Roger Federer criticizes Rome's markup: "Disappointing for fans"
Roger Federer (37) has criticized the short-term markup for the tickets for his opening match at the ATP Masters in Rome.
by SID
last edit: May 14, 2019, 08:13 pm
The tournament at Foro Italico is "totally business-oriented," said Swiss tennis star Roger Federer at Sky: "This is disappointing for the fans." As a player, however, he was powerless, he could only say: "Please don't do that!"
The organizers of the clay court tournament had almost doubled the prices for the match against Frances Tiafoe (USA) or Joao Sousa (Portugal) after Federer's promise on Saturday - supposedly to reward early bookers. Federer is playing in Rome for the first time since 2016 to get match practice for the French Open in Paris (from May 26th).
Roger Federer is looking forward to Rome
"No matter what happens here, it's good for me to play matches on such a stage," said Federer before his match on Wednesday. Last week he had made his clay court comeback in Madrid after almost three years of abstinence - and convinced with his move into the quarter-finals, in which he only just failed due to the Austrian Dominic Thiem .