'Roger Federer probably quite enjoys getting out of the house', says legend

The return to the field of the Swiss champion Roger Federer is now shortly after. More than a year has passed since the last official match of the current number 5 in the world (thanks also to the benefits for the ranking freeze) and Federer played his last match right here in Melbourne, in the semi-final lost in three sets against the number one to the world Novak Djokovic. From that day on, only an exhibition and then a double knee surgery have held back his return. Now it will be the ATP 250 tournament in Doha, scheduled for March 8th, that of the official return to the field of the Swiss champion. After thirteen months, Roger is now very close to returning and the Swiss explained the reasons for this choice in an interview to the microphones of SRF TV: "I thought a lot about the right time to return. I think that in Australia it would have been too soon for my knee and above all I wanted to return to a minor tournament, also to have a different level of concentration and stress." Here in Doha Federer has won three titles, in 2005 in the final against his current coach Ivan Ljubicic, in 2006 against Gael Monfils and finally in 2011 against the Russian Nikolay Davydenko. After Doha Federer announced that he intends to participate in another tournament (physical conditions permitting) and that he will then dedicate himself to training for the season on clay. Ronnie O'Sullivan is continuing to keep the young guns at bay from snooker's prestigious trophies and he wants to delay the changing of the guard for as long as possible. And O'Sullivan joked that the 20-time Grand Slam champion is only prolonging his career for one reason.

O'Sullivan reflects on Roger Federer

"Does Roger Federer need to play? Probably not but he probably quite enjoys getting out of the house," Ronnie O'Sullivan told Eurosport. Meanwhile, O'Sullivan also mentioned Nadal and Serena Williams when explaining how he has had to alter his game to keep up with the youngsters. "Running first, food second and pitch up and playing a bit of snooker," he added. "If I can’t enjoy it now, then I don’t know why I would be playing. I can’t compete with the younger players. They pot too good and have a lot of cue power. It is like tennis, a lot of the older players like Serena Williams, Federer, Nadal. You have these young guys coming so they are not going to have it their own way as much, so you have to adapt."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/37CztCJ