Roger Federer announces comeback event as he confirms plans to play on clay, Wimbledon and Olympics

Shahida Jacobs
February 2, 2021

Roger Federer will officially make his comeback from at the Qatar Open in Doha with the 20-time Grand Slam winner confirming he hopes to play at most of the big events in 2021.

The 39-year-old has not played competitive tennis since the 2020 Australian Open after undergoing two knee operations last year. After initially setting his sights on a return at this season-opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park, Federer admitted he ran out of time and pulled out of the event.

Roger Federer out of the Australian Open as he delays his return to action

During an interview with Switzerland’s SRF, the world No 5 admitted that not playing at the Australia Open “hurts” as “it’s one of the places where I love to play the most”.

Federer, though, did confirm that he will return to action in March at the ATP 250 event in Doha.

“I wanted to make my comeback at a smaller tournament so that I wasn’t fully in focus and where the stress is also a little less,” he said.

After the Qatar Open, which he has won three times, the Swiss great hopes to feature in one more tournament before switching his focus to clay.

And if all goes according to plan then he expects to play at the ATP 500 Halle Open, Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and US Open.

“I’ll try to play on clay again,” he added. “The whole thing, of course, with regard to Halle, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.”

After coming through more than a year of rehabilitation, Federer insists he wants to celebrate “great victories again”.

“I like to play tennis for life. In the last few months I have given a lot in rehab, in the conditioning area. I had to go through it, but I always enjoyed it,” the former world No 1 said.

He added: “I want to celebrate great victories again. And for that I am ready to go the long, hard road. ”

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Roger Federer