Tennis: Healthy Federer skips French Open to save his joints for grass
After spending a few days practising on clay courts in Switzerland, a healthy and well-rested Roger Federer settled on his upcoming schedule: He will bypass the French Open and turn his focus to Wimbledon, then the U.S. Open.
“It was a tough decision to take, because he likes to play the French Open, likes to play the big tournaments,” Severin Luthi, who coaches Federer, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday. “But I think it was the best decision for him. It’s an investment in his career — for this season and for the coming seasons.”
Federer, who had recurring back and knee problems last season, posted a message entitled “Roger to skip Roland Garros” on his website on Monday, announcing that he will stay away from competing on clay entirely in 2017 and instead will pre- pare for the grass- and hard-court events that follow.
“I’ve been working really hard, both on and off the court, during the last month,” Federer wrote, “but in order to try and play on the ATP World Tour for many years to come, I feel it’s best to skip the clay court season this year.”
It’s the second year in a row that Federer pulled out of the French Open.
Luthi said Federer made “the decision out of a position of strength” and plans to play at two grass-court tournaments in Germany — at Stuttgart starting June 12, and at Halle the week after that — before heading to Wimbledon, where play begins on July 3.
The 35-year-old Federer has not played in a tournament since April 2, when he won his third title of 2017 at the Miami Open and improved his record this year to 19-1, all on hard courts, his best start in more than a decade. Clay tends to be the most physically demanding of tennis’ surfaces, requiring plenty of tricky movement and sliding, along with lengthy, grind-it-out points.