Federer Armed And Dangerous For 2014

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 5th March 2014

Federer Armed And Dangerous For 2014

epa04105023 Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts after winning a point against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during their final match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis ATP Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 01 March 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

The back injury problems which compromised his 2013 season and were only straightened out by rest and rehab have given Roger Federer a valuable lesson in managing his body. As a result, the 32-year-old Swiss remains one of the few tennis elites not seduced by the new IPTL set to eat up a month of the short tennis off-season in November and December.

With rivals including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych signing on for some easy paydays. the big bucks can hardly tempt Federer, who earned around $70 million on and off court in the latest accounting lists.

The player knows that keeping his fitness is worth well over a few spare millions. The Swiss who won his sixth Dubai title and is now set to challenge in Indian Wells for a fifth trophy in the Californian desert as the Masters 1000 campaign opens, says he will never again take to the court carrying a substantial injury.

“(Curing) the injury took me three weeks probably,” Federer said of a nearly two-month break he took last spring which actually did him little good. “Out of those seven weeks I was looking forward to taking two weeks off and then training for five weeks basically. But I could only train for like two weeks. Instead of coming out of the training block strong and fit like a fiddle, I came out like halfway.”

Federer was unable to get any traction during the clay season and exited Wimbledon early. A run in August of trying out a new racquet was also halted by his back pain. “That’s why my results were mediocre. I think they were okay. I did play the finals in Rome and quarters in Paris, won Halle. It was okay, but I realized I’m missing training, I’m missing things, my confidence is not there.

“I believe my results would have been different could I have trained 100 percent. I just had to take a clear decision that I will just not play when I feel this way anymore in the future. That’s the promise I made to myself.”

Federer is already seeing the results in 2014: “I’m just happy that I’m healthy again and that I can focus on tactics and not focus on am I feeling all right when I wake up tomorrow or am I going to feel better tomorrow, that kind of stuff.”

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Dubai, Indian Wells, IPTL, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tomas Berdych, Wimbledon

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10sBalls_com says:

March 5, 2014 at 8:25 am

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