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Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates victory following his Men’s Singles third round match against Lucas Pouille of France during Day six of The Championships – Wimbledon 2019 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, England. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
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Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates victory following his Men’s Singles third round match against Lucas Pouille of France during Day six of The Championships – Wimbledon 2019 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, England. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
Roger Federer has played down the anticipation around his Doha comeback, saying that he is still working his way back to his usual playing self and hasn’t set lofty goals for the ATP event.
Making no bones about his priorities this season, the 20-time Grand Slam champion said that he hopes to be “100 percent at Wimbledon” and how far he goes at the ATP Doha matters little to him.
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Roger Federer says he will be happy if he can win even two matches at ATP Doha
For good measure, the Swiss champion added that if he can pull off a couple of wins in the tournament, he will be “happy”.
“The expectations are very low. I hope I can surprise myself,” Federer said.
However, he added that he was “surprised how well” his body held up over the last three weeks, even after being subjected to training drills.
The former World Number 1, who is currently tied with old enemy Rafael Nadal for the most number of Grand Slam titles in the men’s game, took a break from tennis to recuperate from a knee surgery that he underwent after the Australian Open last year.
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Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates his victory over David Goffin of Belgium in the Rolex Shanghai Masters at the Qi Zhong Tennis Centre in Shanghai, China. (Photo by TPN/Getty Images)
Having spent most of last season on the sidelines, Federer withdrew from this year’s Australian Open as well, citing fitness or the lack of it.
Revealing the thoughts that visited him during his injury-induced break, the Swiss said after his second knee surgery he “questioned everything”.
Roger Federer says he feels no pain when he wakes up in the morning
Roger added that even though Wimbledon had to be called off on account of the “severe” pandemic, he was never in doubt on whether he wanted to return or not.
“That was my goal…I just wanted to get well again,” the six-time Australian Open champion said.
Sharing new details of the progress he has made on the fitness front, the 39-year-old said he feels no pain when he wakes up in the morning.
“I can play two-and-a-half hours for five days in a row,” he said, counting the positives on the health front.
He added, however, that feeling good about himself physically isn’t necessarily a conveyor of confidence ahead of matches.
“Matches are different…when nerves are also playing a part,” the champion said.
Federer has also listed the Tokyo Olympics in June and the US Open as his other priority events on this calendar.
