RF Tennis News 2019

Roger Federer assures he's not planning his farewell tour just yet

Reem Abulleil | Sport360.com
24 February 2019

Roger Federer assured on Sunday that his decision to play on the clay this season for the first time since 2016 does not mean that he is treating 2019 as his farewell tour.





When the Swiss announced at the Australian Open – following his fourth round exit to Stefanos Tsitsipas – that he has opted to play clay tournaments this spring, speculation immediately arose surrounding the motivation behind Federer’s decision.

Panic struck among his fans, who assumed Federer’s return to the red dirt meant that he wanted to make sure he would play Roland Garros for one last time before he retired.

But the 37-year-old, who is the No. 2 seed at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, insists that is not the case.

“No, it’s not. I thought of it, in isolation, do I want to play the clay or not? The answer was yes,” Federer told reporters in Dubai ahead of Monday’s first-round clash against Philipp Kohlschreiber.

“This doesn’t mean this is my last clay-court season, whatever, or I had to play one more time before I retired. That was not the thinking.

“All I knew is after missing it for two to three years basically, my body was ready, I was ready, my schedule with the family, my schedule with the team was ready to do it again. This is when I opted to say, ‘It will be nice’.

“Instead of taking a big chunk off, I’d rather stay in the rhythm and actually enjoy myself on the clay.”

Federer has not played at the French Open since he lost in the quarter-finals there in 2015. He was injured and withdrew from the Parisian Slam in 2016 and he skipped the clay swing altogether in 2017 and 2018.

“It’s going to be challenging, no doubt about it. I have to take baby steps in the beginning to some extent, but that’s okay,” said Federer, who has already confirmed that he will be playing the Madrid Open prior to Roland Garros this May.

“I think after not playing for two years, also missing the French three years ago because of injury, I think the team understood that I was in the mood to do it again,” he added.

“I did grow up on clay, after all. I felt like my body is strong enough now again to do the surface changes from hard to clay to grass to hard again. In the past I felt different. I felt like it would be nice to go from hard to grass to hard, stay on faster surfaces.”

Federer will be gunning for a 100th career title when he takes to the courts in Dubai this week. He has played just one official tournament so far in 2019 and it ended with him losing in four sets to 20-year-old Tsitsipas, who saved 13/13 break points to end the Swiss’ title defence in Melbourne.

“I still felt like I played okay. It wasn’t like a horrible tournament for me. Played great at the Hopman Cup. I played good actually all matches. I just messed up on some big, big points. I’m not going to change my game because I missed out on some opportunities,” said Federer, reflecting on his Australian Open campaign.

Federer’s route to a possible 100th crown is likely to be a difficult one, with the likes of Fernando Verdasco, Milos Raonic, Karen Khachanov, Tomas Berdych and Borna Coric all in his half of the draw.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion clinched his 99th trophy in Basel last September and lost in the three tournaments he has contested since (Paris Masters, ATP Finals in London, Australian Open).

He is aware of the big milestone that awaits him but is taking a ‘it’ll happen when it happens’ approach to it.

“I think that’s got to be the mindset, that you try your best every match, every week anyway. Things fall into place or they don’t. It’s not because of lack of effort,” said Federer.

“We’ve been talking about 99 titles ever since Basel, every tournament I’ve played. There’s nothing new. Of course, coming to Dubai where I’ve enjoyed a lot of success sort of makes you believe maybe it could happen here. Then again, draw is tough. Haven’t played in a few weeks so you reset everything, get ready for your first round, hope everything is going to click again here in Dubai.

“It’s going to be tough. Look, I hope we can have this conversation in a few days’ time and see what happens.”

Roger Federer Begins Quest For His Eighth Title At Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Victory this week would also bring the Swiss his 100th career title, taking him tantalisingly close to the record 109 titles held by Jimmy Connors.


DDF Tennis News
25 February 2019


Roger Federer plays his first-round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber in front of a capacity crowd at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday evening.


Roger Federer began his quest for his eighth Dubai Duty Free Tennis Champions title by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 3-6 6-1 on Monday. Victory this week would also bring him his 100th career title, taking him tantalisingly close to the record 109 titles held by Jimmy Connors.

Playing his first match since losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round of the Australian Open, Federer found the windy conditions as much of a challenge as his opponent.

“It’s just a match against the conditions really more than the opponent, which is a completely different mindset than when you go out and, ‘Okay, I need to do this on the slice to get him to pop it up’. This was none of that,” said Federer. “I mean, the first two sets, especially the first set and a half, I thought was so hard on the rhythm. I really struggled to get everything going.

“Just somehow get through. Somehow try not to lose. I know you always play to win, but sometimes in the wind, in a first round against Kohlschreiber who can play very well in spells, especially in conditions like this, a lot of topspin and spin. You stay aggressive, maybe even though you’re not feeling so well. It’s swirly and all that stuff. I’m very pleased I was able to find a way. I actually played a really good third set, I thought.”





If Federer goes on to win the title this week it will be the first time since 2002 that two players from the same country have won the title in the same year. Fabrice Santoro and Amelie Mauresmo did so for France, and Federer is hoping to join Belinda Bencic as a 2019 champion. He was in touch with Bencic throughout her run to the title last week.

“I thought the way she did it was tremendous, beating four top-10 players in exhilarating matches, to be honest. I think that was wonderful for her,” said Federer. “I saw her briefly. It was déjà vu. Every day I saw her at the courts, every day I congratulated her, every day she went on to win the next one. And then the next day I saw her at lunch, and I quickly saw her after the finals before she left. She was so happy. It was a pleasure to see her play a little bit, and also happy that everything is coming together (after her injury struggles).”



Spain’s Fernando Verdasco plays Roger Federer in the second round on Wednesday.

Federer will next play 2017 finalist Fernando Verdasco, who also struggled to overcome the windy conditions to beat qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 3-6 6-3 6-2. There is just one seed remaining in Federer’s side of the draw after fourth seed Karen Khachanov fell 6-4 6-1 to Nikoloz Basilashvili and seventh seed Milos Raonic was beaten 6-4 5-7 6-4 by Jan-Lennard Struff.

In other matches, defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut defeated wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4 6-3 and Marton Fucsovics defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-1 7-6.

“We have seen two seeds defeated on the very first day of the tournament, reflecting how competitive the matches promise to be throughout the week,” said Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free. “We look forward to seeing if Roger Federer can win here yet again and set a new career milestone of 100 titles, if our No. 1 seed Kei Nishikori can win on his debut, or if the winner will be one of the many other talented players competing here this week.”

“We can expect many exciting matches as the week unfolds, with several of the players involved having already won titles this season,” said Tournament Director Salah Tahlak. “In fact we have in Dubai the winners from the three most recent ATP tournaments, after Daniil Medvedev won in Sofia, Gael Monfils won in Rotterdam and Stefanos Tsitsipas won in Marseille.”

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Federer to be back to wow Dubai next year

It takes those weak five seconds to ponder retirement, the ace says after 100th title win


Published:  March 03, 2019 13:30  
Alaric Gomes, Chief Reporter - Gulf News  

   Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas pose with their trophies.
Image Credit: Atiq Ur Rehman /Gulf News


Dubai: Dubai champion Roger Federer admitted that he has had the temptation to step away from his sport at times.

Moments after claiming his eighth crown at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the 100th title of his career, Federer admitted that he has been tempted in the past to stop playing.

“I think every player has those weak five seconds where you’re like, Really? This could be after losing an epic five-setter. It could be after playing a shocker. It could be sometimes after winning something. You’re like, ‘How much more do I want to do?’” Federer told media after being asked if he ever thought about retirement.

“I think everybody goes through that. It would be lying if they said, I never doubt it. I think everybody goes through these phases. It’s logical. We have too much downtime, too much time on the road, too much rain delays, you name it, that makes you go through with your head sometimes,” he added.

Federer has been a legend not just when it comes to tennis, but also in the way he has conserved his body at 37 years. He sustained a freak knee injury in 2016 that forced him to undergo surgery and miss out tournaments in Rotterdam, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami.

Ultimately, he made his comeback at the Monte Carlo event and lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals. But the break from sport helped him put things in perspective.

“I think definitely the surgery was for me a sort of a major reality check in the sense that maybe I will come back, I knew that, but maybe never quite the same,” he recalled.

“I’m happy I can look back now and play with absolutely no pain, no painkillers this week. It’s a big week for me, to be quite honest, to go through a week like that. I’m very, very pleased,” Federer smiled.

Later in 2016, he had to also skip the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Asked about the possibility of him making it to the 2020 Tokyo Games? “I don’t know how I’m going to qualify, to be honest. And if I do, I don’t know if I’m still playing. It’s still too far away for me,” he said.

“I don’t know. I just don’t want my mind to go there. I think if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I think it’s not like my first Olympics where obviously I always wanted to be part of it. So we’ll really see how it’s going to play out,” Federer added.

For the die-hard tennis fans of Dubai, the good news is that Federer will be back next year to defend his title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Scheduled to be held at its normal time in the second week of February, tournament director Salah Tahlak announced late on Saturday that Federer has already committed to playing in Dubai in 2020.

“We have plans to make next year’s tournament very special considering that fact that Dubai will be hosting the 2020 Expo starting later in October. Ours will be one of the events leading up to the Expo. So having Federer back to defend his title makes perfect sense, not just for the tournament but for Dubai as well,” Tahlak told Gulf News.

When asked later about his plans for next year, the eight-time Dubai champion said: “I think that was the answer. The idea was for the people to know that I am coming back next year. That is the plan. I have a deal for next year. I thought about it this week because I know they said they were interested to have me again next year, if it was okay to announce it during the week. I said, Absolutely, we can do that.”

“I don’t see myself playing anywhere else but Dubai this week. I’m happy to come here again next year. I’ve enjoyed too much success. I like the tournament too much. So I will be here next year,” the Swiss ace promised.

Federer’s success in Dubai started off with three back-to-back titles from 2003 to 2005, and now, another five — 2007, 2012, 2014, 2015 and now 2019.