Roger Federer ‘fully expected’ to play Australian Open next year despite his refusal to commit early

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Roger Federer press conference

Organisers of the Australian Open ‘full expect’ to see Roger Federer on court again in Melbourne next year, says tournament director Craig Tiley.

Federer lost his semi-final against Novak Djokovic on Thursday to end his hopes of winning a 21st Grand Slam title this month.

After the match, he insisted he had ‘no plans to retire,’ but stopped some way short of assuring his fans this year wasn’t his last Australian Open appearance.

Tiley, though, was much more confident that Federer would be back.

“I would be very wary of speculating on the end of Roger Federer’s career,” Tiley said.

“He is playing as well as ever and certainly still has the hunger. Roger has an obvious joy in his game. He clearly still very much loves playing tennis.

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“Roger has proven time and time again, that he has incredible powers of recovery and endurance.

“With all that in mind, we fully expect him to see him back next year.”

On his own future, Federer commented after the match that he ‘hopes’ to be back .

“You never know what the future holds. But especially my age, you don’t know. I’m confident.

“I’m happy how I’m feeling, to be honest. I got through a good, nice training block. No plans to retire.

“From that standpoint, we’ll see how the year goes, how everything is with the family. We’ll go from there. Of course, I hope to be back.”

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