The Federer Express is back!

After winning a record fourth-consecutive US Open men's singles title in September, he took a long well-deserved break before coming out of hibernation to dutifully play two singles rubbers and a doubles match for Switzerland in the Davis Cup World Group tie against the Czech Republic. Then just two weeks ago, he withdrew from the Japan Open in Tokyo, where he was defending champion, to get some more rest.

Now the world number one in men's tennis is finally back in action on the tennis court at the AMS Madrid where he is defending champion as well and where he hopes to earn a 15th career Masters Series shield.

After receiving a bye at the first round as a seeded player at the tournament, Federer went up against the United States' Robby Ginepri in the second and once again thrilled the crowd there with his brilliant shot-making. This fan in particular managed to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the live coverage of the match just as the second set commenced. There were audible gasps, oohs and aahs from the audience throughout that set and especially when Federer hit some amazing shots as he broke the American's serve in the fifth game. Judging from the scoreline of the first set (7-6(2)) and from what I witnessed during the second (which Federer won 6-4), this was clearly another high-quality tennis match where Ginepri himself played well although, as expected, he still failed to break the Swiss' four-year-long winning streak of 38 matches over Americans.