Great! For sure! But rise and fall of a player is also quite related with how his mental state is and how does he think. All the time, he shows that he is not bothered and then lose 2-3 matches. His confidence has definitely shattered against Nadal. Time and again, he has been beaten. Initial few years, it was like he is not too far from Nadal on clay but third successive defeat, that too in just a killing way has done much of a harm to his confidence. He has lost matches, which he easily used to win even on his bad day. Habit of being lazy on a shot, thinking he would have many more winners later on has not become permanent habit. I atleast, haven't seen an overwhelmingly dominated match by him in recent past.
I just hope he really has a lot of years left in him and more than that the motivation to succeed. He is the most classical, accomplished and great player of all time and I love him. :).
Federer still rules the roost. Every loss of his gives a chance to his critics to proclaim "the end of Federer Era". They are quick to vouch that he had a average season. Federed won one grand slam, lost two grand slam finals and a semi finalist in one. Looking at the lofty standards he had set this might look an average season. The man will return stronger, more fit, as hungry as ever and devour the world of tennis as he used to do in the past. He has forced other players to reach levels which was unimaginable few years back. This poetry in motion is going to entertain the tennis world in years to come. Rafa is no ordinary player, he would have become number one long back in any other era, but for Federer. Djokovic and others need to be more consistent to overtake the king.
