Swiss Indoors in Basel has been the most successful tournament in Roger Federer’s career besides Halle. In both events, the Swiss has won ten titles, including this year defeating Álex De Minaur in a straight-sets final.
“He could play against so many fantastic players, with home court advantage, which was pretty good,” Federer said in an interview with Tages Anzeiger. “There were a lot of highlights: when I first went out to play qualifying.
How I beat Lleyton Hewitt (2000) and in the end all the seat cushions were thrown onto the court as the delight was so tremendous. Then the first win in the final and all those close final wins against Djokovic, Del Potro, Nadal.”
Federer recalled his journey at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. The Swiss player reached the final for the first time in 2006 and recalling that loss, to Britain’s Tim Henman, Federer said: “I had already lost in the final the year before and I thought: I can catch him, now it’s my turn.
He beat me in straight sets, which was a shock. I thought: ‘Oh God, I will never win here’ During the trophy ceremony, I would have loved to disappear into a hole”, confessed the number 3 in the world. If someone told you then: ‘No problem, are you going to win at least nine titles here…?’, I would say: There is no chance.
I’ll never win here, that’s what it looks like. He was young and desperately wanted to win. Until I realized that I had to work more professionally and take match after match.”
Gonzalez opens up on Federer
Former tennis player Fernando Gonzalez reckons Roger Federer might not lift another Grand Slam trophy but could win a few titles on the ATP tour.
“It will be hard for him,” said Gonzalez. “I don’t know if he is going to be able to win a Grand Slam, but in three-set tournaments, I think he will do something interesting. He will want to say goodbye at some point, but if he comes back, I think he will go for something important, with the level he has.
I don’t know how he will be for five sets, but for three, he has to play a while longer.” In this year’s edition of the Laver Cup, Taylor Fritz, Diego Schwartzman, and Felix Auger-Aliassime have already confirmed their participation for Team World.
Now, we could still see a few more players joining each team before the event. Meanwhile, Roger Federer will be returning to the Laver Cup for the first time since Wimbledon last year. Safe to say, fans are pretty excited to see the Swiss Maestro back in action as a part of the Big Four of Team Europe.
