The hydrostatic bearing slipper pair of the hydraulic pump has a unique adaptive friction characteristic, which has a better friction reduction and anti-wear ability than the general sliding friction pair, and also has a certain recovery effect on the performance degradation caused by the early wear of the slipper. This paper attempts to reveal the friction adaptive mechanism. Based on the fractal theory, two fractal parameters of fractal dimension and scale coefficient are used to characterize the surface morphology of the slipper mathematically, and the adaptive friction mechanism model is established by combining the friction coefficient equation. The effects of different fractal parameters on the friction coefficient and other performance parameters of slipper pairs are obtained by means of the numerical analysis method. The wear test was carried out by replacing specimens at different intervals to observe the worn surface morphology and the degradation process of the slipper to verify the correctness of the theoretical results. The results show that the friction performance and load-bearing capabilities of the slipper can be recovered to a certain extent within a short period when early wear occurs, and its surface performance shows the variation characteristics of deterioration-repair-re-deterioration-re-repair.