Federer prepares for ‘tricky’ time at Pacific Life Open

Being on a pedestal means others will be looking for ways to knock you off.

Some pedestal-sitters are oblivious to that. The smart ones, the Roger Federers, recognize their high ground and protect it warily.

Federer has been No. 1 in men’s tennis since Jimmy Carter was president. OK, it just seems that long.

He actually took over the top spot Feb. 2, 2004. That was after he had won his second major, the Australian Open, and before he won 10 of the next 15 Grand Slam events.

He didn’t just take over men’s tennis. He was men’s tennis.

If it weren’t for tournaments played mostly in Europe, where two players stand yards behind the baseline, slap looping ground strokes at each other for hours -- and that’s just the first set -- and finish looking like jockeys who have just raced in the mud, Federer might have shut the entire game down.

In its time of need, tennis was rescued by Rafael Nadal, who dominated at least the clay-court portion of the game, winning the last three titles in the French Open dirt at Roland Garros.

Without that, the sport might have become a series of notes from opponents, having just viewed the draw sheet and seen their name next to Federer’s, to tournament directors: “Dear Sir. So Sorry. He’s too good. Am going home early. Just mail the default check.”

Almost since Federer won his first Wimbledon title, and his first major title, in 2003, the story line has been a stream of flowery adjectives and justifiable hyperbole. Another theme has been invincibility, also justifiable.

Most of that remains valid. But there have been hints that cracks may exist near the base of the statue.

Federer didn’t win the Australian this year, didn’t make it to the final for the first time in 11 Grand Slam events. In his only other tournament outing this year, he lost in the first round to Andy Murray in Dubai. His 2008 record is 5-2, his year’s prize money $314,760. Chump change.

Which brings us to real time, as Internet folks call it.

Federer is back at Indian Wells and will start playing Sunday in the Pacific Life Open, which has, on the tennis tour, the status of a mini-major. Federer won the event in 2004, 2005 and 2006, but, inexplicably, bowed out early last year to an unseeded qualifier, Guillermo Canas, who had been off the tour on a 15-month drug suspension.

Then Canas beat him again in the next tournament, another mini-major in Miami.

That didn’t exactly wipe out the season for Federer. He went on to win the U.S. Open -- his 12th major that brought him to within two of Pete Sampras’ record. Then he tacked on the season-ending win at the Tennis Masters Cup and finished the year, at No. 1, of course, giving him another $10,130,620 in prize money to help him with his Christmas shopping.

But the combination of this year’s start, mostly attributable to a recently diagnosed bout with mononucleosis, and the memory of last year and Canas’ double whammy, have given Federer a renewed resolved these days. Never a “what me, worry?” kind of guy, Federer said Friday that he considers the month of March, with two weeks of tournament play at Indian Wells followed directly by two weeks at Miami, as “tricky.”

“I need to start well here, to get going, have a good event,” he said. “You have just two tournaments in the month, and if you play a bad one, maybe go out early, people talk.

“It’s different if it is three tournaments in four weeks and you have another tournament to get back on track.

“This time, right now, is a tricky period.”

Last year, after losing to Canas in the second round, Federer stayed around the desert, practiced a lot, even played some golf.

“I think that’s the last time I played,” he said.

And while he agreed that the break was nice, the weather is always great and time away from pressure is always welcome, he admitted to getting itchy.

“You want to get back out there,” he said. “I don’t want 10 days of practice like last year.”

What he does want is his energy back, something he thinks has now returned after his bout with mono.

“I was just happy to find out exactly what it was,” he said. “They did a lot of checking for bacterial infections and food poisoning. I ended up in the emergency room three times. I don’t think there was any misdiagnosis. They just had to eliminate other things.”

He also seems to want the reinstatement, to the status of rivalry, his matches with Nadal, who won at Indian Wells last year and is seeded second. They can only meet in the final, and Federer seems almost eager for that.

When asked whether up-and-coming Novak Djokovic, Australian Open winner, who beat him in the semifinals there, had taken over as his rival, Federer responded quickly.

“Rafa is my rival. We have played much more, we are 2-2 in Grand Slam finals, we have played some epic five-setters, like at Miami and at Rome.

“I used to not like the rivalry thing. I didn’t think that much about it, or care that much about it. But now, with Rafa, it is good.

“With Djokovic, we just haven’t played that many times.”

Federer’s first match at Indian Wells will be against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

That other Guillermo, Canas, is seeded 16th this year and on the other side of the bracket. If Nadal isn’t there at the end, Canas might be a nice consolation prize for Federer.

They would call that match a final. Federer might call it pedestal-crack repair.

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Bill Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com.

To read previous columns by Dwyre, go to latimes.com/dwyre.