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DAVIS CUP

ROGER FEDERER

Federer opens fire for Swiss against Italy

Roger Federer will open Switzerland's bid to reach the Davis Cup tennis championships final for the first time in Geneva on Friday against 76th-ranked Italian Simone Bolelli.

Published: 11 September 2014 14:52 CEST
Federer opens fire for Swiss against Italy
Switzerland's Roger Federer (L) shakes hands with Italy's Simone Bolelli during the draw ahead of their Davis Cup semifinal. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Thursday's draw saw the 17-time Grand Slam champion surprisingly pitted against Bolelli for the first match, with Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka following against Italian number one Fabio Fognini.

Federer and Wawrinka are back again on Saturday for doubles duty, against Paolo Lorenzi and Andreas Seppi, with Sunday's reverse singles seeing Federer up against Fognini and Wawrinka taking on Bolelli.

The choice of Bolelli to take on Federer comes as a surprise as he is ranked 28 places behind Seppi, who played singles in both rounds this year to help Italy reach their first Davis Cup semifinal since 1998.

Captain Corrado Barazzutti is, however, hoping to pull off an early shock with Bolelli, who has won several Challengers titles this season, although he has lost his two previous ties against Federer, including a Davis Cup clash in Genoa.

The odds appear to be stacked in favour of the hosts, playing on a hard court surface, who have never lost on home soil to the Italians despite Italy's 3-2 advantage overall in Davis Cup.

Victory would put the Swiss into a November 21st-23rd final against either France or two-time defending champions the Czech Republic who will contest the other semifinal in Paris.

In Roland Garros, France captain Arnaud Clement has opted for Richard Gasquet to open against Tomas Berdych with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga then paired against Lukas Rosol.

Clement overlooked Gael Monfils, who had said he had not totally recovered after his journey to the US Open quarter-finals where he was beaten by Federer.

Monfils, ranked 18th, has however been included in Saturday's doubles alongside Julien Benneteau, although this pairing has little chance of coming off as Monfils has limited doubles experience.

Benneteau won the claycourt French Open doubles title at Roland Garros this year alongside Edouard Roger-Vasselin, while Gasquet and Tsonga played together at the Australian Open.

Berdych led the Czech Republic, backed up by veteran Radek Stepanek, to the past two Davis Cup titles.

It will be a 15th clash between the two nations, with both standing at seven each to date.

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ROGER FEDERER

Is this the end of the road for Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer?

Roger Federer is talking optimistically about returning to his "highest level" after knee surgery, but does tennis have to start adjusting to a future without the Swiss star?

Published: 11 June 2020 16:22 CEST
Is this the end of the road for Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer?
Is it the end of the line for Roger? Photo: Martin BUREAU / AFP

The 20-time Grand Slam winner announced on Wednesday that he would be sidelined until 2021 after his second operation in a matter of months.

Federer remains upbeat, tweeting: “I plan to take the necessary time to be 100 percent ready to play at my highest level.”

In some ways 2020 is a good season to miss after the coronavirus ravaged the tennis schedule. Writing Federer off in the past has proved dangerous.

He returned from a six-month injury lay-off to claim the Australian Open in 2017, winning his eighth Wimbledon crown later that year.

But he will be 40 in 2021 and is now heading into uncharted territory.

Despite his groaning trophy cabinet, there are two factors that will motivate Federer to keep going — the risk of losing his grip on the men's Grand Slam title record and a missing Olympics singles gold medal.

Rafael Nadal has 19 majors, just one shy of Federer's mark and Djokovic has 17.

Spain's Nadal will be fancied to draw level with Federer at the French Open, rescheduled for September, while few would bet against Djokovic winning in New York weeks earlier.

In April, Federer said he was “devastated” when Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II. Last year he fell agonisingly short at the All England Club, failing to convert two championship points on his own serve against Djokovic.

The Wimbledon grass probably remains his best chance of adding to his Grand Slam collection — he has not won the US Open since 2008 and his only title at Roland Garros came in 2009.

Even though Federer has slipped from the very pinnacle of the game, he is still a major threat to Nadal and Djokovic.

'Golden' ambitions

Last year, the world number four had a 53-10 win-loss record and he reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January in his only tournament this year.

Federer, who is still six ATP titles short of Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 109, has one glaring omission from his CV — the Olympic title.

The Swiss won doubles gold in Beijing in 2008 with compatriot Stan Wawrinka but lost in the singles final to Andy Murray in London four years later.

The postponed Tokyo Games will almost certainly be Federer's last opportunity to complete a career “golden” Grand Slam — he will turn 40 on the day of the closing ceremony next year.

Tennis will feel the loss of the elegant Federer keenly when he walks off the court for the last time.

Djokovic and Nadal have been the dominant forces in recent years but the Swiss remains the biggest draw and last month topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-earning athletes.

His last appearance on court was in front of nearly 52,000 fans — touted by organisers as a world record for tennis — at a charity match against Nadal in Cape Town in February.

Federer is nearly always the crowd favourite wherever he plays and has proved a perfect ambassador for the sport since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2003.

He certainly expects to be back and competitive next year.

“I will be missing my fans and the tour dearly but I will look forward to seeing everyone back on tour at the start of the 2021 season,” he tweeted.

The avalanche of support from his adoring fans showed they would miss him too, but they will have to get used to a time when he is gone for good.

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