After him winning the Australian Open this year, one hopes that tennis fans, including his own, will not underestimate the Swiss Maestro again.
1. After the 6 month layoff, he arguably has played brilliantly and he just started. There is room for more consistency in his play as he plays more matches.
2. The conditions look like they are changing to speed up the slow play of the last few years and that favors him against most of his rivals.
3. Tennis makes a lot of money when he makes finals.
Of course one cannot ignore the competition from both veterans and youngsters.
Federer had
6 titles in his last full season in 2015 and was only stopped by #1 peaking Djokovic in finals from getting 5 more, including 2 majors (WC, USO), 2 Masters 1000 (IW and Rome), and the World Tour Finals, and Roger is playing arguably better than he was then, and Novak worse.
There are several question marks regarding this year's competition, namely starting with Novak and Sir Andy. One can't help but think Juan Martin Del Potro is going to come on strongly from the mid to end of year. Stan the Man looked pretty good in Australia but has never been known as a consistently high performing player. Dimitrov has to back up his early play this year to provide a solid threat. Obviously RAFA can be a threat at his best tournaments if healthy and determined. We don't know if #NextGen youngsters like Zverev, Kyrgios will suddenly improve or not, and we don't know how the #LostGen players like Raonic, Nishikori, Thiem, Goffin will do.
Roger is in the latter half of his 36th year, completing it in August, so we don't know exactly how much he'll play, but probably all of the majors, and the tournaments in which he typically does well. He is keeping everyone guessing regarding his schedule, definitely not showing his cards for a good reason, and it is not because of injury... He is very excited about the Laver Cup and is eager to see the venture succeed. He is going to show that tennis can be played and enjoyed and money can be made aside from the tour.
Of course, who can predict the future without even knowing the draws and changes that can come throughout the year, but after gazing into my crystal ball, I'll reveal that he can win at least 6 titles this year, but not more than 12, with highlights including at least 1 more major and the WTF, and none will be a 250.