Roger Federer targets longevity after refreshing lay-off

Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer is feeling ‘refreshed’ and ‘rejuvenated’ after taking a six-month long hiatus from the sport to make a full recovery from the knee problems that have plagued his 2016 campaign. The 35-year-old had to undergo a surgery earlier in February and did make a comeback to the ATP circuit, but he was eventually forced to end his season in July after a semi-final loss to Milos Raonic at Wimbledon.

I have no regrets: Roger Federer

Federer will make his first competitive appearance following the lay-off at the week-long Hopman Cup, which takes place in Australia during the first week of January. Despite having attended a rigorous personal training camp in Dubai over the past few weeks, the former world number one is using the tournament as a way to play as many matches as possible ahead of the regular ATP tournaments scheduled in the year.

With no plans of retiring anytime soon, Federer hopes that the hiatus will pay off in the long run. Speaking with ATP’s official website, he said: “I do believe that it could be very beneficial for the future of my tennis career.

“To have had this six-month lay-off, rejuvenated, refreshed … maybe mentally I needed this rest more than I thought I would. Maybe my body needed a rest more than I thought it would. I tried to look at the big picture, I hope it’s going to pay off.

“At least one thing I know now is I have no regrets. I did everything this year to get my body back in shape.

“This year is unique because maybe this is the year more than any time before that I do need matches. Matches just have a different intensity and your body reacts according to it,” referring to the Hopman Cup’s round-robin format.

Federer still believes in another Grand Slam win

The 17-time Grand Slam winner still harbors ambitions of adding more trophies to his collection in spite of the presence of world number one Andy Murray and world number two Novak Djokovic on the scene at the moment. He acknowledged the two players’ consistency and also spoke about his chances of winning a Grand Slam after missing out on multiple occasions over the past few years.

“I’ve been awfully close the past few years, but that doesn’t count because it’s not winning. Novak did have an incredible run these last few years and it was incredibly hard to break through him, for anybody,” Federer was quoted as saying.

“It’s up to us to reinvent ourselves, come up with a plan. Andy’s shown that a little bit, giving bigger belief for more players that maybe there is a bigger chance to win slams.

“For me personally, I still believe in it. Time will tell if it’s going to be possible or not,” he added.