Roger Federer's 2018 tennis season officially began on 30 December 2017, with the start of the Hopman Cup,[1] and ended on 17 November 2018, with a loss in the semifinals of the ATP Finals.
[2] Federer won his twentieth major at the Australian Open and extended his then-record of weeks at World No.
In the group stage, Federer defeated Yūichi Sugita, Karen Khachanov and Jack Sock, from Japan, Russia and United States respectively, all in straight sets, to help Switzerland advance to the final.
[3] Federer began his participation in the first major tournament of the year by defeating Aljaž Bedene in three sets in the first round.
[4] He proceeded to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff, Richard Gasquet, and Márton Fucsovics, all in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals.
[5] This was his sixth Australian Open title, matching the record of Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic for most tournament wins.
[7] Federer was given a wild card to play the Rotterdam Open, where he defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Phillip Kohlschreiber in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals.
[14] He then proceeded to defeat Jérémy Chardy in the fourth round and Chung Hyeon in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals, thus retaining his world No.
With a close semifinal victory over Borna Ćorić in three sets, Federer compiled a career-best 17–0 start to his season.
[16][17] Federer entered the Miami Open as the defending champion, knowing that he needed to reach the quarterfinals in order to preserve his world No.
Federer then announced that he would skip the entire clay court season, including the French Open, for the second consecutive year.
Federer returned to the ATP tour to play the Stuttgart Open, which marks the beginning of the grass court season.
1 ranking from Rafael Nadal in the following week, and defeated Milos Raonic in straight sets to win the Stuttgart Open for the first time and the 98th title of his career.
He defeated Matthew Ebden in the quarterfinals and qualifier Denis Kudla in the semifinals, both in straight sets, to reach the final.
During his first-round match, Federer walked onto Centre Court wearing Uniqlo sportswear, officially ending his 20-year relationship with Nike and confirming the rumoured ten-year $300 million contract with the Japanese clothing company.
[20] He went on to defeat Dušan Lajović, Lukáš Lacko, Jan-Lennard Struff and Adrian Mannarino, all in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals.
[21] On July 23, Federer announced the withdrawal from his previously scheduled Canadian Open, citing his career longevity strategy.
[23] However, Federer assured the number of points needed to qualify for the ATP Finals for the sixteenth time in his career.
In an interview, Federer shared that he had sustained a hand injury in training prior to the grass court season that had caused severe pain in his forearm.
[24][25] In the first two rounds of the tournament, Federer defeated Filip Krajinović and Jan-Lennard Struff, in three and two sets respectively, advancing to the quarterfinals.
[28] Having qualified for the ATP Finals, Federer was drawn in the group Lleyton Hewitt with Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori.
He then defeated Thiem and Anderson, both in straight sets, to ultimately win the group and secure a semifinal place in the tournament.
However, in his fifteenth tournament semifinal, Federer lost in straight sets to eventual champion Alexander Zverev to finish the season.