Roger Federer reveals conversation with coach before Rome withdrawal
In an interview to Tennis Channel, Roger Federer explained the reasons behind his withdrawal in Rome. The Swiss was supposed to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals, but after playing two matches in one day, he decided not to compete. "I woke up stiff, some back stuff, leg stuff, I just did not want to take a chance, when Ivan Ljubicic came to the room and he said, 'How do you feel?; I said, 'Mhh... Okay.' He said, 'Remember, the priority is the French Open', and I said, 'Yes. I could play the one match but I do not want to have a major setback and be 100 per cent there.' I just thought, Okay, we will do this one. My career takes a precautionary move, that's why I am 100 per cent now but I was worried that if I played a brutal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, I would lose days, weeks and it would all be dragged into one another, so I have to be careful and that was a tough decision for me," said Federer.
Federer defeated Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the 2019 French Open. He will next play Oscar Otte in the second round. This is Federer's first French Open appearance since 2015. In 2016, he withdrew because of a knee injury while he chose to skip the entire clay season in 2017-18. This year, Federer played the Madrid Open and Rome Open, reaching the quarter-finals in both events.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EE9snY
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