‘No stress or pressure’ on Roger Federer to return to practise court, says his coach

ATP Tour

Shahida Jacobs
May 28, 2020

Full-time training remains on the backburner for Roger Federer with his coach Severin Luthi insisting it is “not necessary” for him to practise with tennis still on a hiatus.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner has not played any competitive tennis since the Australian Open in January although he did compete in the MatchInAfrica in South Africa against Rafael Nadal in early February.

He underwent knee surgery shortly after the exhibition event in Cape Town and was initially expected to make a return in mid-June.

With tennis on an enforced break until at least the end of July, Federer revealed earlier in May that he is “not training at the moment because I don’t see a reason for that to be honest”.

Some of his main rivals, though, have returned to training with Novak Djokovic set to take part in the Adria Tour next month.

However, Luthi says there is not rush for Federer.

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we’re back for another CIB with @tennischannel !! got to catch up with my good friend @severinluthi recently to talk about our other good pal @rogerfederer and how they have been doing during this time ,,, ! #coachinginthebigs

A post shared by Paul Annacone (@paulannacone10s) on May 25, 2020 at 8:33am PDT

“For him it is not necessary to be worried about hitting balls too much,” he told Paul Annacone during an interview for Tennis Channel.

“I think maybe you saw on social media he was hitting balls against a wall with the volley challenge. He does that more for fun, it’s not necessary for him to hit, especially as he is coming back from knee surgery.

“At the moment, there is no stress or pressure on him to practice.

“If the tournaments start again I think there is going to be enough time [to prepare].”

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Roger Federer