Former world number and tennis grand champion Jim Courier said in a recent interview that he was delighted to see former No. 1 and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer on the court.
The Swiss champion stopped playing for months due to a double knee operation, he has formalized in recent days that he will not participate in the next Australian Open (his return was initially expected) and he hopes to be able to resume next March.
Courier said he believes that Federer’s magic, despite the long hiatus that saw him protagonist, will not escape his racket and that the tennis player’s real problem is with physical condition after the two surgeries of the knee.
In the past, Federer suspended his tour for a long time in 2016 and returned the following year in good shape, managing to win three of the five Grand Slam tournaments of the 2017 Australian Open and thus reach 20 Slams in career.
Jim Courier believes Roger Federer’s movement will likely be badly affected by his double knee surgery.
Courier talks about Roger Federer’s return.
“Roger Federer’s magic with a racquet will be intact,” said Jim Courier.
“He won’t have lost his racquet handling skills, but the big X factor is movement. He had two knee surgeries, and the comeback couldn’t come as quickly as Roger and his team had hoped.
Roger has played first strike tennis his entire career, and he might even increase that characteristic if the movement isn’t there. ”Regardless of Federer’s tactical approach, Jim Courier believes the world No.5 will have a hard time pass the Grand Slam tournaments on his return.
“Still, it will be difficult for him to endure seven of the five most important games without the proper movement,” added Courier. Courier thinks the tennis world should be thankful that they can still see Roger Federer in action, as it is a very “pleasant” experience.
“We should be grateful to see him on the pitch again; he’s so enjoyable to watch, and we all hope to see him play for as long as possible,” he said.
It will notably be the first time since his debut at the Australian Open in 2000 that Federer will not participate in Melbourne Park. In the past four years, Roger Federer has won the Australian Open twice, in 2017 and then in 2018.
Last month Federer was named the best Swiss athlete of the past 70 years. With the Tokyo Olympics next July, let’s hope that Federer will wear Switzerland’s national colors once again.
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