Roger Federer Needs Strong 2013 Western & Southern Open to Set Up U.S. Open Run

Of all the competitors in Cincinnati, Ohio competing at the Western & Southern Open, Roger Federer needs a championship run the most. 

The living legend is in the final stretch of a 2013 season that has easily been the worst he's experienced in the last decade. Although 2011 marked his first year without a Slam championship since 2002, he made it to at least the quarterfinals in each tournament. 

This year, his best performance at a Slam tournament was a semifinal appearance in Australia. He was ousted in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and suffered his earliest major exit since 2003 when he left Wimbledon in the second round after losing to Sergiy Stakhovsky.

He hasn't done much to regain confidence since, either. 

The aging wonder (who just turned 32 on Aug. 8), has tried to get things back on track. He even experimented with changing his racquet in order to reclaim his former glory. 

Federer has gone just 3-2 in five matches post-Wimbledon, including a first round exit in front of his home country at the Swiss Open. In short, the equipment change hasn't brought about instant results. 

However, all hope isn't lost for the future hall-of-famer. A return to the hard court, where Federer made it to the semifinals in the Australian Open and saw some of his best success of the year, is just one reason to be hopeful that he can turn things around. 

His last loss came in late July. With a few weeks to recover and very little time before the US Open gets underway on Aug. 26, Federer should benefit from withdrawing from the Rogers Cup to get extra rest.  

There couldn't be a better launching pad for him to find success again, either. He's the defending champion at Cincinnati, defeating Novak Djokovic in two sets to claim the 2012 Western & Southern Open crown and, according to Beyond the Baseline, he's made a return to his old racquet. 

With some time off, a return to a tournament that he's won five times in his career and the switch back to his old equipment, Federer will have the opportunity to show us that he's ready for a strong showing at the U.S. Open. 

If he can't make a run with all of those factors going for him, we may finally see the end of Federer's days as a factor on Tennis's biggest stages.