Roger Federer makes winning return after 13 month injury hiatus
20 time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, returned to competitive tennis after a gap of 405 days or just over 13 months. The Swiss maestro marked his return at the Qatar Open where he has won the title a record 3 times.
World number six Federer defeated Daniel Evans of Britain 7-6,3-6,7-5 in their first match of the Qatar Open tennis tournament to advance to the quarter-finals.
Three-time champion Federer is playing in Doha after nine years. He last played in this tournament in 2012. Federer played his last match against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January last year. He then underwent two knee operations due to which he was out of action for over a year.
20-time Grand Slam champion Federer will monitor his progress over the next few months and assess things again. He said, ‘I know that it is difficult for a person of about 40 years to return after being out for a year. I am surprised that it took so long, but I had already decided together with my team that I want to take time. I do not want to be in any hurry to return to the tour. The important thing is that I stay injury free and pain free and only then I can really enjoy my game in the tour, so I will look at how things progress. I am curious about it myself. ‘
