Federer Admits His Ranking Is Important To Him

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 13th August 2013

Federer Admits His Ranking Is Important To Him

epa03797574 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer speaks during a press conference at the Suisse Open tennis tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland, Monday, July 22, 2013. EPA/PETER SCHNEIDER |

Unlike most players, 17 time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer admits the ranking is important to him. The longtime former No. 1 has been in a bit of slump, winning only one title over the past year (Halle). He has suffered early round losses in his last three tournaments, including a defeat to No. 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon. He is currently ranked No. 5, and could fall as far as No. 7 if he does not defend his title at Cincinnati this week.

“I still feel the rankings are important to me,” he said. “Maybe not as much as when I was coming up or when I was world No. 1, but nevertheless rankings are always going to be part of you as a person.”

Federer did acknowledge though, that re-taking No. 1 isn’t on the forefront of his mind. Playing better and getting some desired results is more relevant.

“I’m coming from a different situation now,” he said. “You always have to see also that the rankings are not always as important for each and every player, depending if you’re coming back from injury, or where have you been the last couple weeks, months, and so forth. So maybe you have a different goal. Maybe you say the rankings right now, it is what it is, but you focus on maybe achieving something at a particular tournament, let’s just say. That’s always very personal. Sometimes the media then use what they have to make a good article for them, which makes sense, but right now for me it is getting back playing well, going deep into tournaments, and then the ranking will follow automatically, up or down. Clearly I hope to rather move up than down.”

Federer also admitted that his sore back made life difficult when he returned after Wimbledon to play clay court tournaments at Hamburg and Gstaad. He couldn’t play at the level that he wanted to and also couldn’t tell whether or not the Wilson prototype racquet he is now playing with made a difference. He also pulled out of Montreal last week which he said was “not something I really wanted to do, but it gave me more time to then really work hard, and then come (to Cincinnati) really well prepared. I had two tougher moments I had to get over, the Wimbledon loss and the Hamburg and Gstaad, just-not-feeling-well moment. But now I’m fit again, and I’m mentally motivated, which is very important at this part of the year right now. I’m motivated, I’m feeling better, and I am entering Cincinnati with a good mind-set. That right now is key, and if I can win more matches, that clearly would be very good because I did win the title here, and that makes me believe I can do something great here.”