Roger Federer Makes Clay Debut On Home Soil In Geneva
The Geneva tournament got a much-needed star power boost when their home country hero Roger Federer opted to play the clay event for a first time.
Federer hasn’t hit a ball on the dirt since his semifinal loss to Rafael Nadal at the French Open two years ago. The former No. 1 skipped the fall 2020 clay season due to his knee and then decided to continue training instead of playing any of the clay lead-ups.
Federer’s only played one event so far and that was a quarterfinal loss to Nikolaz Basilashvili in Doha.
The top-seeded Federer is joined in the Geneva draw by No. 2 Denis Shapovalov, No. 3 Casper Ruud, No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 5 Cristian Garin.
Following a bye, Federer will face either Pablo Andujar or Jordan Thompson in his clay opener, then in the quarters it could be Garin or Marin Cilic with Ruud potentially in the semifinals.
The 39-year-old Federer has his his last 32 matches in Switzerland (5 straight Basel titles + Davis Cup + Laver Cup).
Federer will play either on Wednesday or Thursday. However, cool and rainy conditions are expected for much of the week.
The last edition of the event in 2019 was won by Alexander Zverev who won a final set breaker over Nicolas Jarry.
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