Los Angeles: Roger Federer, coming off victories at the Australian Open and ATP events in Miami and Indian Wells, said on Saturday he plans to play in next month’s French Open.
After defeating John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) in an exhibition at Seattle, Washington, to benefit his charity foundation, Federer told the Tennis Channel he plans to play at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015.
“I am registered and my intention is to play Roland Garros,” the 18-time Grand Slam champion said in a post-match interview.
The 35-year-old Swiss star, ranked fourth in the world, made a quarter-final exit in the 2015 French Open and missed last year’s event while dealing with knee and back injuries.
His lone title on the red clay in Paris came in 2009 and completed a career Grand Slam. He owns five US and Australian Open crowns and seven Wimbledon titles.
“I feel very privileged to be back on a tennis court,” Federer told the network.
“Last year was extremely difficult, having had surgery and the knee never healing. Then I had back pain too, and it all got too much at Wimbledon and I was out for six months.
“But I was able to spend some incredible time with the family and start preparing for this season and hoping that the work that I put in the off season was going to really pay off.
“I was going to get a second chance to really play tennis again on the professional tour and so when I did come back in Australia was really exciting.”
Federer, whose first three exhibitions for African children’s charities were played in Switzerland, raised almost $2 million and also played a doubles exhibition alongside Microsoft founder Bill Gates, beating Isner and Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready.
In Stuttgart, Germany’s Laura Siegemund was the shock winner of Stuttgart’s WTA tournament on Sunday after her three-set win over France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the final.
Siegemund, ranked 49th in the world and a wild-card entry for the main draw, sealed a 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5) win over Mladenovic, who had beaten Maria Sharapova in the semi-final, ending the Russian’s comeback from a 15-month doping ban.
The 29-year-old converted her first match point after nearly two and a half hours to claim only her second WTA win after victory at Bastad, Sweden, last July.
“It was an incredible match, I don’t know how I managed to win here,” said the new champion.
Mladenovic praised her rival. “Laura played some really entertaining tennis,” said the 23-year-old.
Siegemund made a strong start, charging into a 4-0 lead after twice breaking Mladenovic’s serve in what proved to be a topsy-turvy first set.
The Frenchwoman, 19th in the world, broke Siegemund in the fifth game, but the German returned the compliment breaking Mladenovic straight away, then serving out to take the first set in 29 minutes.
