By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday May 18, 2021
Roger Federer was extremely disappointed after his three-set loss to Pablo Andujar on Tuesday in Geneva, but the Swiss admitted that the painful experience is part of the process of getting back into the swing of things on the tour.
“You need to sometimes to just put yourself out there,” Federer told reporters. “Sometimes it's not fun when you know what your limitations are, and obviously for me it's always difficult because people expect a lot for me and I have high expectations for myself."
Federer admitted that it felt strange to play so far below his own gold standard, and he told reporters that he felt very limited, like he had very few options to use against the Spaniard.
“When I walk out of a match like today and I feel like 'My god I could play so much better' It feels strange and it's disappointing but at the same time this is the process I need to go through and that's why I can't get too down on myself and I need to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “Especially now talk to the team again like we did after Doha, and say 'Ok, what's the plan here now, in the next ten days and so forth?' Did we learn something new? How did I feel on court? How will I feel in the next couple of days? And what did they see from the outside that maybe I didn't see and feel, so there's going to be a lot of conversations which there was always going to be."
Federer: I’m not going to win the French
Federer stressed once again that his return to the clay is not so much about making big results, it is more about getting in some match play, some much needed reps, and building the form he wants to take to Wimbledon.
"I think when you've played so little and you know where your level is at—I think you saw that today—how can I think of winning the French Open?” he said. “So the moment you know you are not going to win the French Open it can't be your goal, at least at my level. I'm just realistic that I know I will not win the French and whoever thought I could or would win it is wrong.
“Of course crazier things might have happened, but I'm not so sure that in the last 50 years at the French Open somebody just rocked up at 40 years old, being out for a year and a half and just goes on and just wins everything straight. So that's why I know my limitations at the moment, but that doesn't mean I'm maybe going to be hard to beat or whatever. So from that standpoint I know that it's all based and used for the grass court season, or for the rest of the season."
Federer will play Roland-Garros, but he stressed: it’s not the goal.
"Roland-Garros is not the goal,” he said. “The goal is the grass, so I still have time. I mean I'm disappointed for the tournament more than anything. I wish I could have stayed around and played some more matches for the people here."