With two early exits at Wimbledon and the US Open, it could be considered a lean couple of months by Roger Federer's lofty standards, and the world number three has revealed why he didn't get the results many may have anticipated.
Federer claimed one tournament win over the northern hemisphere summer, but revealed he has been battling with a hand injury.
The Swiss veteran took three months off after losing to Australian Thanassi Kokkinakis at the Miami Open, skipping the clay court season completely for a second year in succession.
He made a successful return at Stuttgart in June, beating Milos Raonic in the final, before making the final in Halle a week later.
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Federer was bundled out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals by Kevin Anderson and lost the Cincinnati Masters final to Novak Djokovic.
That was followed up by a shock loss to John Millman at the US Open and another defeat to Coric in Shanghai.
Those results would be considered a huge success by many players, but the defending Wimbledon champion expected more - particularly at the Slams.
Speaking ahead of the Swiss Indoors this week, Federer didn't want to make excuses, but revealed he had been battling with injury.
"I hurt my hand training at the start of the grass season," Federer told reporters.
"It's had more consequences than I thought. I dragged this pain for about three months. It's not an excuse, and we're not making a fuss over it."
It is not clear exactly which tournaments Federer competed at with the injury, or how bad it was.
With his injury struggles coincided with the resurgence of Djokovic, who has since overtaken him in the rankings.
With the end of the season approaching, the Serbian sits second behind Rafael Nadal, with Federer in third spot.
"Being injured on the wrist or hand, it always takes time to heal," Federer continued.
"It gave me a bad feeling. That's why I'm happy that everything is fine now."
Federer is the number one seed in his home tournament in Basel, having won it eight times, including the last three editions.
The 37-year-old will play Filip Krajinovic in the first round, with a possible showdown with Millman in the second.