Roger Federer Is Undecided On Playing Madrid Or Rome

by Tom Gainey | April 18th, 2016, 10:24 am
  • 12 Comments

Just because Roger Federer played Monte Carlo doesn’t mean we’ll be seeing the Swiss at more French Open warm-up events this spring.

Federer, who didn’t have any pre-French clay events on his original schedule, told the press after losing Friday in Monte Carlo that he doesn’t have a set schedule before Paris.

“I definitely won’t play the next couple of weeks,” Federer said Friday. “And Madrid I’ll decide probably like 10 days from now. Rome I’ll decide probably in 15 days from now.


“I have a few things to do in the beginning of next week. All the practices are already planned with Pierre for the fitness. It will be half fitness, half tennis, I believe.”

Despite the loss to Tsonga in the quarterfinals, Federer added again that it was a good first week back from left knee surgery.

“Number one, it’s good to play a tournament after having had surgery,” Federer said. “Number two, it was good to play one match. It was good to have a match with a rest, then to play again. Now it was good to play back-to-back, yesterday and today. Then it was good to play 2 hours 10 today.

“On top of it, in the pressure situations, because you know you might not be as loose as in practice, so many good things this week, and also the pre-tournament stuff I was able to do, I trained really hard. My fitness coach was here. We practiced well on the tennis court, as well.

“It’s been a really good last couple of weeks now for me, so I’m very happy.”


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12 Comments for Roger Federer Is Undecided On Playing Madrid Or Rome

SG1 Says:

Not a tennis question but Tom…are you by any chance related to the golfer Tommy Gainey?


SG1 Says:

Fed’s gonna’ take the rest which I think is a great idea. See what the affects of the tournament are on his knee and go from there. I think he’ll be just fine for RG. Not a shame to lose to Tsonga on a clay court after an injury.


Daniel Says:

If he plays Madrid I can only see him playing Rome if he loses in first or second match. Because if he plays Madrid and reach quarters or beyond, that will mena he got at least 3 matches and most likelly would lose to another top 10 (if he loses;-)

He never won Rome and is not likely winning now with Djoko, Murray and Nadal (semi back). Rest and go for Garros and wait whta the future holds, who knows if his draw open up.

The only thing that can maybe motivate him is rankings wise. Murray defends 1250 pts now from two titles, so Fed can get back to #2 after Madrid if Andy doesn´t do well there. Actually Andy not winning it and Fed is back to #2. But Fed defends final in Rome so he can calculate what their situation is after Madrid and decides if he needs to play Rome and to each round he must reach in order to secure #2 ranking for Garros.

There is a strong chance that if he ends up #2, Djoko, Nadal (who most likelly will still be #5) and Murray (if droping to #3) end up in the same side of the draw.

As long as he avoid Djoko and if Nadal is preferably in Djoko’s side as well, one will nullify the other.


Daniel Says:

BTW, Does anybody knows if Andy will play Munich again this year? He also defends 250 pts there prior to Madrid as last year’s winner.


RZ Says:

@Daniel – I don’t know but I’m guessing he won’t. I think he played there last year because he skipped Monte Carlo.


Daniel Says:

I think #2 rankins is gonna be important for Adny or Fed ref RG, to guarantee avoiding Novak before finals and 50% chance of not having Nadal in their section as well. So the odds of the #2 not having to play Nadal and Djoko before finals is higher than if they are #3. Of course, even at #3, they can avoid both as well, but the number 2 just confirms 1 is out of the picutre (pre final) for sure. That could be a major boost.

Imagine, if Djoko and Nadal play a gruleling 5 set match in semis that could potentially extend to 2 day (last year is proof of that) and suddenly the other players semis winner could be with an small advantage. Or bigger, depending of the score and time of that particular match. Small things to analyse but that can have a huge impact in outcome.


Dennis Says:

If he doesn’t play either Madrid or Rome, he may as well skip Roland Garros too. Can’t see him doing well there a this point if he goes into RG having played only 3 matches since the Australian Open. He’d be better off at that point just focusing on Wimbledon and the US Open.


Wog Boy Says:

I can see him not making top8 and missing on WTF quite easily, I can see him retiring this year too.
I thought he would try to defend Istanbul, it was so important for him to play there last year..


Humble Rafa Says:

Such arrogance and disrespect for the game. If you are fit, then you should play.


Dave Says:

Wog Boy,

I’m glad you mentioned that. Federer has to defend a 250 title that he won in Istanbul as well as 600 points from Rome. So Andy has a very good possibility of staying Number 2.


Michael Says:

In my opinion, Roger should opt to play Madrid more than Rome. Even if he decides to skip both the tournaments, it would be a prudent move and Roger can start eyeing the Grass season ahead as I do not think he is capable of winning Clay court titles any more. It will be Halle and Wimbledon which are his best bets and he can possibly play a few more grass court tournaments to get tuned for Wimbledon where possibly he has the last chance to add to his 7.


green900 Says:

http://us.blastingnews.com/sports/2016/04/roger-federer-s-schedule-for-the-rest-of-the-season-00887547.html

is this true? does that mean federer isn’t playing rome and madrid anymore

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