Federer has no plans of slowing down
MIAMI — At this stage in his career, Roger Federer is reaching the status of LeBron James and Tom Brady. They all are in the late stages of their playing days. They all remain dominant. And they are still considered the best.
Federer, who at 36 is the No. 1-ranked tennis player in the world, will continue defying his age when he competes in the Miami Open on Key Biscayne. The event begins today with qualifying and continues through April 1.
“I think it’s more significant maybe [being] world No. 1 at the age that I did it rather than maybe the beginning of the year’s start,” Federer said recently.
Federer, who is Miami’s defending champion, has won the event three times. He’s been able to fight Father Time because of faster matches. Federer said his goal is getting his opponent off the court quicker. He’s also spent more time with trainer Pierre Paganini.
“I don’t have that many hours on court, and in those hours what do I choose to do,” Federer said. “That’s why I think my fitness work is really important, what I do with Pierre. And then when I go onto the tennis court, I think it needs to be very clear what we need to work on in that time.”
Federer said he has no plans of retiring any time soon. He just feels he will have to alter his game even more as he ages.
“For the moment, it’s working,” Federer said. “If it’s going to stop working, I will change my game up again maybe. But for now I will play faster points, but I’m always happy to extend the rallies, too, because I feel like I can also back myself there.”
As Federer’s career winds down, a new group of young players are starting to emerge. They include Chung Hyeon (21) of South Korea, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov (18) and American Frances Tiafoe (20), who all will be competing in Miami. Last month, Tiafoe won the Delray Open.
“These guys have no experience to the point they won’t think about situation,” said American Steve Johnson, who will also compete in Miami. “These kids are young, good, talented. It’s great — all good kids and super good people to have around the tour.”
Federer, who has won a record 20 Grand Slam titles, will once again be up against a stacked field in Key Biscayne. The Miami Open is mandatory for the top players on the ATP and WTA tours, unless they are injured or meet specific criteria about the number of tournament or Grand Slam victories, which applies to very few players. On the men’s side, the event also features Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic. Federer and del Potro met in the final Sunday at Indian Wells, which del Potro won 7-2 in a third-set tiebreaker. For del Potro, it was a sign that he is regaining health. He has dealt with wrist issues since 2010. At one point, he thought about quitting.
“I’m not thinking about quit tennis now, but I was close to quit tennis because I made three surgeries on my wrist, and I couldn’t fix the problem,” del Potro said.
“I got depressed at home for a long while, and I wasn’t happy doing the effort to recovery my wrist. In that moment of my life, I was trying to find a different way of my life. That’s what I was thinking about, quit tennis.”
Although Maria Sharapova withdrew because of a forearm injury, the women’s bracket still features No. 1-ranked Simona Hale, reigning Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams and U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens.