Rebuilding agility, strength and stamina are among the top challenges Roger Federer faced in his comeback.
The 39-year-old Swiss said regaining explosive movement after underdoing two arthroscopic surgeries to his right knee and rebuilding his body to go the distance were both keys to his comeback. Playing his first tour-level match in 405 days, Federer out-dueled practice partner Dan Evans 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-5 in Doha today.
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"Like you see in this match, for instance, two hours 20 or maybe more than that, you have to be able to play that. If you cannot play for two-and-a-half hours, you cannot come back," Federer said afterward. "So it's that simple. I think a lot of questions are being asked and you have to test yourself in practice. The other thing obviously is that well, nobody is going to do the running for you.
"So you have to do it yourself, and I think that in tennis gets underestimated a little bit. That cannot be substituted. Only me, I can jump and run. If I don't run, I'm not going to win any more points. It's in a simple. You can't just start slapping winners left and right especially as long as I haven't played."
It was Federer's first match since he fell to Novak Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open semifinals.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion said he was satisfied with his decision-making after the 13-month sabbatical, but believes he can sharpen up his accuracy on sitters.
"Then the part that gets a little bit more tricky is the sometimes the easy shots," Federer said. "I would miss quite a few easy shots from time to time, but I feel like that was part of the footwork, those little adjustment steps that you just have to take at the very end. With a long match, you get a little wobble going sometimes.
"But I still think I tried to do the right thing. I just then misfired. I think that's natural that's going to happen from time to time. Overall I'm okay with that. You would think that only gets better over time."
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