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Federer wins 10th Basel title

Roger Federer won his 10th Swiss Indoors Basel title, defeating Alex De Minaur 6-2, 6-2 to secure what the Swiss legend described as "an unbelievable" success at the home-town tournament.

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Federer to play 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Roger Federer will go for gold in 2020. The Swiss star confirmed that he will compete for Switzerland at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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Federer wins 10th Halle title

Roger Federer made history in Halle, defeating David Goffin 7-6 (2), 6-1 to win a record 10th Noventi Open title. It is the first time that Federer has earned 10 crowns at one tournament.

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Federer wins fourth Miami Open title

Roger Federer produced a championship masterclass under the Florida sun, dominating reigning champ John Isner 6-1, 6-4 to win his fourth Miami title.

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Federer makes history in Dubai, wins 100th title

Roger Federer made history at the Dubai Duty Free Championships, defeating reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 to win his 100th tour-level title.

Federer considered playing Olympics while skipping US Open, and vice versa

Maybe Roger Federer could play the Olympics and skip the U.S. Open. Or sit out the Rio Games and make it to New York.

The 17-time major champion contemplated both scenarios, holding out hope as long as he could that he'd find a way to enter at least one of the big events in August.

In the end, his balky left knee wouldn't allow him to do either.

At a meeting with doctors and trainers, Federer recalled, ''Everybody said, `You need a break - right now.'''

So the Swiss great announced in late July that he'd miss the rest of the season, by far the longest layoff of a remarkably healthy career.

Federer, who turned 35 this month, was in Manhattan on Wednesday to talk about playing tennis next year at the new Laver Cup team event. But for the first time since 1999, he's not preparing for the U.S. Open.

He underwent an arthroscopic procedure in February to repair torn cartilage - the first surgery of his career. Federer hasn't played since his Wimbledon loss to Milos Raonic, in which he fell awkwardly and called the trainer to check on what had become a nagging knee problem.

''I never really had pain, funny enough,'' Federer said Wednesday. ''It just felt unstable.''

Then there was the swelling.

''When it's swollen, you can't compete at the best level,'' he added.

An MRI didn't show anything distinctly different from before. For all his upbeat talk Wednesday about his future, Federer let some doubts seep in when he discussed the mystery of what's going on in the knee.

''That's why, I think, it's been to some extent frustrating,'' he said. ''At least if I had a lot of pain, or if the scan shows you thoroughly what exactly the problem is, then I think it's easier to take a decision.

''I really hope I'm not being misled by the knee that it doesn't feel painful. But it's just not 100 percent. That's why I just think the beating that I got in Wimbledon and the clay court season was just so complicated.''

Federer, who also skipped the French Open because of a bad back, didn't play tennis for five or six weeks and just now is starting to do a few things on the court. He's focused on exercises to strengthen his left quadriceps, such as squats, so he'll be physically ready once he ramps back up to his full workouts to prepare for January's Australian Open.

It might have been possible to return for a couple of tournaments late in 2016, Federer said, but there was no point once he knew he would miss the bulk of the fall schedule.

He reflected back to this past January, when the Laver Cup concept was unveiled at the Australian Open, and marveled: ''My God, I never thought I was going to have a year the way I had it.''

He hurt his knee while preparing a bath for his twin daughters, then later saw his record 65-appearance streak at major tournaments end. Federer won't win a title in a season for the first time since 2000.

He insisted he hasn't missed competition yet, though maybe that will change when the U.S. Open starts next week. The quiet away from the spotlight has been nice, he said - even if he quickly amended that to: ''I've got four kids - it's a different quiet.''

Back in New York, site of five of his titles, Federer said he watched a lot of volleyball during the Olympics and spoke to Andy Murray after the Brit won gold.

Date: 30 August 2016, Source: AP

Federer and Nadal to team up in Laver Cup

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have faced each other in eight major finals, plan to team up as doubles partners next year during the inaugural Laver Cup.

With a combined 31 Grand Slam titles, Federer and Nadal have committed to the team event, which attempts to create a tennis version of golf's Ryder Cup.

Named for Australian great Rod Laver, the competition pitting a squad of European men's players against a group from the rest of the world was first announced in January. On Wednesday, organizers said the first edition would be held in Prague on September 22-24, 2017, indoors at the O2 Arena.

For his part, Federer is excited to finally be on the same side as his rival's impressive talents.

“It’s going to be absolutely unbelievable to be on the same side of the net with Rafa, finally. Rather than always facing that big forehand, now I can actually support it and say ‘hit one more’ and take a lot of joy out of it,” Federer said.

As for Nadal: “It’s going to be a very special feeling to be on the same team as Roger. We have been rivals for all our careers, so to be on the same team and even play doubles together will be very, very special.”

Former rivals Bjorn Borg of Sweden (Europe) and John McEnroe of the U.S. (World team) will serve as captains for the first three years.

Laver, Borg, McEnroe, Federer and Nadal - accounting for 60 major singles titles - gathered at a Manhattan hotel Wednesday for the announcements.

The plan is for the Laver Cup to be held annually, except during Olympic years, two weeks after the U.S. Open, with the location rotating. There will be six men on each team: four based on the rankings after Wimbledon, and two captain's picks announced after the U.S. Open.

There will be 12 matches played over three days (nine singles and three doubles), with the number of points awarded for victories increasing each day. Each player will take the court once or twice for singles, with at least four of the six taking part in doubles.

All the matches will be best-of-three, but if the first two sets are split, they will go to a 10-point tiebreaker.

Borg hopes that the other half of the ''Big Four'' - the current top two men in the rankings, Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Britain's Andy Murray - will join Switzerland's Federer and Spain's Nadal on the Europe team. McEnroe acknowledged that for now at least, his World squad would be the heavy underdog, though a lot can happen in just over a year.

Beyond the Big Four, Europe boasts 13 of the current top 15 players in the men's rankings. And active European players have combined for 49 Grand Slam titles; for the rest of the world, it's just one, by Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro.

Federer's management company, TEAM8; Brazilian businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann, a former Davis Cup player; and Tennis Australia partnered to create the Laver Cup.

Date: 24 August 2016, Source: AP