Roger Federer: 'You should understand how severe your pain'

Roger Federer's physique showed signs of abating in 2020, forcing the 20-time Grand Slam champion to undergo two surgeries on his right knee (one in February and the other in June) that knocked him out for most of the season. The Swiss phenomenon is expected to return to the field at the Australian Open 2021, after having collected the hook of Rafael Nadal at 20 Grand Slam titles. It will be the second time in the last five years that the former world number 1 will return to play after several months off. It had already happened in 2017, when he succeeded in the extraordinary feat of winning the Australian Open despite having missed a good part of 2016. Many of his fans hope that the miracle can be repeated, although four years have passed and the level of the Next Gen has risen further. in 2020. During a long interview with Courts Mag, the 39-year-old from Basel explained how important it is for every athlete to listen to the signals of their body and know when the right time to take a break is.

Roger Federer on playing with an injury

"Important as an athlete to listen to your body and the signs of the body," Roger Federer said. "As long as you know that the injury cannot get worse or much worse, it's worth playing I believe. If you know that you can literally snap a tendon or break something by playing, that’s gonna damage the future of career you got really weigh that in." Having been at the top of the game for over two decades, Roger Federer has played a number of matches carrying some sort of injury or ache. When injured, the Swiss adopts a mindset that his opponent would in all probability also be carrying some niggle. "More often than not I always believe that you can navigate through the pain and through the injury and I always tell myself that if I am not feeling well maybe the other guy is also carrying something, who knows! Maybe it starts raining or maybe you get lucky and win the match and maybe the next day you feel better. But most importantly it is that you should understand how severe your pain or injury is," Federer added. Anyone entering Australia has to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine. Many players are opposed to this, as they wouldn’t be allowed to train during those 14 days. Some players like Daniil Medvedev even called it ‘dangerous’ to play a Grand Slam after such a quarantine. This is why Tennis Australia was seeking an arrangement where players would be allowed to train during the quarantine. It seems like they have succeeded as it was recently reported that the Victorian Government has given them permission for this.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2I3mT5R