Federer to play on clay only at French Open this year

Mumbai, February 14

Roger Federer will make his only appearance on clay this season at Roland Garros, his agent said.

The Swiss skipped the entire claycourt season in 2017 and 2018 and last year played only two tournaments on the surface before arriving in Paris for the French Open. There was speculation that Federer would include the Madrid and Rome Masters in his truncated schedule for 2020 but his agent, Tony Godsick, said that would not happen. “As his schedule states, he plans on playing just Roland Garros,” Godsick said. The 38-year-old has been cutting down on the number of tournaments he plays over the last few years in a bid to prolong his career.

Unlike his main rivals, Federer, who won the last of his 20 Grand Slam titles in 2018 at the Australian Open, opted out of the inaugural ATP Cup in Australia to spend time with his family before launching his 22nd season on Tour.

He arrived at the Australian Open having not played a competitive match since the ATP Finals in November but still made it to the semifinals, where he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

Federer, who has won the French Open only once, in 2009, will arrive well-rested for this year’s campaign at the French Open, which begins on May 24. The March 25-April 5 Miami Masters hardcourt tournament is the last on his schedule before that. The Swiss will defend his title at the Dubai Duty Free tennis championships next week before playing at next month’s BNP Paribas Open in California.

While Federer has gone seven straight Grand Slams without adding to his collection, he said in Melbourne he still thinks he can win more. “Yes, I do believe that,” said Federer. — Reuters

Bopanna-Shapovalov in semifinals

Rotterdam: Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov advanced to the men’s doubles semifinals of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament with an impressive win over fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. The unseeded Indo-Canadian combine beat the Romanian-Dutch pairing of Tecau and Rojer 6-2 3-6 10-7 in the quarterfinals. They next meet the winners of the quarterfinal between Jan-Lennard Struff-Henri Kontinen and Jamie Murray-Neal Skupski.