By Chris Oddo | Sunday June 19, 2016

Disappointing losses in Stuttgart and Halle in the last two weeks have not been easy for Roger Federer to stomach. He fell to Dominic Thiem at Stuttgart after holding two match points in the semifinals, and on Saturday he was knocked off by 19-year-old Alexander Zverev in a match that saw Federer struggle to dial in his world-class grass game. The loss to Zverev, a coltish yet menacing star in the making, marked the first time that Federer has suffered a loss to a teenager in ten years.

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It's not the prettiest of pictures for the 34-year-old, but if there’s a consolation prize that comes with heading into Wimbledon without a title on grass for only the third time since 2003, it’s that Federer has had ample time to get an accurate assessment of how his game shapes up at the moment.

“I know what I need to work on in the next ten days,” Federer said, resolutely. “Clearly I also need some rest now—it’s been a lot of tennis, this has been what seven matches in nine days or ten days now. It’s been intense and it’s been busy and it’s exactly what I needed and at least I have a clear picture of where my game’s at and what I need to do and without Stuttgart and Halle I wouldn’t have had that, so I have more clarity.”

The ATP’s all-time leader in grass wins and titles will head to Wimbledon after getting some much-needed rest, and he’s hoping that the pieces of the puzzle start to fall together as he continues to focus on re-establishing the consistency, physicality and match toughness that took him to the finals at Wimbledon last year.

“There’s little things that just have to fall into place,” Federer said. “And then you’ll play better and you’ll feel better. I hope it’s sooner than later.”

The seven-time Wimbledon champion owns a 79-10 lifetime record at the All England Club and he’s played on the final Sunday at SW19 in back-to-back seasons. He has only dropped two sets to players not named Djokovic in those last two Wimbledons, but he’s clearly aware that danger always lurks on the grass.

“I know the dangers of the early rounds at Wimbledon or at any Slam,” Federer said on Saturday after being knocked off by Zverev at Halle. “Particularly on the grass. We’ve seen my two losses now on the grass against Thiem and Zverev. Both could have been avoided. They weren’t, so clearly I’ve got some work to do…. I just have to make the right decisions from now to the start of Wimbledon.”