Swiss veteran Roger Federer is back after he featured in his first Grand Slam match since 2020 on Monday, his first since overcoming a knee injury. The 39-year-old won his first Grand Slam match in 489 days, overcoming Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in straight sets at Roland Garros in the 2021 French Open.
Federer played a smooth and seamless game which oozed confidence following a long time on the sidelines, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
He finished the first set in just 23 minutes and went on to secure victory after one hour and 33 minutes, without being broken once. The Swiss converted five of his 13 break points, as well as winning 80 percent of his first serve points.
The Swiss, who turns 40 in August, had missed the three previous majors while recovering from knee operations that he had during the pandemic. He hadn’t played a Grand Slam match since losing the semi-final of the 2020 Australian Open to Novak Djokovic on January 30, 2020.
Back at Roland Garros
For him to be back is a joyous moment for tennis fans, even those who don’t support the Swiss. For him to be back in Paris is even more special. This is only the second time he is back on the Paris clay since 2015 and Federer even admitted that his main focus is getting back to his peak fitness in time for Wimbledon next month.
“I’m very happy, it was a good performance and I just felt overall much clearer, much better than I did in Geneva,” he said after Monday’s win.
“I take it round by round, match by match. I think it’s going to help me, with the way I go about it.”
The possibility of the Olympics
Federer also spoke about the possibility of featuring in the Olympic Games this year.
“I don’t know, I feel two ways,” he said.
“I would love to play. I wish things were better around the world and that we wouldn’t even have to debate the thought of is it going to happen, am I going to play or not?
“My wish and hope and dream is that I can play it. But it needs to make sense for me, my team, my family, my country. I’m still waiting to see how things are going to develop over the next couple of weeks and month.”
– .
