About this time a year ago, Roger Federer had started to become an afterthought.
A Wimbledon win will clinch Roger Federer's position as the greatest men's singles player
The Swiss tennis phenom with a record 17 Grand Slam titles lost in the second round of the Slam tournament on his favorite surface to someone named Sergiy Stakhovsky.
A back injury kept Federer from winning a tournament the rest of 2013, and as he turned 32 years old, it seemed as if his days as a threat to win any event he entered were over.
Now a month away from his 33rd birthday, Federer suddenly has a chance to extend his record to 18 Grand Slam championships with a win over Novak Djokovic on Sunday at Wimbledon - that very same surface that Federer suffered his second-round upset last year.
Wrist injury leaves Novak Djokovic's fortunes at Wimbledon in doubt
A daunting task for Federer? Perhaps, but not any more so than the journey even to get to the Wimbledon final. In fact, destiny may be helping Federer.
While Federer slumped to a No. 8 world ranking last year, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were the ones engaged in a fierce battle for No. 1. Andy Murray, who won Wimbledon last year, seemed to be the next in line to disrupt the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry.
As the 2014 Slam-on-grass event neared, the seven-time Wimbledon champ Federer seemed to have an impossible task of having to defeat two or the three claim a title, as former tennis No 1 and current tennis analyst John McEnroe said.
"I don't see him at this stage being able to go through all seven (rounds)," McEnroe said of Federer last year, according to tennistuesday.net, "and have to beat at least two of these top three guys."
Tennistuesday.net reported, however, that Andre Agassi reached the finals of the US Open at age 35. Still, McEnroe said reaching the final was different than winning a slam.
"Agassi got to the final of the Open at 35, so there's no reason to believe (Federer) couldn't do it," McEnroe said. "At Wimbledon, I could see him going late into the event, a final...But I personally think that at this point it's going to be quite, quite difficult for him to win another one."
The problem for an older player, according to tennistuesday.net, is the recovery time required through the two-week tournament that features beat-of-five-set matches.
But as McEnroe's brother, Patrick, said during Friday's broadcast of Federer's straight-sets semifinals win over Milos Raonic in the semifinals, the stars seemed to be aligned for Federer.
Federer has lost just one set during his Wimbledon run, in the quarterfinal against Australian Open winner Stanislaus Wawrinka who also had passed Federer in the rankings.
But in six matches Federer has played at Wimbledon, he has spent 616 total minutes on the court, averaging 1 hour and 43 minutes per match.
His opponent has spent nearly 50 percent more time on the court for each match. Djokovic has played a total of 909 minutes, and his matches have averaged 2 hours, 31 ½ minutes each.
Federer is going to be the fresher player when the match starts on Sunday, and Djokovic still has his own nagging injuries - shoulder and wrist - with which to cope.
Those injuries can tip the scales in Federer's favor.
Djokovic also has his own demons to overcome in the finals. He has a 6-7 match record in Grand Slam tournament finals.
Federer also has won two of the three matches the two have played this year. The last match was at the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters semifinals, when Djokovic suffered a wrist injury forced him to miss a couple of matches before the French Open.
Several pundits have claimed Sunday's match "now or never" on Federer's chance to reach 18 Grand Slam tournament victories and matching Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors wins.
Still, it doesn't seem so daunting for a player who has spent the majority of 2014 competing after almost becoming an afterthought.
Who will win Sunday's Wimbledon final - Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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