Roger Federer: I’ve Got To Sweep Shanghai, Basel, Paris And London To Finish No. 1, And That’s Unlikely
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With Rafael Nadal winning the US Open and then Beijing last week, Roger Federer understands that the odds are stacked of him passing the Spaniard for the 2017 No. 1 ranking.
“I can’t play more than I’m already playing,” Federer said of his chase. “I can only control my draw. I can’t control how well he’s playing. Because he’s playing so well, it’s going to make things more difficult.
“But I know that if I want to finish world No. 1 I’ve got to win here and World Tour Finals and Paris and Basel, whatever it may be. It becomes more and more unlikely, which is totally fine, because I never entered this season with the goal being world No. 1.
“It was really unfortunate for me that I hurt myself in Montreal, because then that would have been a cool race maybe going on in Cincinnati, even if I would have lost, and then into the US Open feeling better.
“Unfortunately, it never happened. So I was kind of close, but not really because I was hurt. It’s all good, you know. I’m just going to plan well, just going to try to have a strong finish to the season and see what happens, but clearly I’m aware it’s highly unlikely at this point.”
Federer is in action Wednesday in Shanghai against Diego Schwartzman. Nadal opens against American Jared Donaldson.
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