Roger Federer speaks about main goals and rules himself out from No. 1 race
Four months before turning 38, Roger Federer is still among the best players in the world and the one who is chasing Novak Djokovic in the ATP Race. Competing at only four ATP tournaments so far in 2019, Roger is off to a flying start after winning 17 out of 19 matches, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open but reaching three finals after that to keep himself in the top-5. In Dubai, Federer lifted the 100th ATP title, becoming only the second player in the Open era to achieve that, followed by another final at Indian Wells where Dominic Thiem toppled him in three sets.
The Swiss will have a chance to fix that in Miami, advancing into the 50th Masters 1000 final after a dominant win over Denis Shapovalov and facing John Isner for the fourth title in Florida. If he beats Isner and takes 1000 points, Roger Federer would become the leader of the ATP Race after the opening three months of the season, passing the Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and proving his eternal class once again. Despite that, Roger is not thinking about getting back to world no. 1 spot (Djokovic and Nadal are way in front of him), admitting it would be tough to achieve that at the moment when Novak holds three Majors. Instead, Roger set his eyes on winning as many titles as possible by the end of his career and will chase the 101st on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
"At this point in my career, I'm focused on winning tournaments, because world No. 1 is going to be very difficult to achieve. For that, at the current level, I would need almost three Slams in the same calendar year and that's just going to be very difficult to get. I think it's not reasonable to think that way at 37. So I think it was one of my favorite moments in my life last year in Rotterdam when I was able to get back to world No. 1 at 36, having won the Australian and Wimbledon, that being in the same year, and winning the Sunshine Double and all that stuff. It just aligned itself beautifully. And then in Rotterdam and then again in Stuttgart. Those were special times for me. World No. 1 is so far away, and Novak just won three Slams. I think it would be a bit of a joke if I said that was my goal."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2WEXtx7
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