ATP: Roger Federer cancels start in Dubai
Shortly after leaving the ATP tournament in Doha, Roger Federer canceled participation in the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai next week.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 12, 2021, 04:39 am
It's great to be on the ATP tour again, he loved every minute, wrote Federer on Twitter - with a big thank you to "the most loyal team" for helping him get there.
He has now decided to go back to training. "The consequence of this is that I have decided to cancel Dubai," continued Federer.
Federer returned to the match court this week in Doha after more than a year off. He won his opening game against Dan Evans on Wednesday, and on Thursday evening he was defeated by Nikoloz Basilashvili in three sets despite match balls . After the match, he said he would talk to the team and decide on Dubai within 24 hours.
A build-up phase with a lot of fitness work was planned in advance, as Federer had explained before the start of the tournament in Doha. "I'll need another four or five weeks of training. Probably even more," said Federer.
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Where will Federer play next?
The big question now is when will we see Roger Federer on the match court again. He has already canceled participation in the ATP Masters tournament in Miami, and has kept participation on clay open. After leaving Doha, he stated that he would probably play on clay. Where? Seems open. In 2017 and 2018, Federer canceled the entire clay court tour, but played in Madrid in 2019 and at short notice in Rome and then reached the semi-finals at the French Open - and the final in Wimbledon. So the phase on sand was not a mistake. Especially this year, from the point of view of match practice, a trip to the red ashes would be conceivable - otherwise Federer would only have the tournament in Halle (and possibly before in Stuttgart) to get fit for Wimbledon.
At Wimbledon he wanted to be 100 percent, this is where his season begins, Federer had assured in Doha. His big goals in 2021 also: the Olympic Games, the US Open and the Laver Cup.