Roger Federer is hopeful of a quick recovery from his current injury issue as he stayed coy about his future participation at the Australian Open following his semi-final exit on Thursday.
The former world No.1 was knocked out of Melbourne in straight sets by second seed Novak Djokovic, who is the defending champion. Following the first set, Federer left the court for a medical time out but was still able to continue playing. The 20-time grand slam champion is believed to suffering from an injury concerning his right leg. Ahead of his semi-final match, he was spotted wearing support around his right thigh.
“I just really rested until as late as possible. But I didn’t have any pain in the daily stuff. That was a positive sign.” Federer said during his press conference.
“The timeout is just one of the things that needed to be done, I thought, to prevent any further problems. Once in the match, I felt like I was probably going to be able to finish, which was a good thing.”
Concerns over the current health of the 38-year-old started in his previous five-set clash with Tennys Sandgren. Which he also took a timeout during. At the time he described the issue as ‘pain and problems’ without being more specific. Since then he has undergone a scan, which was given the all clear.
Despite being given the green light by medical staff, the former world No.1 admits that he faced a tall order of trying to topple Djokovic. Whom he now trails 23-27 in their head-to-head. Djokovic has only dropped one set in the entire tournament so far which was back in the first round.
“Today was horrible, to go through what I did. Nice entrance, nice send-off, and in between is one to forget because you know you have a 3% chance to win.” He explained.
“You got to go for it. You never know. But once you can see it coming, that it’s not going to work anymore, it’s tough.”
The question is now just how much of an impact will this have on Federer’s upcoming schedule. His next tournament is set to be the Dubai Tennis Championships, which will start in just over three weeks time. Prior to then he also has an exhibition clash with Rafael Nadal in South Africa to raise money for his foundation.
“I hope I’m somewhat fine for South Africa. That’s something I think I can somewhat control.” Federer commented on his health.
“Of course, you want to be 100% to be able to train again, then get ready for hopefully Dubai. Right now it’s only guessing. I’m very happy that I don’t feel any worse than when I started (the match). That’s for me super encouraging.”
“I think we’ll go from there and we’ll see if I need to do another scan or not.”
This year is Federer’s 21st consecutive appearance at the Australian Open. It was at the tournament where he won his first grand slam main draw match back in 2000. Since then, he has gone on to win the title six times.
Given his age, speculation is mounting about how many more times Federer will grace his presence at Melbourne Park as a player. Asked directly, he was candid in his response.
“You never know what the future holds. But especially my age, you don’t know.” He admits.
“I’m happy how I’m feeling, to be honest. I got through a good, nice training block. No plans to retire.’
“From that standpoint, we’ll see how the year goes, how everything is with the family. We’ll go from there. Of course, I hope to be back.”
