An emotional Roger Federer made an impressive comeback to tennis yesterday with an easy win over Great Britain’s Dan Evans at the Hopman Cup in Perth.
The Swiss champion, who has been out of action for six months due to injury, helped his country make a clean sweep of the tie against the Brits when he cruised to victory in 61 minutes 6-3, 6-4.
Teammate Belinda Bencic also beat Heather Watson before the Swiss pair triumphed in the dead mixed doubles rubber.
The men’s singles was Federer’s first match after a half-year break due to knee and back injuries, which saw him slide out of the top 10 for the first time since late 2002. The 35-year-old, who entered 2017 ranked 16th—his lowest placing since 2001—admitted he felt emotional on his return to the court but said the knee didn’t trouble him at all.
“For a first match it was great, because obviously expectations were quite low,” he said. “For three and four weeks now I have stopped thinking of it (the knee). I don’t have any pain. But I am in a way sad it (the comeback) is over, because I enjoyed it so much, I feel a bit relieved but sad.”
Despite plenty of practice in Dubai in recent weeks, Federer said it was important to test himself in an actual match.
He first hurt his knee after a semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January while filling a bath for his children. He required minor surgery on a torn meniscus and was then hampered by a back injury which forced him out of the French Open.
The 17-time Grand Slam singles champion then suffered another knee complaint at Wimbledon in his semi-final loss to Milos Raonic, before electing to rest for the remainder of the year.
But there were immediate signs of the Federer class against the 66th-ranked Evans, as he opened the match with an ace and then reeled off a couple of superb passing shots in the fourth game.
Playing in front of a crowd of 13,684, a record for a tennis match in Perth, Federer delighted the fans when he broke Evans in the sixth game to take control of the first set. He will face emerging German teenager Alexander Zverev tomorrow in a much-anticipated match-up.
“The standing ovation coming in, it was very special. I’m here now enjoying and looking forward to the week of course,” the 35-year-old said. “The welcome was extra special, it felt nice getting the recognition. I felt it was much better than i thought it would be. I was quite emotional.
“It felt good putting the match shirt on again and going back out there. These are moments that I’ve missed the most, that’s what you play tennis for. This first match was great, but expectations were quite low.”
Asked what keeps him going, Federer said: “I guess it depends also on how you get hurt. I got hurt filling up a bath for my children. It’s not really the way I wanted to leave this game.”
Federer is playing the eight-nation mixed team event in Perth for the first time since 2002, after winning it a year earlier with Martins Hingis.
He added that his knee has given him absolutely no worries for at least a month.
“It’s nice that way that I’ve ben able to get rid of it entirely. Probably there will be some minor maintaining to be done, but nothing serious.”
Federer also admitted that he was quite happy in the run-up to his comeback, when praise rained down on likely the best ever to play the sport.
“I would like to relive it again,” he joked. “I’m a little sad it (the excitement) is over. I’ve enjoyed it so much.”
Federer has not won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012. “It would be nice to win another one, of course I’d even take two-three-four,” he laughed.
“It’s tough at the top. A lot of good guys are there right now, a lot of young guys are coming up too. The gap’s definitely not very big but I gave it chance. Let’s see what happens.”
After Federer gave Switzerland the lead, Bencic secured the tie with a three-set win over Watson, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
In the Fast Four mixed doubles, Federer and Bencic made quick work of the match, winning, 4-0, 4-1.
Gasquet stars in French victory
Earlier, cagey veteran Richard Gasquet led France to a 2-1 win over Germany. Gasquet beat rising star Alexander Zverev 7-5, 6-3 in their men’s singles match and then teamed with Kristina Mladenovic to win the deciding mixed doubles rubber.
Germany had earlier taken the lead when Andrea Petkovic benefited from an early arrival in Australia and an unorthodox preparation to put in a quality performance against Mladenovic, winning 6-2, 6-1.
“I normally spend Christmas with the family but I decided it was time to make a sacrifice,” said Petkovic. “I spent Christmas in Melbourne watching Seinfeld and eating burgers, but it has paid off.”
Radwanska edges past Duan
In Beijing, top seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland scraped a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5 victory against lower-ranked Ying-Ying Duan at the WTA Shenzhen Open to advance to the second round yesterday.
Radwanska, ranked third in the world, took nearly two-and-a-half hours to overcome a stiff challenge from her 103rd-ranked Chinese opponent, winning fewer of her first service points but slamming down seven aces to Duan’s four.
The Pole saved three match points in the third set on her way to claiming victory.
Second seed Simona Halep of Romania triumphed in a three-set thriller 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, formerly the world’s top-ranked female player.
Halep bounced back after a second-set loss to win a place in the second round against Katerina Siniakova, who defeated hometown favourite Shuai Peng 6-3, 7-5.
Third seed Johanna Konta of Britain made a strong start to the tournament with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 performance over Caga Buyukakcay, taking less than an hour to defeat her Turkish opponent.
Konta enters 2017 as a top 10 player for the first time in her career. She will face 27-year-old American veteran Vania King.
Earlier yesterday, fourth seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland pulled out of the tournament due to an abdominal injury.
Rain disrupts Auckland Classic
Rain disrupted the first day of the WTA Auckland Classic yesterday with only two matches completed, delaying the start of top-seed Serena Williams’s campaign.
Williams was forced to wait until 9:20pm, nearly three hours past her scheduled start time, before her first-round match against Pauline Parmentier of France and other night matches were postponed because of persistent rain.
Former world top-10 Lucie Safarova cruised through her first match against fellow Czech Denisa Allertova 6-1, 6-2, thanks to her markedly superior serve.
Safarova fired down seven aces while Allertova served up nine double faults.
In the second completed match, Japan’s Kurumi Nara comfortably beat Antonia Lottner of Germany 6-2, 6-2.
Fifth seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands was 5-3 up on American Lauren Davis in the first set when rain halted play.
Roger Federer
