Federer riding pain to keep going
BASEL: Roger Federer has revealed that he has been suffering with a hand injury since the summer, but said the problem is no longer a worry as he heads into his home Swiss Open starting on Monday.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner told Germany’s Sonntag Zeitung of the problem which began when he trained for the grasscourt season.
“I hurt my hand training at the start of the grass season,” Federer told the newspaper.
“It’s had more consequences than I thought. I dragged this pain for about three months. “It’s not an excuse and we’re not going to make a fuss over it.”
He added: “(Sometimes) I felt pain during the first ten minutes of a match warmup. But now I can let go of my forehand normally without thinking of it.”
The 37-year-old Federer will start his bid for a ninth Basel title on Tuesday when he plays Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic and could face a revenge match in the second round if he and John Millman both advance.
WAWRINKA PULLS OUT FROM BASEL EVENT
BASEL:A back injury suffered during a Sunday practice session with compatriot Roger Federer forced Stan Wawrinka to pull out of the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel on Monday.
“I turned my back, and retiring was the only decision I could make,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion, adding that he will end his season early and not play at the Paris Masters next week.
Wawrinka, ranked 68th in the world, continues to fight to fully recover more than a year after two knee surgeries.
Wawrinka has been playing in fits and starts this season, losing in the Shanghai first round this month after reaching the semi-finals in September in St Petersburg.
CONFIDENT STEPHENS DOWNS OSAKA
SINGAPORE: A confident Sloane Stephens stormed to victory with a commanding third set performance against Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka as the upsets continued at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
In an unpredictable encounter, the American overcame a second set stutter to dominate the decider and triumph 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in two hours and 25 minutes. Before Monday, Osaka had won 14 of her previous 16 matches to be the in-form player coming into the season-finale.
But the third seed was wildly inconsistent in the Red Group opener with 46 unforced errors and was broken three times in a third set meltdown.
“I competed really well and I knew I had to play good tennis to beat her,” Stephens, the fifth seed, said after the match.
It was a much-anticipated showdown between the past two US Open champions, who were making their WTA Finals debuts.