Roger Federer only plays competitive tennis when he knows he can play well, according to a leading member of his team.
The former world No.1 is nearing his return to the Tour after being absent for more than a year due to a right knee injury which required two surgical procedures. The second was done after the first failed to give the desired results. He last played at the 2020 Australian Open where he lost in the semi-finals to Novak Djokovic.
Opting to miss the start of this season in order to recover further from his injury, Federer has been training in the Middle East. Overseeing his fitness programme is Pierre Paganini who has been part of the team for many years.
“This knee had been causing him problems for several years. But he could have them under control, with adapted planning and specific exercises,” Paganini told the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
“He and the whole team had been working on it for a long time. The fact that a player who has played more out of 1500 games having multiple surgeries on his body is part of everyday life.’
“Roger is someone who always sees things positively. And as long as he could play and train freely, it wasn’t a big problem either. When he did it and decided to have surgery, he assumed all responsibility.”
Throughout his injury-related timeout Federer has largely avoided the limelight and shared few details about the extent of the issues he was facing. It is not the first time he has been troubled by physical issues after also missing the second half of the 2016 season due to his knee. Although this time around the recovery process was more problematic with his trainer revealing for the first time the extent it had on his muscles in the affected region.
“The big difference from 2016 is that when he took a break after Wimbledon in 2016, his muscles were always there. Now we had a total break where the muscles deteriorated considerably. It was a long time between the first operation and the time of July (when he had his second). In which we said we could gradually start working again,” he commented.
“His muscles were no longer in the same condition, the imbalances were extreme. His muscles could no longer work immediately and needed more recovery time.”
“Towards the beginning of October, we started (training) at the lowest level. However, we tried from the beginning to incorporate coordination aspects into the structure,” Paganini added.
This August Federer, who is currently the oldest player in the ATP top 100, will turn 40 as questions arises about how much longer he could continue playing for. He has previously outlined his desire to peak in time for Wimbledon where he will be seeking a ninth major title, as well as the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Although the prospect of a triumphant return is one that his trainer is cautious about. Who has cast doubt on the chances of a similar run occurring to when he returned from his past knee problem at the start of 2017 by winning the Australian Open.
“It’s a bit early to answer this question,” Paganini replied when asked about Federer’s title chances.
“The opponents are strong, tennis is getting stronger. And he made one decisive contribution to it. So it is almost his fault that it is so.’
“But I would like to emphasize that he also knows that the road will be a little longer. I cannot imagine him not asking questions about the withdrawal (retirement).”
It is evident that the Federer camp is going down the lines of ‘wait and see what happens.’ Although there are promising signs emerging from those familiar with his current situation.
“He trains practically normally. If you could see him, you would say: he is not injured, everything is fine,” Paganini stated.
“But we must not forget only when all the stages are finished does reactivity begin to work. This is very important in tennis. We’ve been working on that for a long time, and that’s where you can see if the puzzle works, in all its variants. That’s where we are now. This is good for him because it took an incredible amount of patience to get to this point. . It’s crazy thinking about all this. “
Federer is set to return to action at the Qatar Open which will get underway on March 8th. Despite his lengthy absence from the sport he is still ranked fifth in the world due to changes made to the points system last year related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
