Federer Expected to Lose against Zverev

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Federer Expected to Lose against Zverev

Roger Federer opened up to the media about his current mindset after his straight-sets win over Alexander Zverev on Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

More: Federer Carves up Zverev in Winning Rome Return

“I was expecting to lose in straight sets, that was the mindset going in,” Federer admitted. “To win in straights is actually a very big surprise to me.”

There have been surprises aplenty for Federer in 2016, and many have been unpleasant developments.

Playing just his 14th match of the season on Wednesday, the 34-year-old Swiss legend has been beset by injuries since late February, managing to squeeze in just four matches since the Australian Open. First he had knee surgery after a freak accident at home led to a torn meniscus. Then, when he was just about to make his return to competitive tennis in Miami, he took ill and withdrew from the event at the last minute. Finally Federer was forced out of last week’s Mutua Madrid Open with a nagging back injury.

Here at Rome the 17-time major champion comes in with low expectations but a positive outlook.

“[The win over Zverev] was something I feel like I needed to do in order to get a sense of where I’m at,” Federer said. “It would have been easy not to play and then just be unsure how I was going to feel in Paris. At some point you have to go out there and see how it feels, and I’m happy I was able to play a full match without any setbacks.”

Federer told reporters that he is not completely sure if he’ll be able to compete on Thursday. He is slated to face rising Austrian Dominic Thiem, but he’s not sure if he’ll be ready to go.

“I don’t know how I’m going to feel tomorrow,” he said. “It’s baby steps right now, so to even think of tomorrow is a big ask.”

Federer, making his 16th career appearance at Rome, maintained that he’d like to win the title in Rome someday. But not this time, he says.

“It would be wonderful to win, but not this year,” he said. “I’m too far off. I’m so far off that it won’t happen.”

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