DOHA: Roger Federer admitted that he felt tired at times when he returned after 14 months to beat Dan Evans at Wednesday’s Qatar Open but won’t change his post-game routine.
The 39-year-old Swiss, who had not played for two knee operations since his defeat by Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open 2020, produced vintage tennis and won 7-6 (8) 3-6 7 -5.
Happily, Federer showed his silky movement and said the knee held out during a two-hour, 24-minute duel.
When asked if he would use new recovery techniques before his quarter-finals against Nikoloz Basilashvili, Federer said he would stick to his usual routine.
“You’re talking to an old-school guy. So I took an ice bath and I didn’t like it. So I won’t do that again,” Federer told reporters.
“I don’t take pain medication just for fun. I only take them when I really have to. I don’t feel like this is the case tonight.
“I’m going to stretch and get a massage and sleep in it and then really warm up tomorrow. Very easy.”
While the 20-time Grand Slam champion said beforehand that tennis was like riding a bike to him, he admitted that there was a nerve when his first match came back.
“In the morning I started to think about it and I don’t know, you can just have the feeling of becoming more tense again,” said Federer. “Not that you can worry, but you actually get more excited than anything.
“But overall I was very excited and happy with the way I played.”
Federer was gone so long that he even needed to be reminded of the rules, such as the time to warm up and whether or not to ask the ball kids for his towel.
“It’s happened countless times, not just once,” he said. “I forgot to take the towel. I forgot to bring the towel.
“Then the time, the shot clock, is still not embedded in my system. I played too long without the shot clock.
“Then I also forgot that the warm-up was probably four minutes because I scored with Dan and the next thing I know after 30 seconds was he already playing a lot of net volleyball?”
When it comes to his tennis, however, Federer showed a familiar portrayal.
“There are a lot of things I can do better, but overall I am incredibly happy with the way I played,” he said. “If I lose 6-2 6-2 I’ll be as happy as sitting here 7-5 in the third because it’s been over 400 days since I haven’t been on a tennis court, so it’s been a long time.”
