Federer set for Davis Cup return

Looking to swiftly put behind him his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a match in which he had led by two sets, Roger Federer will this weekend lead Switzerland in its Davis Cup clash against Portugal.

The Basel native posted a photo of himself on his official Facebook page, which has 8.2 million followers, saying, “In Bern having a nice time with the Swiss Davis Cup team, walked through the city earlier today.”

The 29-year-old Federer has a 37-11 record in the ITF men’s team competition, and is representing Switzerland for the first time since September 2009, when he helped his nation to a 3-2 victory over Italy.

Switzerland was relegated from the World Group in 2010 and Federer declared on his official web site earlier in the year that he is committed to helping his team return to the elite eight-team group. “I've decided I'm going to play the Davis Cup tie in July at home against Portugal,” wrote the Swiss No. 1. “I'm really looking forward to helping Switzerland begin the process of getting back into the World Group.”

Federer is joined in the Swiss team by World No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka and will face a Portugal side spearheaded by the No. 90-ranked Frederico Gil and No. 93 Rui Machado. The tie will be played on indoor hard-court in Bern from  8-10 July, with the winning nation progressing to the World Group play-offs in September.

Date: 05.07.2011, Source: ATP