MercedesCup: Roger Federer in Stuttgart: “Wimbledon victory remains the ultimate”

Roger Federer spoke at his opening conference at Weissenhof in Stuttgart about his goals, French open duels against Rafael Nadal and a fashionable rumour.

By Florian Goosmann from Stuttgart

On time like a Swiss clockwork… well, that wasn’t Roger Federer. At 12.30 pm his first press round in Stuttgart was scheduled, but shortly after 1 pm it did happen. Federer had trained with Tomas Berdych at 11 o’clock, relaxed as usual and with his usual sensitivity on the beloved lawn.

Federer has something to make up for at Weissenhof: In 2016, the semi-final against Dominic Thiem ended, in 2017 against Tommy Haas in the opening match – both times despite match balls. The maestro, who could once again become the world’s number 1 with a final entry, spoke of a “great joy to be able to be there again”.

After his new Fabel sand season, French open champ Rafael Nadal still stands there – “unbelievable, that leaves only the superlatives”, praised Federer, who arrived in Stuttgart during the Paris finale and trained afterwards, so hardly saw anything of Nadal’s performance. “But I don’t have to, to know how strong he is and what he’s accomplished.” The Swiss continued to rave about the “sovereignty of a champion”, “winning a tournament eleven times at all is unbelievable”.

Federer’s rejection of Sand, especially for the French Open, did not please everyone; French Open tournament director Guy Forget was hardly surprising among the critics. And also in Stuttgart the interesting question arose whether it would not even have been the greater challenge to want to win against Nadal in Paris than again in Wimbledon.

But Federer has a decisive advantage in life: He knows what he wants. “For me, the Wimbledon victory remains the ultimate on the tour,” he said. “For others, it might be that I would beat Nadal on sand.” If he had the choice to hit Nadal on the sand again or to win Wimbledon again, “I always take Wimbledon.”

A tournament victory would be included here, in Paris “may or may not have something to do with it”. But Federer also looked at the overall picture here: “For me it’s about much more: about health, about maintaining the joy of tennis, I have four children – many forget that. I’m very busy at my place. I need some rest.”

Even if he “would like to have another French Open battle against Rafa”, but maybe next year or after. An “idea” for the game on sand in the future may come after the US Open, in the fall. It is still strange not to play a Grand Slam tournament, although he is fit, Federer said. “I was always the one who played them all.” But the decision-making processes are now different.

French Open or not: The current Federer goal is of course Wimbledon – and of course Stuttgart. “The draw is tough, the people around me are all good at playing on grass,” Federer knows, and he also knows the danger, especially on grass, of arriving without match practice. “I’ve come out of a cold start, need to play well fast.” But he feels good, has “trained wonderfully”.

Speaking of trained: This is what Federer did in Stuttgart in a Nike outfit; he described rumours about a change to Uniqlo as exactly that: rumours (“What is the German word for’rumours’ again?”). But there was no rumour that the Nike contract had expired in March and that they were looking around. “This is part of the game,” Federer philosophised further. “An ugly… but also a way to see what’s going on.”

There has already been a “fashionable” change: His pitch-black Wilson Pro Staff RF 97 autograph, with which he won his last three major titles, is decorated with a little white in the latest version, as well as with a white Wilson logo. And probably not only for the, Attention pun, performance at Weissenhof.