Federer’s farewell still long way off

ROGER Federer has silenced retirement talk and confirmed he’ll return to tennis in March.

The all-time great was forced to skip next week’s Australian Open because of a persistent knee injury, which fuelled talk the 39-year-old could be close to retirement.

He has undergone two rounds of knee surgery since his last appearance on tour, at the 2020 Australian Open.

But in his first comments since December, Federer said the only reason he had skipped Australia was because of a slow recovery. His knee is still not 100 per cent, but having experienced no setbacks, Federer has agreed to rejoin the tour at the Qatar Open in Doha beginning on March 8.

“I’ve been thinking about when and where to come back for a long time,” Federer said in comments to Swiss outlet SRF.

“Australia was a touch too early because of my knee. That hurts. It’s one of the places where I love to play the most.

“I wanted to make my comeback at a smaller tournament so that I wasn’t fully in focus and where the stress is also a little less.”

The 20-time Grand Slam winner indicated he would attempt to play at the French Open but he would be led by his body, prioritising Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and the US Open.

Federer also conceded he did not want to “pathologically stay on the tour”, which could effect his life post-career.

“I want to be able to go skiing with the children and with (wife) Mirka,” he said.

“Or go hiking, play basketball or start ice hockey – I still have so many dreams. For that I need a good body, and I don’t want to hit it against the wall.”

But he gave no indication when he would walk away

“I like to play tennis for life. In the last few months I have given a lot in rehab, in the conditioning area,” he said. “I want to celebrate great victories again. And for that I am ready to go the long, hard road.”