Federer marks comeback with win as Swiss beat Brits in Hopman Cup
● 17-time major winner says he is free of pain after coming through first match since re-injuring his knee at Wimbledon
Roger Federer returned from six months out with a knee injury to beat Dan Evans 6-3, 6-4 yesterday and lead Switzerland to an opening 3-0 win over Great Britain at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tournament.
The 17-time major winner missed the French Open last year, ending a run of 65 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, and had not played competitively since re-injuring his surgically repaired left knee at Wimbledon in July. But he showed no signs of rust in his 61-minute win over Evans.
“I’d like to live it again. I’m a little bit sad it’s over, because it was so nice out there,” Federer said of his return. “I was actually quite emotional. When I walked down, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is better than I thought it would be’.”
The 35-year-old Federer said it was the kind of feeling he missed the most while he was 0 Dan Evans: Beaten by Federer in singles and doubles sidelined. “I thought for a first match it was great, because my expectations were obviously quite low.”
Belinda Bencic held off Britain’s Heather Watson 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to give Switzerland an unbeatable 2-0 lead. Federer and Bencic easily completed the 3-0 clean sweep in the mixed doubles, beating Evans and Watson 4-0, 4-1.
Federer said he was looking for as many matches as possible in Perth ahead of the Australian Open, which starts on 16 January in Melbourne.
He hasn’t won a grand slam title since 2012 at Wimbledon, and hasn’t won the Australian Open title since 2010, but has not given up hope of extending his record in the majors.
“After all these years, it would be nice to win another one – of course I’d even take two or three or four,” he said. “We’ll see. It’s tough at the top. A lot of good guys out there right now. I’ll give it a chance, and see what happens.”
Federer said he had spent plenty of time on conditioning during his break from the game and felt pain free.
“I don’t have any pain,” he said. “It’s been nice that I was able to get rid of that early.”
Switzerland are set to play Germany on Wednesday and France on Friday, with the winning team in Group A qualifying for Saturday’s Hopman Cup final.
France beat Germany 2-1, with Richard Gasquet defeating Alexander Zverev 7-5, 6-3 and combining with Kristina Mladenovic to win the deciding mixed doubles, which is being played in the ‘Fast4’ format, 4-2, 4-1. Andrea Petkovic beat Mladenovic 6-2, 6-1 in the women’s singles. Sir Andy Murray begins his 2017 campaign today when he takes on Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the first round of the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha.
The Scot has an 8-1 headto-head record over the world No 69 and will be expected to progress to the next round.
Murray, the singles world No 1, got some valuable court time under his belt yesterday when he played doubles with Pole Mariusz Frystenberg, losing to David Marrero and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 6-4.
Murray has varied his preparations for the Australian Open this year. He played in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi last week before heading to Doha. The Australian Open, the first grand slam event of the year, begins in Melbourne on 16 January.
Johanna Konta got her 2017 campaign off to a