Roger Federer hopes rest will do him good as he believes he can add to record Grand Slam haul ahead of return

Federer will play his first tournament in five months at the Hopman Cup in two weeks' time, and he tells Paul Newman that he has full confidence in his ability to win Grand Slam No 18

Roger Federer returns to tennis after five months out with a knee injury (Getty)

Roger Federer has not won a Grand Slam title since 2012 and has not struck a ball in anger since Wimbledon but as the 35-year-old Swiss prepares to make his comeback here at the Hopman Cup in the first week of the new year he is confident he can still challenge for the biggest prizes.

Federer, who returned to full training last month after a knee injury put paid to the second half of his 2016 season, said that his mindset was “always very positive” and that he was doing “everything that I possibly can” to return to the very top.

“I feel very positive about my chances of achieving another Grand Slam and winning those big matches when it matters,” the former world No 1 said. “You put in everything that you can physically to be in tip-top shape when that Grand Slam final or semi comes around.”

Federer suffered his knee injury at Wimbledon and brought his season to a premature end when the problem flared up again when he started training in preparation for the US Open. Having had on operation to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee in February – the first time in his career that he had suffered an injury requiring surgery – he was relieved to be told that he would not have to go under the surgeon’s knife again.

“The goal was to be fully fit by the end of November or the beginning of December,” Federer said. “That was always the goal when I sat down after Wimbledon with my team.

“We knew it was going to take a while because we needed to give the knee sufficient rest and just take our time. Of course at one point you start building up more, you work harder, more days in a row, more hours during the day.

“I went on vacation at the beginning of November for almost two weeks. The first two weeks when I came back were really important for me to see how much load I could put on the leg. I wasn’t at 100 per cent, because you always need a bit more time and a bit more reassurance, but things went very well. I didn’t have any setbacks.”

He added: “The good thing about this lay-off is that I didn't have to have surgery after Wimbledon. For me it was crucial that I didn't have to have two surgeries in the same year. I just needed to rest.”

Federer has been training for the last month in Dubai. He brought in two American hitting partners, Ernesto Escobedo and Mackenzie McDonald, who are both ranked in the world’s top 350, and has been playing sets against France’s Lucas Pouille, Croatia’s Borna Coric and Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur.

Federer was forced to take time out after injuring his knee at Wimbledon (Getty)

“We did a lot of two-on-ones for the first couple of weeks and then we did more exercises, more one-on-ones and then more sets and points as we went on,” Federer said. “I played very well. At the beginning I was struggling to find the range on every serve, but that’s coming along now as well.

“I do believe that it could be very beneficial for the future of my tennis career to have had this six-month lay-off, to resume refreshed. I feel like mentally maybe I needed this rest more than I thought I would. Maybe my body also needed a rest more than I thought it would.

“It didn’t feel too gruelling and too long and too hard to go through this process. In some instances I actually enjoyed it. Towards the end of the season I started to miss tennis again, which was a good feeling for me to have. That made me even more excited to come back next season.”

Federer took some time out on vacation which included travelling to watch the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Getty)

While Federer was away, Andy Murray became world No 1, replacing Novak Djokovic at the top of the world rankings. Djokovic had a superb first half of the year, winning the Australian and French Opens, but as the Serb faded badly in the second half of the season Murray enjoyed a wonderful run. Between June and the end of the campaign the Scot won eight titles, including Wimbledon, the Olympics and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

“I’m not surprised that Andy is No 1 in the world because he has won so many titles, so many Grand Slams,” Federer said. “I always expected him to be world No 1 at some point, though I was surprised that he finished world No 1 this year especially after Novak’s start. Andy deserves even more credit for not just becoming world No 1 but also finishing the year as world No 1. Those are two separate things. I really respect Andy in a big way for the way he did it.”

The Swiss believes the rest may do his career some good (Getty)

Federer said he expected Djokovic to regain the world No 1 ranking “at some point in his career” but thought that would be difficult in the first part of 2017 given the large number of ranking points he has to defend.

“I think Andy will probably hang on to the world No 1 ranking for a while, but we will have to see if he stays injury-free,” Federer said. “That plays a lot into it as well. But I guess it will be a bit of a neck-and-neck race for the next six months or a year. If anybody wants to break [their domination] they will have to win two Slams, so I think it’s pretty much going to be on Andy’s and Novak’s rackets at the moment.”

Federer said that one of the major reasons he had not won a Grand Slam title since 2012 had been Djokovic’s remarkable form. “It was hard for anyone to break through him,” Federer said. “So it’s up to us to reinvent ourselves and look at how you can beat Novak. Andy has shown that a little bit and has maybe triggered belief for more of the players that there is a bigger chance to win Slams. For me personally I still believe in it, but time will tell whether it is going to be possible or not.”