Federer Claims He Is Not Concerned With His Current Ranking

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 25th July 2013

Federer Claims He Is Not Concerned With His Current Ranking

epa03788704 Tennis player Roger Federer of Switzerland during a press conference during the ATP tournament at the Tennisstadion am Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Germany, 15 July 2013. EPA/AXEL HEIMKEN |

Roger Federer begins his quest at the Swiss Open with the No. 5 expressing no concern over the current state of his ranking. The fifth-ranked Swiss holds the record of 17 grand slam singles titles but has claimed just one trophy of any kind (Halle) in 2013 and won his last major at Wimbledon, 2012.

He will square off in alpine Gstaad in the second round after a bye against German Daniel Brands, who took him to three sets in an opening match in Hamburg last week.

“My motivation is at the top. If I got to the point where I’d had enough of the travel and training then I would ask serious questions. But that’s not the case now,” Federer told Zurich’s NZZ am Sonntag. “There comes a time when the ranking is not so important. Quite honestly, I don’t even know exactly what my current ranking. 4th? 5th? 3rd? It doesn’t matter to me so much.

“After Wimbledon (second-round loss to Sergiy Stakhovsky), I was burning to play.”

The Swiss who always looks at the career big picture, said that he has dealt with doubts and harsh critiques before: “I have no problem with criticism, but I expect us to be honest. This situation is not new for me. In 2009 and 2010 already, people said: ‘He’s won everything, now it’s finished.’ The more people that comment, the more likely that someone will be talking nonsense.”