Roger Federer hopes to return to the pitch at the end of the summer or the beginning of the autumn, perhaps at the Laver Cup (which will take place at the O2 Arena in London at the end of September). The last two years have been a real ordeal for the Swiss phenomenon, struggling with a serious right knee injury. The former world number 1 played the misery of 13 official matches in 2021, racking up nine wins and four defeats. The 40-year-old from Basel was unable to make it past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, clearly yielding to Hubert Hurkacz on Center Court. A few weeks later, the 20-time Grand Slam champion announced that he was undergoing knee surgery for the third time in 18 months. The King had to overtake Rafael Nadal in the all-time rankings of the Majors, while Novak Djokovic snatched the record of weeks at the top of the ATP ranking. In a long interview with Tennis Deutschland, Christopher Clarey – a well-known correspondent for the New York Times – spoke about how optimistic Federer is about his return.
Clarey speaks about King Roger
“Roger Federer is an optimist, has positive energy, young children. He certainly has two goals: first, get his knee fixed so that he can later have a normal life with his children. That’s a big motivator,” Clarey said. “And secondly… well, people have been asking Roger since 2009 when he won the French Open when he was going to retire. He’s immune to it. His role models are people like Laver, Rosewall or Agassi. I don’t think he likes coming back just for the Laver Cup. Maybe it will, but I don’t think that’s what he wants,” he said. “At the end of the day, he’s someone who enjoys playing tennis, who enjoys feeling the ball on the racquet. And he loves competition.” Christopher Clarey recalled a time when Federer was hesitant about the author printing his address and how he suddenly became protective of his family’s privacy. “I was on the road with him in Argentina, that was in 2012. It was a great conversation until I suddenly said something about Lenzerheide. Then he stopped and clearly declared: Don’t write where I live! That was interesting because it was such an abrupt change. Roger wants to protect his private life, and he’s done a great job. He is happy to answer any questions, talk about the game. But when it comes to this area, it is more sensitive,” Clarey added.