Roger Federer says difficulty with his ongoing comeback from injury ‘got to him’ a little bit during his second round match at the Noventi Open in Halle.
The 10-time champion was knocked out of the tournament by Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime who prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Making it the first time in Federer’s career he has failed to win back-to-back matches in the tournament. Halle was only the fourth tournament he has played since returning to the Tour following a knee injury which required two surgical procedures last year.
After getting knocked out of the tournament, the world’s media were left waiting for almost three hours before Federer spoke to the press. An unusual approach from a player who has lost. During that period the 39-year-old said he spoke with coach Ivan Ljubičić about his performance.
“I needed time to digest the third set. I was unhappy about how it ended,” he explained. “(It was) Similar to Geneva in some ways where I felt I actually played good in spells. But it was up and down.’
“That match had good and bad moments but I guess that’s part of the comeback.” He added.
Federer admitted that he started to get frustrated with himself after getting broken at the start of the decider where Auger-Aliassime went on to win four games in a row. He believes that mentality affected the outcome of the match but he gives credit to his Canadian opponent who registered only his fourth win over a top 10 player in his career.
“It was not a good attitude from my side. I was disappointed with the way I was feeling on court and the way things were going,” Federer admitted.
“I think the whole difficulty of the comeback got to me a little bit, as well. I realised that it was not going to be my day and there was nothing I could do. I started to get really negative. This is not normally how I am.’
“This is something I’m not happy about but at the same time in like 1500 of or so matches these things can happen. The good thing is that I know it will not happen the next time.”
The 20-time Grand Slam champion has recorded four wins this season heading into Wimbledon but only two of those were against top 50 players. He defeated Dan Evans (No.28) in Doha and Marin Cilic (No.47) at the French Open.
Federer will be returning back to his native Switzerland prior to travelling to the UK. Alluding to the fact that he doesn’t want to stay inside a bubble any longer than he has to. He will speak to his team about his next steps prior to Wimbledon, where he will be seeking a historic ninth title.
“The good thing coming out of a match like this against a great player is that I know what I need to think about moving forward because clearly I need do a bit better.” He concluded.
