Roger Federer says he is ‘definitely’ planning to return to playing top-level tennis once again but is undecided about his schedule for the 2023 season.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played a match since his quarter-final loss to Hubert Hurkacz at last year’s Wimbledon Championships due to a knee injury. Federer has had three procedures done on his knee over the past two-and-a-half years. The first two occurred during 2020 when he missed most of that season. The third was shortly after Wimbledon last year.
Providing an update to Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Federer says it is likely that he will only play two events this year. The first of those will be the Laver Cup which takes place between September 22nd-25th in London. Then the following month he is aiming to make his ATP Tour return at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
“Yes, definitely,” he replied when asked if he wanted to return to the ATP tour in 2023.
“How and where, I don’t know yet. But that would be the idea.
“I haven’t planned more than the Laver Cup and Basel yet. After Basel, the season is over anyway. It’s important for me to get fit again so that I can train fully.
“Once I’ve done that, I can choose how many tournaments I play and where.
“The Laver Cup is a good start, I don’t have to play five matches in six days. I will have be able to do that in Basel. But I’m hopeful, I’ve come a long way. I’m not far away…”
Federer’s planned return means that he will still be competing on the Tour at the age of 41 (he will turn 41 this August). He is already the sixth oldest player to have an ATP singles ranking at present and the oldest in the world’s top 300.
A lot has happened in the sport during Federer’s hiatus with one of the most recent being Rafael Nadal’s latest triumph at the French Open. The Spaniard defeated Casper Ruud in straight sets to win the title for a historic 14th time. Something which has been hailed by his peer.
“In general, it’s just unbelievable what Rafa has achieved,” Federer commented. “The record of Pete Sampras, which I beat, was 14 grand slam titles.
“Now Rafa won the French Open 14 times. That’s unbelievable. I was happy for him that he did it again. Hats off to Rafa. After the 10th, 11th time, I already thought, ‘This can’t be’. He keeps raising the bar. It’s gigantic.”
Federer has won 103 ATP titles and 1251 matches during his career. He holds tournament records for most trophies won at Basel (10), Halle (10), Wimbledon (8), ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (7) and the Nitto ATP Finals (6).
