Hours after winning a record eighth Swiss Indoors title, Roger Federer has admitted that he is still fearful about injury derailing his campaign on the tour.
The 37-year-old rallied from a set down to defeat Juan Martin del Potro during a two-and-a-half hour roller coaster final in Basel. It was a far from perfect display from the Swiss player. He only managed to record 52% of his first serves in, winning 74% of them. Still, he fought his way back to become only the second man in history to win a 95th ATP title after Jimmy Connors.
“I think protecting the lead is, in my opinion, easier than fighting back.” Reflected Federer. “Fighting back, you sometimes get caught in feeling that making every point is worth two points. Then sometimes you play a bit too passive and then you don’t play the right way any more because you have your back against the wall.”
“It’s nice to be able to come back from down in the score. It’s a gratifying feeling that you’re able to figure something out.” He later added.
Federer’s triumphant week in Basel hasn’t come without its consequences. Less than an hour after lifting the Basel trophy, organisers of the upcoming Paris Masters confirmed his withdrawal due to a back injury. It is the second time this year he has skipped a major event in the French capital after Roland Garros.
As a consequence of his decision, rival Rafael Nadal is on the verge of clinching the year-end No.1 honour for the first time since 2013. To do so, the Spaniard is required to win his second round match in Paris, according to calculations by the ATP.
“I was always going to wait and see how I felt throughout the week.” Federer explained about skipping Paris.
“My body is again asking for a break. I can feel it. It doesn’t look like it on a tennis court, I know. People always think it is easy and simple to run through tournaments, but it really isn’t.”
No.1 is not a goal
The reluctance to not push his body comes as no surprise. Last year Federer missed six months of the tour to rest a troublesome knee injury. More recently, he has also been hindered by some back issue during the North American hard court swing of the tour this summer.
Federer still trails Nadal by more than 1000 points in the Emirates rankings after winning in Basel, but insist that reaching No.1 is not his main priority.
“There was ranking thoughts, of course, but I’m so far back in the race. Then I took it away from the equation and I just said ‘what about if the ranking wasn’t there? what would I do?’ At the end the scenario was always the same. I want to stay injury free. I want to stay healthy. I don’t want to push it and then get hurt next week.”
2009 was the last time Federer has ended a season at the top. Now at the age of 37, the tour veteran has no intention of achieving the year-end milestone for a sixth time in his career. Something that only Pete Sampras has done before. Instead, his focus remains of playing smarter and enjoying the game.
“I feel if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. The worst thing I can do is chase it mentally and physically and do all sorts of crazy schedules. I can’t do that. That’s no fun for me.” He said about returning back to the top one day.
Federer’s next tournament will be at the season-ending ATP Finals in London, where he could face Nadal for the fifth time this year. He will be aiming to clinch the title for a record seventh time. Meanwhile, Nadal will be gunning for his first.
