Federer Optimistic about Saving Second Half of ‘16

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Federer Optimistic about Saving Second Half of ‘16

Roger Federer opened up at length about his injuries and how they have impacted his 2016 campaign thus far on Monday in Halle ahead of his appearance at this week’s Gerry Weber Open. The 17-time major champion says that bad luck has played a role, but he added that he may have had some issues in his knee that led to his freak injury in January, when he tore the meniscus in his left knee while running the bath for his kids.

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“I feel it was bad luck the way that the knee injury happened,” said Federer. “At the same time you could say maybe I’ve had some issues in my knee that I didn’t know of for a long, long time and maybe I had just gotten lucky throughout. I’ve had a great knee for 34 years, so it’s maybe okay for it to happen while I run the bath for my kids—I don’t know, that’s just how it went.”

Federer said that after that things steamrolled.

“It’s just been tough,” Federer said. “I got a virus and didn’t feel well and blocked my back after that in Madrid, but maybe these are all things that came with the injury, and made things more complicated for me to work out.”

Federer says the decision to skip Paris was about the big picture and getting his health back to 100 percent rather than dragging through at less than that.

“I’m looking forward to hopefully still save the rest of the second half of this season, and then also for my career, it’s important for me to have a fighting chance to still have a few more years on tour, rather than playing, playing, playing through a lot of problems and injuries and then maybe only hurt myself further,” he said.

Still, he added, he has a ways to go to feel perfect.

“As long as I’m not going to feel 100 percent I can’t judge myself if I’m playing good or not so good,” he said. “I cannot judge those results. I can say ‘Okay... My knee’s better or my back’s better, but I can’t be saying that I’m playing great or I’m playing poorly. That only you can start judging once you are at 100 percent again and I’m not there quite yet.”

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