This year’s Swiss Indoors could be without the two best players in the world after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal confirmed that they are unsure about their presence.
The ATP 500 tournament is set to get underway the week beginning October 23rd. Home player Federer is an icon of the event, winning it a record seven times. Prior to missing last year’s edition due to injury, the 36-year-old featured in ten consecutive finals between 2006-2015.
Since returning to the tour from injury, Federer’s focus has been on maintaining a smart schedule to minimise the risk of any further injury. Earlier this year he missed the entire clay court swing to rest before returning to win back-to-back titles in Halle and Wimbledon. Shortly after winning his sixth title of the year in Shanghai, Federer outlined his goals for the rest of the year with his target being the ATP Finals in London.
Federer’s focus on London could turn out to be a nightmare for tournament organisers in Basel. During an interview with Sky Sports, the world No.2 refused to rule out the possibility of potentially skipping the tournament as well as the Paris Masters in order to maximise his chances of winning in London. Federer has won the ATP Finals six times, a record in men’s tennis.
“‘I’ll just try to be healthy now, go back to the drawing board when I go back to Switzerland tomorrow with my team and we’ll decide what I’m going to play – Basel, Paris – one of those tournaments or both or none – before I go to London because that’s my priority right now.” Said Federer.
“‘I want to really win the World Tour Finals and then we’ll take it from there next week.”
Should Federer skip his home event, it would occur eight months after he signed a contract to play at the Swiss Indoors every year until 2019. It is unclear as to what would happen if he didn’t fulfil the obligation.
Nadal has also cast his own doubts about playing in Switzerland. The world No.1 has never won a title in Basel with his best appearance being runner-up to Federer in 2015. In total he has only played at the tournament four times in his career (2003, 2004, 2014 and 2015).
“I don’t know about Basel. I need to think about it. I cannot tell you now.” He told reporters in Shanghai.
On Sunday the Spaniard was seen wearing strapping on his left knee. Although, he refrained from providing any information about it during his press conference.
“I don’t want to talk about that now, sorry, after losing final is not the moment.” Said Nadal.
When addressing his conference in Spanish, Nadal later added that he didn’t want to talk about the issue because he didn’t want to be accused of being a ‘bad loser.’
Apart from the top two players, Marin Cilic, David Goffin, Roberto Bautista Agut and Juan Martin del Potro are all set to play in Basel.
