Roger Federer voiced his opinion on the Serbian’s performance after Novak Djokovic’s opening defeat. The Swiss sees Djokovic only at the beginning of his return and expects a clear increase of the Serbian soon.
“This isn’t really a surprise to me,”said Federer when asked about Djokovic’s defeat against Taro Daniel,”If you’re away from the game for a few months, you’ll start to notice. A return home after a long injury break just takes more effort.”
Federer noted that Djokvic was only at the beginning of his comeback,”This was the first tournament since his operation,”he said. It takes time and match practice to get back on track. However, Federer is sure that Djokvic “can only get better” from now on.
The five-time Indian Wells champion was also disappointed by the absence of his permanent rival Rafael Nadal,”He had a great year and deserved to be in the lead,”said Federer.
The 36-year-old also commented on his tournament planning for the coming months as part of the Masters in Indian Wells:”I don’t think I’m going to play in Monaco at the beginning,”Federer told ESPN.”I’ve planned a trip for my foundation, which I plan to do at that time. I’ll decide on the rest of the clay court season in Miami.”
Last year, Federer missed the whole clay court season. After his triumph at the Australian Open 2017, he took a break for several months and returned to the grass court tournaments for the ATP tour. His success proves him right: He won his 19th place overall in Wimbledon. Major title.