{"id":42080,"date":"2021-03-07T19:34:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T20:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=42080"},"modified":"2021-03-07T21:04:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T21:04:32","slug":"federer-recalls-mental-battle-after-knee-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=42080","title":{"rendered":"Federer recalls mental battle after knee surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roger Federer<\/a> never seriously contemplated retirement while he was away from the tennis tour for more than a year. He did have a hard time dealing with the need for a repeat operation on his bad right knee, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was down. Obviously I couldn't believe I had to do a second one,\u201d Federer said Sunday ahead of his appearance at the Qatar Open. \u201cThis is definitely a moment where you maybe question a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong>MORE: <\/strong>ATP under fire as Federer benefits from latest switch<\/a><\/p>\n

The 39-year-old Federer's first match since the 2020 Australian Open will come Wednesday in Doha against Dan Evans or Jeremy Chardy.<\/p>\n

Federer's first procedure on his right knee occurred in February 2020. That knee kept swelling up after bike rides or walks with his four children; he announced in June that he had had a second surgery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

The 20-time Grand Slam champion will monitor how this comeback goes over the next several months and then assess things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s more on the rare side for almost a 40-year-old to come back after almost a year being out. And I was surprised how long it took. But I took a decision quite early with the team that I wanted to take the time, no rush, to get back onto the tour,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cImportant is that I\u2019m injury-free, pain-free, and I can actually enjoy myself out there on tour. So we\u2019ll see how it goes now. I\u2019m curious myself to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

What seemed clear from Federer's session with reporters on Sunday: Wimbledon is what matters the most to him at this point.<\/p>\n

He has won a men's-record eight titles at the All England Club and came oh-so-close to a ninth in the 2019 final there, holding two championship points before eventually losing to Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

Wimbledon was canceled last year for the first time since 1945 because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

It is scheduled to be played June 28 to July 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I need to go back to training after here again,\u201d said Federer, who pulled out of the Miami Open later this month. \u201cSo from this standpoint, it\u2019s still a building up to being stronger, better, fitter, faster and all that stuff. I hope, then, by Wimbledon, I\u2019m going to be 100%, and from then on, then the season really starts for me. Everything until then, it\u2019s just \u2018Let\u2019s see how it goes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He is curious what travel and tournament life will be like during a pandemic \u2014 \u201cbubble life, quarantines all around, the whole mask situation\u201d \u2014 and, most of all, how his repaired knee handles competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really the only concern I have: Is the knee going to hold up? As of now, I\u2019m not sure," Federer said. \u201cI did everything I possibly could.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roger Federer never seriously contemplated retirement while he was away from the tennis tour for more than a year. He did have a hard time […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42080"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42082,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42080\/revisions\/42082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}