Melbourne: Australian Open champion Roger Federer is set to continue defying Father Time as he has announced Monday that he will return to defend his title next year.
The 36-year-old Swiss notched up his 20th Grand Slam title and sixth at the Melbourne Park Sunday with a 6-2, 6-7(5-7), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic, but initially he didn’t say anything about his plan whether or not he will defend the title.
“Yeah, I’d love to come back. I know I forgot to say that after the match,” a bleary-eyed Federer told reporters here. “But I hope I come back again next year.”
His longevity has in part been put down to the careful management of his playing schedule. Despite being fully fit, he skipped the entire claycourt season last year to concentrate on Wimbledon, a decision that paid off with his eighth title on the southwest London grass courts.
He reiterated that he would continue to manage his schedule tightly and despite being within sight of the world’s top ranking, a decision on whether or not his next tournament would be in Dubai in late February had yet to be made.
“We were in talks with them (Dubai organisers) but when the (Australian Open) tournament started, I just said ‘look, if it’s okay, I’d like to decide after the tournament’,” he said.
“That’s an ideal scenario for me. I also have to decide on the claycourt season so all these things are kind of interlinked. But it’s possible I’ll play something, but it’s also possible that maybe I just don’t play anything (for a while),” he pointed out.
Federer said he would make the decision about his schedule after spending some time with family at home in Switzerland.
“This year seems more surreal, I can’t believe I was able to defend my title after all these years, that I could do it again, it’s just a lot trying to take it in,” he signed off.
Federer credits wife for long run
Melbourne: Roger Federer has credited his wife Mirka for keeping him motivated and still going strong at 36, although his longevity has many pieces to the puzzle. Mirka mostly presents courtside for most of his big games, despite having four children to look after. “Without her support, I wouldn’t be playing tennis no more since many years. But we had a very open conversation years ago, if she was happy to do this or not. I’m happy that she’s willing to take on a massive workload with the kiddies,” he stated. “Same for me, because I wouldn’t want to be away from my kids for more than two weeks. This life wouldn’t work if she said no.”
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