Roger Federer has returned to his Basel birthplace and is already getting stuck into the hectic round of sponsor activities and appearances which characterize his days before next week’s start of the Swiss Indoors.
The world No. 1 has presumably buried the disappointment of his Shanghai semi-final loss at the weekend to Andy Murray and will be out to chase another title at the tournament he has won on five of the last six occasions.
He is fighting to hold off Novak Djokovic, the Shanghai champion who is less than 200 ranking points from regaining No. 1 status. Federer has champion’s points to defend in Basel .
The event is all but planned about the Swiss hero, with his playing schedule as regular as the clouds which roll over the city during the autumn week. As usual, the top seed will start in the first round on Monday evening at a precise hour – Swiss timing at its finest – immediately following the traditional opening ceremonies at the St Jakobshalle.
This year’s ceremony will honor Swiss Olympic athletes and is marking a century of Swiss games participation. The winner will come as result of a public vote which has been held online via various national media and will determine an all-time list of national sporting greats.
It’s not unthinkable that tennis ace Federer could be dueling in the balloting with a World Cup skier or ice hockey player, not to mention a Moto GP rider.
Topics: Basel Open, Basel tennis news, Roger Federer, Sports, Swiss Open, Tennis News