Former World number four claims Federer ‘could play just one more match’ upon injury return
Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych thinks “it’ll be very difficult to judge his level” when Roger Federer returns from injury and says he might only “play one more match.”
20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer missed the latter half of the 2021 season after he suffered a setback with his knee following Wimbledon back in July. The setback also saw him discuss the possibility of retirement with his team.
The Swiss maestro was forced to withdraw from the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics and has recently said he will definitely miss the Australian Open and would be “extremely surprised” if he competes at Wimbledon.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander feels the likes of World number two Daniil Medvedev and World number three Alexander Zverev could give Federer a “reality check” when he returns after a third knee surgery.
Similarly, Berdych told Reuters at the Royal Albert Hall’s Champions Tennis event that he feels Federer may struggle with his return due to both his lack of matches and his age.
Berdych said “he (Federer) maybe wants to come back on court and maybe make the call and whether he’s going to play his last tournament, for his huge fan base around the world, but if he doesn’t it’s fine.
“He has nothing to prove so it’s down to him how he feels and how he wants to do it at the end of the day. He’s going to try to prepare himself as best as possible and he’s experienced enough to know that it won’t happen at one tournament.
“But, without matches and being 40 years old, it’ll be very difficult to judge your level.
“If you are in the middle of your career and you get injured for six months and you do a good preparation basically you know what’s going to happen when you start to play.
“But I think in this situation he needs to be mentally ready to know that it could be just one match, even if he’s done everything possible.
“It’s not easy and then the young guys will be there and won’t give him any favours.”
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