Roger Federer gives huge tournament schedule update including his shock thoughts on retirement

Roger Federer has further muddied the waters on his potential retirement plans at the same time as giving a vague response on his tournament schedule for Olympic year 2020

 

Roger Federer retiring from tennis is a topic that’s been on everyone’s lips for a numbers of years now but the man himself is always careful to avoid saying anything specific about his plans when he doesn’t know the answer himself. Right now in New York he’s obviously playing some of the best tennis of his career so why on earth would he want to consider ending his career?

Federer was speaking to members of the Swiss press and was specifically asked if he saw himself playing professional tennis at the age of 40 (He recently turned 38) and his answer was brilliant!

“A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that could be possible. But when you feel fully fit like I do right now, you think you can play forever.”

So that’s cleared up that question, Roger Federer will play forever!

I asked @rogerfederer if we will still see him on tour at 40. «It’s not impossible», he said with a smile. «A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that could be possible. But when you feel fully fit like I do right now, you think you can play forever.» #USOpen2019 #rogerfederer

— Simon Graf (@SimonGraf1) September 1, 2019

In a further update on his tournament plans for 2020, Federer was asked just before the start of the US Open if he planned to play the Olympics in Japan in the summer of 2020. As everyone knows, an Olympic Gold Medal is the only trophy missing form his impressive trophy cabinet and next year’s event will most likely be his last chance to complete the set of major awards, but bizarrely he hasn’t actually met the qualifying criteria for the 2020 Olympic tennis tournament yet.

“As I don’t know if I will be playing, I don’t know the requirements, it was hard to give a proper answer,” Federer said. “I don’t know if I’m actually going to do it or not because it all depends on family, on scheduling, on body, on future. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

The International Tennis Federation can make an appeal on behalf of a player who hasn’t met eligibility requirements which is detailed in the ITF’s document on eligibility of the 2020 Japan Olympics tennis tournament.

The Olympic tennis event takes place two weeks after Wimbledon finishes in the summer of 2020 and it would be a great surprise if Federer didn’t try and have one final push at winning the only trophy left for him to win.

Look ahead to the rest of 2019 with our guides to every tournament on the ATP Tour and the WTA Tour. If you can’t visit the tournaments you love then do the next best thing and read our guide on how to watch all the ATP Tour matches on television in 2019. To read more amazing articles like this you can explore Tennishead digital magazine here or you can subscribe for free to our email newsletter here