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Even Roger Federer
can suffer a crisis of confidence and the Swiss was quick to thank his
new coach for restoring his after capping a vintage week at the ATP
World Tour Finals Sunday.

The 29-year-old
Swiss played some of the best tennis of 2010 as he roared through to
the final against world number one Rafael Nadal without dropping a set
and he was at his flamboyant best again to beat the Spaniard 6-3 3-6
6-1.

Rewind back a few months, however, and there were those who thought Federer’s aura had gone for good.

Defeat by Robin
Soderling at the French Open ended his incredible sequence of 23
consecutive appearances in the semi-finals of grand slam tournaments
and he suffered another quarter-final loss to Tomas Berdych at
Wimbledon.

In between those
two shocks he was beaten by Lleyton Hewitt on the grass courts of Halle
, his first loss there since 2002 and against a player who he had
beaten 15 times in a row.

Drastic action was
needed and Federer turned to American coach Paul Annacone, formerly
with Pete Sampras, to compliment the work he was doing with fellow
Swiss Severin Luthi.

Six finals

It appears to have
worked as Federer, who has often gone it alone without a full-time
coach, has reached six finals and compiled a 35-4 record.

“First of all, I
had to regain some confidence,” Federer told reporters after only his
second win in two and half years over nine-times grand slam champion
Nadal.

“That only comes
through winning matches. After having somewhat of a disappointing clay
season, Halle, Wimbledon stretch, where I wasn’t able to win any
tournaments and didn’t play my best tennis, played a bit passive, it
was important that I was able to pick up my game.

“I started moving
better, started feeling well physically and mentally. I’m sure Paul has
helped in this regard. So has Severin. He’s helped as well over the
last few years.

“That’s why I’m
very happy with my team at this stage of the season. I can obviously
thank them for great work. It’s through their hard work and my
condition trainer, my physio, my wife and kids and everybody.

“It’s been intense
at times but it seems like we made many right decisions toward the end
of the season. My body was able to cope with a lot of playing I did.
I’ve played five tournaments in seven weeks but I feel very happy right
now.” While Nadal has been the outstanding player this season, winning
the French Open,

Wimbledon and the
U.S. Open, Federer underlined just how important it was for him to win
the year-ending title for a record-equalling fifth time.

In a tournament featuring the world’s top eight players he won five matches, dropping just one set in the process.

“I’m really
thrilled the way I played all week,” he said. “To win a fifth time is
obviously amazing, for the third time in a different place after
Houston and Shanghai.

“I’m just really happy the way I was able to finish the season in style, really saving the best for last.

“Today was another
great match with some fantastic rallies. I know it doesn’t take
anything away from Rafa’s great season, because it was magnificent.

REUTERS