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Federer and Nadal seek different goals in Basel

Home hero Roger Federer and ailing Rafael Nadal will be working to completely different agendas when the Swiss Indoors begins on Monday.

Published: 19 October 2014 19:09 CEST

Federer and Nadal seek different goals in Basel

Federer at last year's Swiss Indoors. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

The event, which Basel-born Federer has won five times, marks the penultimate week of the points race to the World Tour Finals in London, beginning in just over three weeks.

The 33-year-old Federer is among those already qualified, along with Novak Djokovic, Nadal, Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka and US Open champion Marin Cilic.

Federer, who has played the last eight finals at the St Jakobshalle — he stands 37-3 at home — looks to close in on the year-end number one ranking held by Djokovic.

Nadal, meanwhile, will be desperately seeking some reassurance.

The nine-time French Open winner has not played in Federer's backyard for a decade and missed last year with fatigue after signing a three-year appearance fee contract in 2012 which he has yet to start honouring.

Even with an appendix which will require surgery in the coming weeks, the 28-year-old Spaniard looks determined to at least make an attempt at an appearance for Swiss fans as he searches for his first win in the city after losses in 2003 and 2004.

Nadal's camp says they will decide with doctors after Basel whether or not the world number three should play Paris or go for surgery on his painful appendix which he has been treating with antibiotics.

Basel will be crucial in shaking out the race for the remaining places in the field at the eight-man World Tour Finals showpiece.

Federer begins in the first round against Luxembourg veteran Gilles Muller while Nadal takes on a qualifier.

Fellow Swiss Wawrinka, seeded third, starts against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan who was a semifinalist in Moscow on Saturday.

Milos Raonic takes the fourth seeding with the Canadian hoping to have recovered from illness which compromised his last two events, in Shanghai and Moscow.

He plays American Steve Johnson.

Fellow year-end contender Grigor Dimitrov is seeded fifth ahead of Ernests Gulbis, number seven David Goffin and eighth seed Ivo Karlovic.

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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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