Roger Federer’s 2021 calendar is filling up: the 39-year-old you are registered to play in Dubai after his first tournament in Doha. Federer missed this year’s Australian Open while continuing to recover from a knee injury; He has not competed since losing in the semi-finals of the 2020 Australian Open.
Doha, an ATP 250, begins on March 8, while Dubai, an ATP 250, is scheduled for the week of March 14. During this unique season, Doha and Dubai take place during the generally busy schedule for Indian Wells, which has been postponed.
It will mark Federer’s first appearance in Qatar since 2012, and his participation in Dubai will likely depend on how he maintains his body in his first tournament in more than 14 months.
“It’s great to see Roger come back,” Martina Navratilova said on TC Live. “It was about time, we had not seen him in over a year.”
Navratilova succinctly said what everyone has been thinking.
Federer with the Dubai trophy in 2019 (Getty).
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Although Doha is the smallest tier ATP event, it has long drawn a roster of elite entrants. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray won the Qatar ExxonMobile Open twice, Rafael Nadal once and Federer lifted the Golden Falcon trophy three times. The field is packed with 10 members of the Top 20, including World No. 3 Dominic Thiem, defending champion Andrey Rublev, Gael Monfils, Stan Wawrinka and Denis Shapovalov.
The registration deadline in Dubai was Monday. It’s also usually a star-studded affair with Djokovic winning in 2020 and Federer taking home the crown eight times, most recently in 2019.
You will feel at home in the desert. Doha is just a quick flight from Dubai, where he has been training during the off-season. His absence from Melbourne was quite justified as he only started hitting balls on the court again in December after undergoing a second right knee surgery in June.
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