Will Federer’s docket include Roland-Garros? The Swiss says he’ll make decisions on his schedule after Dubai.

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday March 11, 2021

Now that Roger Federer has one event in the books in 2021, the Swiss can start to think more about where he will play in the spring.

After his 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 loss to Nikoloz Basilashvili on Thursday the 20 -times major supporter reiterated the notion that he plans to do whatever it takes to be fully prepared for the 2021 grass-court season.

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“I come from so far away that I’m actually joyous that I was able to play back-to-back three-set pairs against top musicians, ” Federer told reporters on Thursday in Doha. “That’s an important step forward to me. Like I said, I’m not 100 percentage more. I can feel it. I can see it, you are familiar with. From that standpoint, important is to be 10 percent by the grass tribunal season. I know that. I’m still building up.”

As it is about to change, Federer’s desire to be at 100 percent for the grass-court season, which begins on June 7, the working day after the Roland-Garros men’s singles final, might make it most plausible that he plays during the clay season.

Federer says that playing on clay will likely be his only chance to get matches before grass season begins.

“I feel joins are important, ” he said. “What comes before the grass laws are the clay fields. So from that perspective, I have no choice but to play on clay if I want to play matches.”

Federer hasn’t frisked on clay since Roland-Garros in 2019, but he seems relatively confident that he’ll be able to handle the rigours of the surface.

“It could be good for me, the clay, ” he said. “It could be bad for me, the clay. So I will only know in practice, but I don’t think it’s going to be bad, to be honest.”

Just @rogerfederer doing Roger Federer things again @QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/ YePwXC4m 1y

— ATP Tour (@ atptour) March 11, 2021

We can expect to hear more about Federer’s spring schedule after next week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“I assume I will frisk some clay, ” he said. “The question is what? We have a vague opinion, but we said let’s wait for Doha and potentially Dubai to potentially make any decisions for that, and fitness comes first and then we’ll read what comes after. At the end everything is geared towards the grass. So whatever originates me be 100 percent there, I will do.”

Federer says he will chit-chat with his squad over the next 24 hours to see if he is fit and ready to play Dubai next week.

Playing his first parallels in over a year has certainly tariffed his form, but he’s not surprised to hear that.

“I candidly expected to feel this way, ” he said. “You know, the whole shoulder is really, I feel the muscle sorenes around that. I didn’t expect it to be honest here in the shoulder because I have been serving the whole time, but that comes I feel with the pressure and precisely, you are familiar with, in competitions you got to go that extra percentage, 5 percent? I don’t know what it is.”

He computed: “Overall the body is actually fine. I’m joyou. You know, it could be much worse. I mean, there was always, you know, a little bit within me that contemplate, you know, how am I going to feel after a merciless first-round join? That’s what I was thinking about going into the tournament, and how would I feel the second round? I was always worried that maybe I couldn’t romp it for whatever reason. I felt penalty. You know, little rigid in the morning, but that’s totally normal I think.”

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