardy in a final-set tiebreaker in the second round, after having match point. The loss was the first time in 2014 that Federer had failed to match or better his result at a tournament compared to the previous season.
French Open Federer started his 2014 French Open campaign with a comfortable straight sets victory over Lukáš Lacko. He followed this up with another straight sets victory over Argentine qualifier Diego Sebastien Schwartzman in the second round. Federer defeated Dimitry Tursunov in the third round in four sets, in their first meeting on a clay court. Federer was upset in the fourth round by Ernest Gulbis, who leveled their head-to-head record with a victory in five sets. The loss snapped Federer's streak of nine straight French Open quarterfinals.
Grass court season and Wimbledon
Halle Open Following a first round bye, Federer came from a set down to defeat João Sousa. After receiving a walkover in the quarterfinals, Federer defeated fourth seed Kei Nishikori to reach his ninth singles final at the Halle Open. Federer successfully defended his title and won a record seventh Halle Open singles title, beating Alejandro Falla in the final in two tiebreak sets. It was Federer's 14th grass court title, extending his open era record, and his 79th career singles title.
Wimbledon Federer dispatched Paolo Lorenzi, Gilles Müller, Santiago Giraldo, and Tommy Robredo without dropping a set or losing serve. In doing so, he reached his 42nd major quarterfinal, surpassing the previous all-time record of 41 set by Jimmy Connors. He defeated compatriot Stan Wawrinka in four sets in the first all-Swiss Wimbledon men's quarterfinal in history, then defeated Milos Raonic in a record 35th major semifinal. This extended Federer's record in Wimbledon semi finals to 9–0, and 27–1 in sets. In the final, he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in an epic five set match.
North American hard court season and the US Open
Canadian Open