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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 sets Kyrgios clash at US Open

Second seed Roger Federer defeated a frustrated Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 at the US Open on Thursday to set up a third-round match against Nick Kyrgios as the Swiss continues his quest for a record sixth title at Flushing Meadows.

Despite the straight sets win Federer was far from flawless, especially in the third set when he saw a 4-1 lead evaporate and fell 5-4 behind due to some uncharacteristically poor serving. But he bounced back to see off the bearded Frenchman, who acted erratically throughout - screaming wildly, tossing his racket and kicking the ball after sending it into the net.

"I think it was a bit sort of up and down," said Federer. "I think it's always tricky against Benoit, because there's a lot of tactics going on. Never quite the same point. Sometimes he plays very deep in the court, then he plays up in the court. That's maybe why you draw errors out of each other rather than winners at the end. The match maybe doesn't look at good. Plus he covers the court very well. Sometimes you have a tendency to overplay, as well. But overall I'm happy. I think it was not a bad performance by any means by me. I can be pleased, so it's all good."

A decade removed from his last title in New York, the five-time champion (2004 to 08) avoided his earliest exit in 18 visits to Flushing Meadows. He prevailed after one hour and 56 minutes, striking 27 winners and notching his 35th match win of 2018.

Federer and Kyrgios will meet for the fourth time in their budding ATP Head to Head rivalry, with the Swiss claiming the two most recent encounters - on the hard courts of Miami last year and on the grass of Stuttgart this year. All three of their meetings have resulted in third-set tie-breaks. In fact, eight of the nine sets played were decided by tie-breaks.

"We've had some brutal matches over the years. We enjoy playing against each other," said Federer. "He has one of the best serves in the game and he's super talented."

Date: 31 August 2018, Source: ATP and Reuters

Federer flies through first round at US Open

Ten years ago, Roger Federer completed a dominant reign at Flushing Meadows, lifting his fifth consecutive US Open trophy in 2008. And while he hasn’t entered the New York winners’ circle since, the Swiss showed on Tuesday evening that he could have another championship run in him a decade later.

Federer cruised by Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, remaining undefeated in opening-round matches at the year’s final Grand Slam (18-0). If the Swiss claims his sixth victory in New York, he will become the winningest and oldest US Open champion in the Open Era. It would also give him 99-tour-level titles in his career, only trailing Jimmy Connors, who owns 109.

"Thankfully I wasn't too nervous tonight. I felt good. I felt like I had a good preparation week. No hiccups there. I think that settles my nerves there," Federer said. "When you do walk out onto Arthur Ashe Stadium, you feel like people are there to see the show, enjoy themselves. Sure, they come for the tennis, but it's also sort of a bucket list, wanting to be there... it's great to have played also a good first round against an entertaining first-round opponent."

Federer has not lost in the first round of a major since 2003 Roland Garros, a stretch of 58 Slam appearances. Fifty-three of those first-match victories have come in straight sets. He clinched the triumph when Nishioka hit a return long after one hour, 52 minutes.

The 37-year-old is fresh off an appearance in the Western and Southern Open final, where he fell just short of picking up his eighth trophy at the event, losing to Novak Djokovic. Federer has won three titles this year, earning his 20th Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open and prevailing in Rotterdam and Stuttgart.

Federer next faces Benoit Paire, against whom he has won all six of his ATP Head to Head meetings. There will be intrigue, though, as Paire held two match points against Federer in Halle this year. The Frenchman beat Austrian Dennis Novak 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in three hours and five minutes.

Nishioka put up a fight in Arthur Ashe Stadium, unleashing some late forehands down the line to the delight of the crowd, showing how he climbed as high as No. 58 in the ATP Rankings last year by earning his only break of the match as Federer served for the second round at the first time of asking. But Federer’s baseline-hugging play proved too much to handle, as the second seed hit 56 winners to just 32 unforced errors.

"I don't know how nervous he was going in. But I've been in tough matches against left-handed players over the years, like Rafa. I know what left-handed players can do," Federer said. "But at the end of the day the aura, it doesn't win you the match every time. You have to go out there, you have to work hard. I just finally stopped sweating. I also put in a lot of effort. You have to bring it every single time."

Date: 29 August 2018, Source: ATP

Federer: "Winning US Open would mean the world to me"

Roger Federer, a decade removed from the 2008 triumph that marked his fifth straight US Open title, is eager to hoist a trophy at Flushing Meadows again.

“It would mean the world to me,” Federer said. “It's even a bigger priority this year, the US Open, than it has been last year. Not that it wasn't last year, but Wimbledon was key for me last year.”

Federer won at SW19 last season. But even after gaining momentum by reaching the 2017 final in Montreal, Federer fell short in the quarter-finals of the US Open against Juan Martin del Potro. A sixth championship victory in New York was not to be.

“Not feeling 100 per cent last year was hard. I knew from the get-go it was not going to be possible for me to win. Everything would have had to fall into place,” Federer said. “Guys would have had to retire against me or played the worst match of their life against me, and maybe then I would have had a chance. But in the later stages of a tournament, it’s not feasible anymore.”

Federer reached the final at last week's Western and Southern Open, where the seven-time champion competed in his first tournament since Wimbledon. He opted not to play in Toronto, and the Swiss found enough of a rhythm to reach his eighth final in Cincinnati. But he couldn’t get past Novak Djokovic, who completed the Career Golden Masters, in the final.

“I think what I did was the right thing. I truly believe it. I think I was not even close playing my absolute best in Cincinnati and still making a final is still a really good result,” Federer said. “The final was not good. I was not happy with how I played, but I think there was some tiredness that led into that. And Novak was good. So it was just a match, one you want to forget, no problem. But in the big scheme of things it actually was a good tournament for me, get all the matches under the belt, get match tough again so when I do show up here I actually feel I'm ready, and I am ready, and that's what counts for me.”

Federer won 41 consecutive matches at the US Open starting from the launch of his 2004 campaign through the 2009 final, in which he had a two sets to one lead against Del Potro before succumbing.

“I just got on a roll, I guess for a long period I think I was not losing much, and when I came to the Open, I had all the answers for all the guys, all my opponents, all conditions, wind, night, day. I really embraced everything about New York,” Federer said. “I think that's why I rarely had bad tournaments here in New York, because I like playing here. I think the court speed is good for me. I'm happy in this country. I'm happy in New York. My personal experience with the five in a row was an unbelievable one. So I'm very proud of that accomplishment.”

Now, Federer will hope to create new memories. He begins his tournament against Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka.

“So the last two years - especially two years ago when I couldn't play at all - have just been difficult. I'm really excited and happy to be back here healthy again and feeling good,” Federer said.

“I’ll take it one match at a time and see what happens.”

Date: 25 August 2018, Source: ATP

Federer falls short in Cincy, credits Djokovic

Roger Federer fell in a championship match at the Western and Southern Open for the first time on Sunday, losing 4-6, 4-6 to former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. But instead of looking at his own performance after the match, he was full of praise for Djokovic, who completed the Career Golden Masters.

Federer was full of praise for Djokovic after the final: “Congratulations Novak on writing history today. It's an amazing effort not just today but your whole career to get to this point. It's an amazing achievement. You should be very proud. Well done.”

Federer knows just how difficult it is to win at this level, claiming 27 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in his career. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal (33), Djokovic (31) and Federer (27) are the only players to capture more than 20 since the series was created in 1990. Djokovic is the first player to triumph at all nine Masters 1000 events.

“He's a great champion and this is what this should be about, this press conference, not about me missing second-serve returns. It's about him making history,” Federer said. “We can go into whatever points you want, but I think that's what the headline should be about. This is an amazing accomplishment, and I hope he's extremely proud and extremely happy about this moment.”

Every match at this level is tough. Case in point: all six of Djokovic’s opponents this week were inside the Top 33 of the ATP Rankings. Four of the five - Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic and Federer - have cracked the Top 3 in their career.

“I think it's extremely difficult to win a Masters 1000. These tournaments don't come easy. You saw my performance today. It's just a long week. It's tough, grueling. The best players are playing. You play against tough guys early on in the draw, so you don't have much time to find your rhythm and actually almost work on your game throughout the week,” Federer said. “He's done that maybe better than anybody. So it's a great credit to him. I think it's an amazing accomplishment.”

It wasn't a bad week for Federer, either. He fell short on Sunday, but it was the World No. 2’s sixth final from eight tour-level events in 2018. The Swiss is now 33-5 on the season, and will set his sights on the US Open, which he has won five times.

“I’ve just got to come up with a lot of energy, and then hopefully I also have a chance after 10 years to do something special again at the Open,” Federer said. “I still think this US Open draw, as well, is going to be quite entertaining, and I can't wait for the US Open to come around.”

But for now, it’s Djokovic’s moment. Federer could sit and nitpick why he was only able to win 47 per cent of second-serve points, why he was broken three times after putting together a streak of 100 consecutive holds in Cincinnati, or why the Serbian was able to win 78 per cent of second-serve points. But he won’t.

“It was definitely not my best day on the return”, Federer, who won just four of 18 second-serve return points, added. “That's it. It was just awful. But it's okay. He served well. But missing every second serve on the forehand side, I don't know what that was about. I don't even want to look for reasons why it happened. I just think it did. Novak totally deserved to win today. This was not good enough. It's okay. Good week, but I'm happy it's over and I need to rest. So it's all good.”

“Roger wasn't obviously at his best. He missed a lot of returns. He had a difficult time moving. He was not really playing as well as he did in previous matches this week, but at the same time, I thought I was solid. I didn't allow him to come to the net and be aggressive too much and I tried to kind of hold ground and protect the line”, Djokovic said.

“It's much easier said than done when you're playing Roger, especially in these conditions where he loves playing here. Everything happens really, really fast and there is not much time to think or to construct the points, so you really need to be alert all the time, especially against him.”

Federer suffered his first defeat in a Cincinnati final, falling to 7-1. He had defeated Djokovic in three previous championships, in 2009, 2012 and 2015. Moreover, the Swiss was denied his 99th tour-level crown, which he will now look to seize at the US Open.

Date: 20 August 2018, Source: ATP

Sad Federer hopes new Davis Cup lives up to promises

While unsure of the wisdom of this week's sweeping David Cup reform, Roger Federer has called on tennis officials to make good on promises regarding the new-look competition.

"I feel sad about it, you know, not to have the Davis Cup as it used to be. It will never be the same for the next generation," the 20-time Grand Slam winner said on Saturday at the Cincinnati Masters.

"I just hope that every penny of that mass of money will be paid for the next generation," Federer said.

Kosmos, an investment group led by Barcelona football star Gerard Pique with Japanese and Chinese support, will spend $3 billion over 25 years on the new event, which will do away with four rounds at home and away venues around the world throughout the year, culminating with the final between the last two teams standing.

Instead there will be a one-week shoot-out among 18 nations, to be played in November at rotating venues.

With nearly two decades in the game, the 37-year-old Federer has a long memory back to another mega-deal gone wrong which could have seriously damaged the ATP Tour.

"We've seen a similar situation way back when with the ATP Tour and it set us back in a big way," he said. "I don't want that to happen again."

That incident in 2000 stemmed from the bankruptcy of the Swiss ISL promotion firm that had promised to pay the Tour $1.2 billion over a decade for the rights to the elite Masters events.

ISL suddenly went bust and the deal never came to fruition, although the ATP recovered nicely to its current dominating state in the men's game.

Federer won the Davis Cup with Switzerland over France in 2014 and played almost uninterruptedly from his 1999 debut until age 34 in 2015.

"Clearly the ITF has never historically involved the players," he said of the decision. "The solution is definitely flawed in some ways.

"I'm all for innovation, and got to give them a chance to some extent. It will be interesting to see how it's going to work."

Date: 18 August 2018, Source: AFP

Federer holds off Wawrinka's best hard-court effort

Roger Federer advanced to his eighth Western and Southern Open semi-final on Friday, performing double duty and maintaining his dominance against countryman Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-2.

The second seed improved to 21-3, including 16-0 on hard courts, in his ATP Head to Head series against Wawrinka, who continued to show positive steps in his comeback from two knee surgeries one year ago.

I just tried to remember for the core of the match, focus on your serve and try to do what I talked about with the coach beforehand on the return games, but it was just never really connecting at the right times my way,” Federer said.

So I just had to hang tough, not get frustrated, and hope that I was not going to throw in a horrible service game or that he was going to connect perfectly. It was a close match today, so I'm just relieved that I got through it somehow.”

Wawrinka was two points away from the semi-finals in the second set, at 6/6 in the tie-break, as he hadn't conceded anything to Federer, playing steady from the baseline and not overhitting against the second seed. But, in the tie-break, Wawrinka went for broke and came up empty, blasting a backhand wide on Federer's third set point.

Lightning briefly suspended the match after the second set, but when they resumed, it was all Federer. He broke for the first time in the match on his eighth opportunity to lead 4-2, and a break to love sealed the quarter-final just before midnight Eastern Time.

Maybe he came out a bit heavy after the rain delay. I also felt heavy for a second, because it has been a lot of tennis and a lot of focus we had to put into it. Maybe it felt a little bit easier for me and maybe it was a little bit clearer what I wanted to do also from the baseline. And I just didn't want to overhit, to be honest, because I felt like I did that quite a bit the first couple of sets,” Federer said.

But again, Stan has the power, and I'm so glad he's back on the Tour, playing well and moving well. So I really enjoyed the match for what it was. It's difficult to always play against him, but I'm happy I was able to find a way in the tie-break in the second, because it was a frustrating night, for me, for the most period, and in the third I was able to find a way.

I think it was partially because he maybe dropped his level, for sure, but maybe me, I also played a bit better then.”

For Wawrinka, his quarter-final run in Cincinnati marks back-to-back positive weeks at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events. Last week, at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, he beat Aussie Nick Kyrgios, Marton Fucsovics of Hungary before falling to Rafael Nadal in the third round.

“For sure it was a great level. I think I'm playing great in general. I'm playing better every day, every week. Last week was really important and really good for myself, for my tennis, for my confidence. I'm happy to see where I am right now. I had a tough match last week against Rafa. Close match, also. Today was against Roger. They are No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. I beat Schwartzman, I beat Nishikori, so the level is good,” Wawrinka said.

“I need to keep improving, keep working, keep doing the right thing and keep pushing myself. For sure tonight I'm sad and disappointed to lose, but for me it's a big victory for myself after what I had last year. It was exactly one year ago. To see where I was also few weeks ago, I'm really happy to be here.”

Both players were performing double duty. Federer beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in straight sets earlier Friday, and Wawrinka knocked out Hungary's Marton Fucsovics. Overall, the always positive Federer didn't seem to mind the two a day.

“It was exciting to go through something new, only it was something I have done for the second time of my career maybe at the professional level. It felt like two separate days, actually, because this morning it was daytime, or this afternoon it was daytime, windy and breezy, and then we came out in the nighttime and it was black, and the sky was totally different. No wind at all. Different atmosphere. It was quite interesting, actually,” Federer said.

The seven-time champion will next meet Belgian David Goffin, who beat Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4). Goffin won their last matchup in the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finals, but Federer leads their ATP Head to Head series 6-1.

Date: 18 August 2018, Source: ATP

Federer wins in Cincinnati return

Roger Federer’s first competitive outing in the American Midwest in three years is off to a flying start with the Swiss seeing off Peter Gojowczyk in the second round of the Western and Southern Open on Tuesday. In his first ATP World Tour event since turning 37 on 8 August, the seven-time champion needed just 72 minutes to defeat the German, 6-4, 6-4.

The No. 2 seed had not played since squandering a match point in his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat to Kevin Anderson a month ago and admitted to feeling anxious about his US summer hard-court return. But despite a rusty opening service game, in which he rolled down two double faults to face a break point, the Swiss soon hit his straps.

“I felt good in that first match, to be honest, walking out, hardly any nerves,” Federer said. “I think I knew what I wanted to do, what I had to do. Game plan is very simple. It's straightforward, it's fast-court tennis.

“I'm only feeling better every day that has gone by after Wimbledon. So it's nice to have played a match so my last match is not the Anderson match, so you've kind of turned the page, I guess, in that regard. It's a good thing.”

He served out the opening set 6-4 with a sublime serve-volley reaping the backhand volley winner. When Federer broke in the opening game of the second set he looked to be cruising, with a touch-volley winner edging him to 4-2.

Saving his best point for the brink of defeat, Gojowzyck - who had defeated Joao Sousa in the first round - pulled off a smash passing shot on his way to holding for 3-4 but it would not distract Federer from the job at hand. He served it out to love to set a third-round meeting with Argentine Leonardo Mayer, an earlier 7-6 (7), 6-4 winner over Andy Murray's conqueror, Lucas Pouille.

“I do believe usually it takes two or three matches to get going like aiming for the lines, finding the rhythm on the serve, being able to serve very accurate, time and time again, getting used to the balls, how the ball flies,” Federer said. “That's why I'm always happy when I clear the first hurdle of any event, because it gives me an opportunity to actually play better the next time around.”

Date: 15 August 2018, Source: ATP