Suffering with a knee injury and skipping almost the complete 2020 season, Roger Federer played his first Majors in shape in nearly 500 days at Roland Garros. Roger got off to a super begin at Roland Garros, outscoring Denis Istomin in directly sets and sealing the deal in a single hour and 33 minutes.
It was Roger’s third ATP match in 16 months, and he did his first-class to build momentum in advance of his liked grass excursion at Halle and Wimbledon. After beating Istomin, Federer stated he won some motivation while Daniel Evans defeated global No.
1 Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo. The Swiss had already defeated the Briton in his comeback match in Doha a few weeks earlier, which motivated him to push himself and challenge rivals from the top. Despite some expected ups and downs after such a long hiatus, Roger beat Daniel 7-6 3-6 7-5 in Doha in two hours and 24 minutes, making a winning comeback after 405 days!
Federer and Evans had trained in Dubai before Doha, playing 20 practice sets and learning a lot about each other’s game. Both players saved three of four break chances, and Federer won four more points to prevail with a late break in the decider, the only one of his in the entire match!
Evans played another legend a few weeks later and got the best win of his career. The Briton came to Monte Carlo with four ATP wins on clay and none since 2017! Daniel found Game A for him in the Principality and defeated world No.
1 Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-5 in two hours and six minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.
Roger had knee problems
“[Rehab’s] going slowly. I keep getting asked, ‘And what does it look like?’ and I have to say every time that it will take a little longer.
I just have to be patient and keep making progress,” Roger Federer said. “I’m going straight to the gym right now and it’s 5 or 6 times a week. I could do a lot more, but at the moment we’re focusing on fitness so that there’s no overload.”
The Swiss reiterated that the main goal at the moment is to be ready for his stints at Basel and the Laver Cup, and then decide where he has to go from there. “The goal is to be ready for the Laver Cup and Basel by the end of the year.
I’ll get a lot of information in the next few months because I’m running out of space now,” Federer said. “I play with the kids from time to time. Tennis still has to wait a little bit. I’ll do enough of that when I have time.”
