Roger Federer was returning to the circuit more than three months after his fleeting return to Doha after more than a year of inactivity, and this time he did it on clay, a surface in which he had not played for 711 days, in the semifinals of Roland Garros 2019 against Rafa Nadal, with the victory of the Balearic. This time it was against Pablo Andújar at the start, for the Swiss, of the ATP 250 in Geneva, the tournament he chose for his set-up for Roland Garros, and lost to the Spanish in three rounds (6-4, 4- 6 and 6-4). “I expected a better version of me, but training has little to do with games”he said after the match.
The Swiss’s biggest disappointment was falling at the first exchange before his fans, who occupied the reduced capacity of the stands. “People wanted to see me here, and falling also disappoints me for that. Today I did not know how to make a difference in key moments”, highlights, and is that the current number eight in the ATP ranking came to be 4-2 and in the final sleeve, but he did not know how to take advantage of the break he got against a stellar Andújar. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I have to accept it, it’s part of the process that I have to go through. “
After being eliminated early, Roger Federer, turning 40, will return to action directly at Roland Garros, although he recognizes that this tournament is not his big goal in 2021. “The next few weeks are very important for me. I need to get used to the circuit and add games. My real goal this season is the grass tour, not Roland Garros. “. Halle and subsequently Wimbledon aims to be the Basel roadmap.