Roger Federer’s long awaited comeback in Basel

Roger Federer is currently recovering from a couple of “niggles” brought on by the heavy workload during the American summer swing. Federer pulled out of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, a tournament he loves to play in front of his millions of loyal Chinese fans.

The World Number four reached the semi-final of the US Open in September where he lost to Novak Djokovic despite having had match points. Straight after the New York Grand Slam Federer travelled to Australia to represent his country in the Davis Cup World Group playoff. He ended up winning his two singles rubbers against Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic. The former world number one and his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka navigated their country back into the Davis Cup World Group.

The Swiss superstar is looking to win his second title this year in his hometown of Basel. A young Roger was once a ball boy at the Basel tournament. The Swiss Indoors have attracted some great stars over the years. Amongst the previous winners are Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Boris Becker, John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg.

Having won the tournament in 2006, ’07, ’08 and in ’10, it’s going to be hard for any player to stop the hometown hero from winning his fifth title here next week. The Fed Express is looking to lift his 68^th trophy at the end of the week.

Other top players confirmed for this year’s ATP World Tour 500 Swiss Indoors tournament are Novak Djokovic, Mardy Fish, Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet, Andy Roddick, Viktor Troicki, Janko Tipsarevic and Switzerland’s number two ranked player Stanislas Wawrinka.

Federer has already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour event in London in November. He will be joined at the O2 Arena in London by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and David Ferrer. Three spots are still to be filled.

His many fans around the world are looking forward to his return in Basel next week. Hopefully Roger Federer has got his niggles under control and will be able to play the planned end-of-year schedule – Swiss Indoors, Basel, BNP Paribas Masters and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Date: 26.10.2011, Source: 10SBalls

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Federer twins watch their daddy wins the Swiss Indoors

 

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Roger Federer won a record fourth title in Basel

Roger Federer won his hometown title at the Swiss Indoors Basel for a record fourth time as he avenged his 2009 final defeat to Novak Djokovic with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over the Serb in Sunday’s final.

"It’s obviously a beautiful moment. It’s always very emotional and just a good feeling; I’m very happy," said Federer. "I’ve had a great history here. I can’t believe I’ve been in the final so many times and I’ve won already four times. I couldn’t be more happy today."

Basel-born Federer captured his 65th career tour-level title, taking him to fourth place on the Open Era Singles Titles List, one ahead of American Pete Sampras. It was the Swiss No. 1’s fourth title of the season, adding to triumphs at the Australian Open (d. Murray), Cincinnati (d. Fish) and Stockholm (d. Mayer) two weeks ago. He is the third player this year to win four tour-level titles, following Rafael Nadal and Sam Querrey.

"I have to back it up [in London] now. I’ve played three straight finals in a row; I’ve won titles back-to-back in Stockholm and Basel," said Federer. "Now I have a couple of days off and a travel day as well to get to Paris and play well there and it’s only then that the focus will really shift to London. I’d like to keep it up and play well in Paris and see how it goes from there.”

Top seed Federer made a fast start to his 18th meeting with Djokovic and broke serve in the third game as he quickly wrapped up a one-set lead. The second-seeded Djokovic was quick to respond, though, breaking Federer’s serve for just the second time this week in the second game of the second set to level the match.
Riding an eight-match winning streak, though, the confident Federer kept his focus in the deciding set and from 1-1 won five successive games to seal victory in just under two hours. Since squandering two match points in a five-set defeat to Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals, Federer has beaten the Belgrade native twice, also in the Shanghai semi-finals, and extended his career-lead in their head-to-head series to 12-6.

"Today obviously was the most dangerous match [of the week], I was playing the best player in the tournament," reflected Federer. "I had a tough final last year, pretty similar to this one this year, but it just went my way in the third set. We always play very athletic against one another, I always think it’s really close, they can go either way, so I’m happy I won the last three of the four. I had match point [against him] at the US Open and that one hurt, but look, this one makes up for it big time."

The 29-year-old Federer improved to a 38-7 record in Basel, where he once served as a ball boy, and has won 24 of his past 25 matches at the ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court tennis tournament. He won three successive titles from 2006-2008 before finishing runner-up to Djokovic last year; he also reached the final in 2000-2001.

Date: 08.11.2010, Source: ATP

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Roger Federer in Basel final

Roger only needed 70 minutes to defeat Andy Roddick in Basel tonight, making a clear statement with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

It was the first time after their memorable encounter in the Wimbledon final 2009 that Roger and Andy played each other today. Roger took a super quick lead, breaking Roddick when he first had the chance. He served 13 aces and was clearly the better player at the Swiss Indoors this time.

As Roger faces Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final, he has the opportunity to take revenge for the defeat against the Serb in last year's final, where Roger was deprived of a fourth title in his home town.

"Novak’s playing great at the moment and we just played three really good matches in a row, in Shanghai, the US Open and in Toronto," said Federer. "It’s going to come down probably to a couple of points here and there. I hope the spectators get behind me and that that’s going to make a difference this year."

"It’s always a lot of fun playing Andy Roddick. We’ve played each other over 20 times in our career, but we hadn’t played each other a lot lately so I think that’s why we were both a bit unsure at the beginning how we were going to play," explained Federer. "I really got off to a good start and could play more freely than he did. I was able to get a read on his serve and just felt comfortable, even when I went down a break in the second set. At the end I really played good tennis so I’m very happy with the way it went today.”

Date: 06.11.2010, Source: RF Official and ATP

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Federer chases 20th win over Roddick

Top seed Roger Federer has set a semi-final showdown with longtime rival Andy Roddick at the Swiss Indoors Basel after beating Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-2 Friday.  In a master class serving performance, Federer dropped just four points on his first serve and five points on his second serve.

“It was a tough match, even though the scoreboard showed it as pretty routine,” Federer said. “He makes you work hard and second guess your choices. I didn’t face a break point and that allowed me to take some chances on the return."

Federer, 29, the three-time Basel champion, is chasing a second consecutive title following his triumph two weeks ago in Stockholm. The Swiss World No. 2 has not faced a break point in his three wins en route to the semi-finals.

Federer is seeking a 65th career title to move into outright third position in the list of Open Era titles leaders. He also chases a 20th career win over Andy Roddick, whom he leads 19-2 in career meetings. They have met at least once a year for 10 straight years, dating back to their first meeting in 2001, which came in the Basel quarter-finals.

On facing Roddick, Federer said:  “I know the danger, I know the serve, I know his game.  We’ve faced off over 20 times in the past, but I’ve got to be ready for it. It’s not an easy draw to have Andy in the semis. We’ve both played three solid matches now so it will come down to who has the better day.”

Date: 06.11.2010, Source: ATP

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Quarters in Basel

Roger has made it through to the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors thanks to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Janko Tipsarevic (ATP 46).

"I played well, served well and had hardly any errors. This is about as good as it gets. If I can keep it like this for the whole event, that would be amazing," Roger commented.

Our champ dominated the match, winning all 25 of his first-serve points as he never faced a single break point. He broke serve easily in the second game of the match to take a 2-0 lead - a head-start that was just right to later close out the set with an ace at 5-3.

Roger continued in style, breaking again in the second set at 3-3 and only losing one single point in his next two service games.

Next up in Basel will be either Radek Stepanek or Santiago Giraldo on Friday.

Date: 04.11.2010, Source: RF Official

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Roger storms through

Roger successfully started his bid for a record fourth title at the Swiss Indoors in his home town Basel today. He defeated Alexander Dolgopolov 6-4 5-2, as the Ukrainian had to retire.

Roger took a 4-3 lead in the opening set as he converted the first of three break points. Dolgopolov had served strong in the first set, but the danger was reduced in the second set as a wayward forehand gave Roger an early advantage after a double-fault. Roger raced even further, taking a 5-2 lead and served for the match. As Dolgopolov was sprinting up to the net, he hurt his right ankle as he stretched to reach a drop shot.

Roger is looking to regain the title in his hometown after losing in last year's final against Novak Djokovic. He has previously won the title three times.

Roger will play either Denis Istomin (ATP 43) or Janko Tipsarevic (ATP 46) on Wednesday.

Date: 02.11.2010, Source: RF Official

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