In a physical rebuild after a year without competition, Roger Federer hopes to be back on the world tour next year if his recovery goes smoothly in the fall, he told the Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger on Sunday.
“How, when, and what to do, I don’t know yet. But that would be the idea,” says cautiously the Swiss champion, asked by the Zurich newspaper about his intention to continue next year on the courts while he will celebrate his 41st birthday in August.
It will still be necessary for the former world No. 1, with twenty Grand Slam crowns and no competitive appearance since Wimbledon 2021, to regain the racket after undergoing a third operation on the right knee last summer in a year and a half.
“I am curious to see what follows. But I have hope; I have already come a long way. I am not far away. The next three or four months will be eminently important,” says the Basel man.
Interviewed Saturday by the SRF channel, the Swiss icon explained that he was “currently focusing on (his) physical condition” by going to the gym “five to six times a week.”
But tennis will still have to “wait for a little,” he acknowledged.
Federer is nevertheless still aiming for a return to the courts at the Laver Cup in London (23 to 25 September) and then in his hometown from 24 to 30 October, as announced at the end of April by the organizers of the Basel tournament.
The Swiss champion won 103 trophies over his more than twenty years of career and has played only six matches in 2020 and thirteen in 2021. It is currently ranked 50th in the world.
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