Before this, Cuddalore had been Roger Federer’s tenuous link to India—apart from his friendship with Sachin Tendulkar of course. His first visit to the country was in 2006 as a Unicef goodwill ambassador. This time, he dropped in to play tennis, and credit to the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) for bringing him here. It has always been a privilege watching him in action and, naturally, the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium erupted.

The match against Novak Djokovic was a serious affair, but the ‘dad dance’ with Gael Monfils was the lighter part of the show. The fun tournament received the master’s vote of confidence as well: “It’s crazy, but it’s good fun. I definitely think there’s a place for this,” he said before leaving.

Over to more serious business now. Post the Christmas break, Federer will start afresh for another gruelling season. He will carry forward the confidence of a very successful 2014. The 33-year-old rolled back the years this term. Circa 2013 saw a considerable decline. Federer had failed to reach the final of a Major and slipped five places to number seven in the ATP rankings. It was his lowest in 11 years. Swan song loomed.

The great man, however, refused to budge and vowed to return stronger this season and he walked the talk.

Before the start of the season, Federer spoke about his aim of “winning five titles” this year. With the Davis Cup in his bag, he won six, moving to number two in the world rankings. This is an upward shift of four places.

Forget the critics who called for him to retire, but Federer himself needed a reality check about whether there was still top-flight tennis left in him. His resilience ensured that he rode a second wind.

Make no mistake, after winning 17 Grand Slam titles, 23 Masters Series and an Olympic gold, Federer didn’t have anything to prove to anyone. But his pride was hurt and the champion responded.

Federer appointed Stefan Edberg as his personal coach at the start of the season and changed his racket to an expanded 96-sq-inch Wilson Pro. But more than anything else, there was a burning desire to succeed again. The greatest player ever to play the game was not ready to go out with a whimper.

The Davis Cup win has to be special. It was the only piece of silverware missing from his trophy cabinet. He arrived in Lille nursing a back injury. It was serious enough to rule him out of the title round of the ATP World Tour Finals that preceded the Davis Cup showdown against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s France. Federer was also a little perturbed over a row with his friend and Switzerland teammate Stan Wawrinka during the last-four clash in London. He, however, had described the incident as “one of those heat-of-the-moment situations”. It was good to see the two pals bury the hatchet and win the Cup for their country. Switzerland became only the 14th nation to annex the Davis Cup.

“For me personally, obviously, I’m unbelievably happy because I’ve been playing in this competition for probably almost 15 years now. At the end of the day, I wanted it more for the guys and for (coach) Severin (Luthi) and Stan, the staff and everybody involved. This one is for the boys,” Federer had said after decimating Richard Gasquet in the reverse single. The 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 scoreline secured victory for Switzerland.

The beginning was not easy. Federer had lost to Monfils 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 on Day One. It was the heaviest defeat of his Davis Cup career. It also had cancelled out Wawrinka’s victory over Tsonga. The upside, however, was that the injury didn’t worsen. “I finished the match without pain.”

He paired up with Wawrinka to beat Gasquet and Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-5 6-4 in the doubles. It gave the visitors a 2-1 advantage before Federer finished off the tie in the first reverse singles.

“When I won Wimbledon (for the first time in 2003), it was a total shock honestly. Davis Cup is something that I knew was possible at some stage in my career. Of course, there was the pressure of being able to manage all this and make everyone happy with all the support we had for the team and everything. So it’s a totally different feeling. Also, I was not alone on the court. This changes totally everything.”

It has been 16 years since Federer first played a tournament as a professional—in Gstaad in 1998. Defeating Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001 was the turning point. Winning the 2003 Wimbledon marked the beginning of his era and, for the next five years, he was almost untouchable, taking everything that tennis had to offer.

Federer came up alongside a very exciting generation of young players that included Grand Slam-winners Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin. He was a little slow off the blocks, but once he reached the summit, there was no slip-up. Others fell by the wayside while his legend grew.

Will he win a Major next year? Who cares! No one can go on for ever but we all want him to continue until his body gives up. Tennis is honoured when this man plays.