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“To Win Wimbledon, Roger Federer Will Have to…”: Olympic Gold Medallist Reveals the Importance of Clay Season

Published 03/20/2021, 12:12 AM EDT

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The dream-win for Roger Federer this year would be Wimbledon. He had set his mind to return to London last year, but a second knee surgery had halted his plan then. Now, he is back on the Tour after 13 months, but that will not be enough to win the Championships.

It begs the question – What does the Swiss maestro need to do to win at Wimbledon? The 1992 Olympic Gold medallist and retired Swiss professional, Marc Rosset, has the answer.

A good friend of the 20-time champion, Rosset, believes that the clay season would be necessary. He claimed that to counter his lack of physical preparations, Federer would need as many matches possible on the red dirt.

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Rosset explains why Federer should play the clay season

Roger Federer decided to go back to training after a second-round loss in his comeback tournament in Doha. However, Rosset explained how playing on clay would help his case on the grass.

“This will allow him to do a little land work, to get a bit of a physical fund and especially since Wimbledon is hardly won by serving-volley, it is won from the baseline,” Marc answered. (All quotes are translated from French to English via Google Translate).

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Furthermore, the 50-year-old Swiss highlighted that in 2018, Federer missed the clay-court season and eventually lost to Kevin Anderson. Thus, the 8-time Wimbledon champion needs to play Top 10 players before stepping on the grass.

“So if he also wants to win Wimbledon, he will necessarily have to beat Djokovic, Nadal or other players who are in the top 10,” Rosset explained. “And to meet them, he will have to play these players in the Masters 1000 on clay or at Roland Garros.”

Considering the uncertainty over his knee, Federer can also test himself more on the clay. Let us see what he plans ahead of Wimbledon

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Will Roger Federer play in Miami Open 2021?

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The Swiss maestro will not play Miami to put more time into his training. Moreover, the Sunshine tournament’s list of absentees grows more every day.

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Most importantly, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will also not also compete in the United States next week. It makes Miami the first Masters 1000 tournament after Paris 2004, where none of the big three have participated.

Above all, after the two matches in Qatar Open, Federer would want to play soon. Similarly, fans are dying to know where he will play next. It will most certainly be at one of the European clay-court events.

Do you think Federer will win his ninth Wimbledon this year?

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Written by:

Purav Joshi

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Purav Joshi is a Tennis author at EssentiallySports. Having a degree in Films, Television and Media Production, he guided his passion for writing and journalism into the sport of aces and rallies. With over 2 years of experience as a copywriter, Purav has authored over 500 tennis articles.
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