Roger Federer has committed to playing the remainder of the season after skipping the clay court season entirely. (Source: AP)
Roger Federer decided to skip the French Open in order to prolong his season and thus his career after already deciding to rest since winning Australian Open, Miami and Indian Wells. But the former World No 1 has said the time to rest is now over as he looks to get back to action with the grasscourt season underway.
First on Federer’s agenda is the Stuttgart Open which got underway on Monday. Number one seed at the Mercedes Open, the Swiss has a bye in the opening round. Other contenders for the title are Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Berdych and Lucas Pouille.
After a 10-week layoff, Federer is eager to get back to action. “There are no more breaks now. I’ve had enough breaks. I’m a practice world champion now and that’s not who I want to be. I want to be a champ on the match courts,” he told ATP’s official website.
“So I’m going to be playing a regular schedule for the second part of the season… And this is the beginning here at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart,” he went on to add.
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In his absence, Rafael Nadal took charge of the men’s tennis season with four clay court titles including a record tenth French Open title in Paris. The wins propelled Nadal to World No 2 and top of the ATP Race to London charts. Federer reckons his rival, yet good friend, could well finish top of the rankings at the end of the year. “Obviously Rafa is in great position to finish World No. 1. For him it’s going to be all about staying injury free. For me it’s about getting back to winning ways, where I left off in Miami.”
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