By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, March 10, 2021
" I must say it's been a huge challenge of mine to come back at my age is not simple," Roger Federer said after his comeback win in Doha.
Photo credit: Mohamed Farag/Getty
Clad in emerald and sporting new kicks, Roger Federer celebrated his comeback with evergreen moments and late-match elevation.
Playing his first match in 13 months, Federer flashed a backhand bolt down the line scoring his lone break of the match to seal a 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-5 Doha victory over Daniel Evans in stirring style.
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"Overall I was really excited and happy the way I played," Federer told the media in Doha. "I mean, Dan was a tough first round, I thought, but the good thing was I probably practiced with him the last couple of weeks so I really knew what to expect. It's just that when we were practicing, the court was faster in the past so this was slower.
"I knew it could be a little bit tricky how to construct the point against him on a slow court, but look, it felt great to be out there again regardless of the outcome. Losing in straight, winning in straight, winning in three, it's going to give me a lot of answers. Interesting to see how I'm going to feel tomorrow, but right now I feel actually pretty good so I'm really pleased."
The two hour, 24-minute triumph—Federer's first match since bowing to Novak Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open semifinals and undergoing two arthroscopic surgeries to his right knee—left Doha fans elated and Federer feeling both buzzed and pleased.
"I was tired. So I was more focused on being tired than trying to win the point," Federer said of match point. "I just said if I'm going out I'm gonna go out swinging. And Dan had more energy left at the end. But I was serving well.
"I thought I played a really really good match. So I'm incredibly happy about my performance. Of course at the end was nice he helped me maybe out a little bit. It was a pleasure to share the court with Dan and nice to finish off with a backhand down the line always on a match point."
The pair play similar styles and spent the past two weeks playing daily practice sets against each other, which created an interesting subtext to this match as each man sometimes surprise the other changing up predicted patterns.
Sporting "The Roger Pro" namesake shoe he created with Swiss brand On rather than the Nikes he'd worn throughout his career, Federer's movement and skill cutting off the net was on display.
To be sure, there were signs of inactivity-induced rust—a few framed mis-hits, struggles to impact Evans' first serve, a shanked forehand drive volley on his second set point and over-playing the drop volley early—but Federer moved fluidly on his surgically-repaired right knee, unleashed customary all-court aggression and served with the buzz-kill efficiency of a man who had never really left.
Federer served 68 percent, pumped 13 aces against no double faults and saved two of three break points in a pleasing performance that had pressure and all-court shot-making from both men.
Still, the 39-year-old Swiss said a key to his immediate future will be how his knee responds tomorrow and after subsequent practices and matches.
"I don't know about still pain free I don't know if it ever was pain free," Federer said of the knee. "But if you get to feel tired you're not sure if it's the muscle or whatever is going on. Actually I don't really mind because this is how I felt throughout.
"Important is how I feel tomorrow and the next day and so forth for the next six months. It's been a long, tough road for me. I enjoyed it though. I must say it's been a huge challenge of mine to come back at my age is not simple. But I've had a wonderful team around me that always supports me throughout. That made it much easier. It was worth it because I played a great match today."
At the outset, Federer wasn't trying to turn back time in his comeback match—he was just trying to track its passing.
During the pre-match coin toss chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani pointed out serve clocks located in the corners of the court prompting Federer to ask "is it 25 seconds [between points?]."
Four hundred five days after his last match, Federer brought back a favored play in the opening game of his comeback. Branding the slider serve-forehand combination on his first point back, the Swiss sliced an ace out wide to cap his opening service game. Evans answered with an ace down the T to close his first service game.
Playing his first Doha match since 2012, Federer looked fit and played fast landing 11 of his first 13 first serves and zapping aces to open and close his second straight love hold for 3-2.
Empowered by surging to his first ATP title without surrendering a set in the Melbourne tune-up tournament to the Australian Open, Evans has extensive experience facing Federer. In addition to losing all nine of the prior sets the pair played in three Grand Slam matches, Evans engaged Federer for a couple of weeks in recent training blocks, including practicing in Doha in recent days.
The 30-year-old Briton said Federer was more interested in playing sets than extensive drilling.
"Some days we practiced for three hours. Other days we practiced for an hour and a half," Evans said. "We obviously practiced fortwo weeks, last two weeks, and, you know, I thought hewas playing pretty well. We played plenty of sets. It wascompetitive."
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On a breezy evening, the pair showed their all-court skills with Federer's finesse coming to the front court shoveling a half-volley to set up a smash and the 5'9" Evans soaring for a smash that helped him even after eight games.
Serving at 4-all, 30-all, Federer missed a first serve and paid the price as Evans lashed a one-handed winner down the line for the first break point. Hitting an aggressive second serve, Federer whipped inside-in and inside-out forehands to erase break point, eventually holding in the ninth game.
Slashing his fifth and six aces in succession, Federer threw down his third love hold for 6-5 putting the pressure right back on his practice partner's shoulders after 34 minutes.
Showing his serving variety, Evans breezed through his first love hold forcing the tie breaker.
A brilliant running forehand pass from the Briton gave him a mini break at 3-2. Swooping forward on a serve-and-volley, Evans knocked off a high forehand volley for set point at 6-5. Federer fired the T serve and diagonal forehand combination to save set point.
Weeks of practice prompted prescience in Evans who caught Federer cheating to his backhand side and slipped a second serve ace to save a set point to level at seven-all.
Thirteen months of rust reared its head when Federer shanked a swing volley into net, squandering a second set point. The Swiss came right back hitting nearly the identical shot from almost the same spot setting up a smash for a third set point.
This time, Federer left no doubt, lasering a crosscourt backhand pass punctuated with a fist pump to end a 48-minute opener that saw Federer serve 83 percent and win 29 of 34 first-serve points.
Hanging tough in the early stages of the second set, Evans drew a forehand error for break point in the fourth game. Mixing a series of slice backhands with a faster forehand, Evans drew a shanked error earning the first break for 3-1.
A standout squash player, Evans showed his racquet skills repelling a break point with some varied strikes stretching his lead to 4-1. Navigating a tricky deuce game, Evans handcuffed the Swiss with a stinging body serve and drew another error to hold in the seventh game.
The British No. 1 served out the second set at love to force a final set after ninety minutes of play.
Gliding forward on a serve-and-volley, the Swiss showed creative mischief-making skills deadening a drop volley, anticipating Evans' reply and snaking a slinky slice pass crosscourt holding for 3-2 in the final set.
Down love 30 in the seventh game, Federer dug out a drop volley, guessed right on a pass and blocked a volley. The 39-year-old Swiss sailed a backhand to face break point. Federer stung his 12th ace to erase it only to muff another backhand into net. An audacious forehand dropper denied the second break point. Federer smiled off an error dodging two break points to defuse a volatile test and hold for 4-3.
The all-court quality created entertaining exchanges. Deploying the chip-and-charge, Federer carved out a sweet backhand drop volley for 15-30. Evans leaned low to lash a backhand pass down the line that helped him hold and even it after eight games.
Serving at 4-5, Evans' timing was thrown askew by a net-cord and he jerked a forehand sitter wide to fall into a love-30 hole. At deuce, Evans gagged on a point-blank drop volley nudging his forehand into net to face match point.
Showing guts, Evans serve-and-volleyed blocking a precise forehand volley right into the corner erasing match point. An ace gave the Briton game point, but Federer soared to snap off a smash and get back to deuce.
In a rapid-fire net exchange, Evans made a tremendous forehand reaction volley then stood his ground blocking a backhand to steal a game point that would have been another match point had Federer played into the open court. Instead, Evans' escape act forged a five-all tie ratcheting up tension.
The Briton's backhand found the top of the tape giving Federer two more match points.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion needed only one flashing a one-handed bolt down the line closing his comeback in two hours, 24 minutes.
Weary, but resilient and triumphant, Federer was satisfied passing this first physical test and knows there are more questions to come as he hopes to keep moving in the right direction.
"If you cannot play for two-and-a-half hours, you cannot come back. So it's that simple," Federer said. "I think a lot of questions are being asked and you have to test yourself in practice. The other thing obviously is that nobody is going to do the running for you.
"So you have to do it yourself, and I think that in tennis gets underestimated a little bit. That cannot be substituted. Only me, I can jump and run. If I don't run, I'm not going to win any more points. It's in a simple. You can't just start slapping winners left and right especially as long as I haven't played.
"Overall I'm really happy, very pleased. There are a lot of things I can still improve on, but overall I'm incredibly happy how I played. I said it before the tournament, you know, regardless of the outcome, if I lose 6-2, 6-2, I'm equally happy than sitting here 7-5 in the third, really it is, because it's been over 400 days I haven't been on a tennis court, so it's been a long time."
Now, comes the core question: How will the 39-year-old Swiss' surgically-repaired creaky knee hold up after a two-and-a-half hour battle? Pierre Paganini, Federer's long-time trainer, said this comeback is more complex than his 2016 return because the supporting muscles surrounding the right knee had atrophied severely from a year off the pro circuit.
Federer is intrigued to find out his knee will respond and made it clear there's no ice bath in his future.
How will Roger recover and reload?
"You're talking to an old-school guy. So I have done one ice bath and I didn't like it. So I'm not going to do that again," Federer said. "I don't just take painkillers for fun. I only take them when I really have to. Don't feel like that's the case tonight. I haven't taken painkillers probably in, whatever, nine months, I guess, ever since the surgery was over. So from that standpoint, I'm really healthy.
"So just have to grab some food. I'm going to stretch or take a shower first because we're not allowed to shower on-site, and then I'm going to stretch and take a massage and sleep in and then warm up properly tomorrow. Very simple."
Hunting for his 104th career title, Federer improved to 27-3 in Doha. The three-time Doha champion will play Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarterfinals with either fourth-seeded Denis Shapovalov or Taylor Fritz looming in the semifinals.
"I hope tonight was a bit of an uplift to everything else going on in the world," Federer told appreciative fans afterward. "I appreciated it anyway."
We concur.