Why Roger Federer never played the China Open throughout his career
Roger Federer dominated much of the ATP Tour in his heyday, but he surprisingly never made a single appearance at the China Open in his career.
The China Open has kickstarted the ATP Tour’s Asian swing since 1993 and the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Michael Chang, and Andy Murray have won the tournament.
While several of the best player’s in the men’s game made the jump to Beijing to compete at the tournament, Federer was never one of them.
It wasn’t even because he decided to play the Japan Open in Tokyo either, as he only played that tournament once in his career, in 2006 when he lifted the title.
In an interview with Tennis World USA, China Open tournament director admitted the reason why they could never lure Federer over to Beijing for the ATP 500 tournament.
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“I am confident the problem with Roger is not any lack of interest on his part in coming to Beijing’, ‘It’s his schedule. Post-US Open for him is a very full one, especially beginning last year with the creation of Laver Cup.
“He then has the Rolex event in Shanghai, and of course he still plays events in Europe before the [ATP] Finals. Of course it would be terrific to have Roger one year, and we will always inquire with his management, but it’s typically a formality.
“We respect his schedule, and we wish him well,” continue Ross. “This is the reality of Roger Federer in that part of the year.”
In Federer’s absence, Djokovic was given the opportunity to truly dominate the China Open. The Serbian won the tournament six times between 2009 and 2015 and he’s never tasted defeat at the event.
For Federer, meanwhile, the China Open is one of the biggest tournaments the star ended his career without winning, although this was by choice.
He did play other events in China, though, and he lifted the Shanghai Masters title on two occasions in 2014 and 2017.
The biggest tournaments Federer never won, however, were the Italian Open and the Monte Carlo Masters, the only two Masters events not in the Swiss icon’s trophy cabinet.
Federer reached the final of both clay court Masters events four times, but he was unable to lift the trophy.
Three of his defeats in the Monte Carlo Masters final came unsurprisingly against Rafael Nadal, while the other was against his compatriot Stan Wawrinka in his last final in 2014.
His defeats in the Italian Open final, meanwhile, came against Félix Mantilla, Nadal on two occasions, and Djokovic.
