• Home
• /
• Tennis

Federer eyes fifth crown

DUBAI - A refreshed and revitalised Roger Federer is eyeing a fifth title in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship (men) which begins today.

The Swiss world number two relinquished his Australian Open crown last month, when he was beaten in straight sets by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, and now is in the unusual position of not holding any of the four Grand Slams since 2003.

But, having taken some much-needed time away from the sport to relax and reflect, the 29-year-old returns to action at the Aviation Club this week and is looking to get back to business instantaneously.

“I’ve had the perfect vacation,” Federer revealed when asked how he’d divided his time between Melbourne and this forthcoming tournament.

“I spent a lot of time with my kids (Myla Rose & Charlene Riva) & Mirka in the sun relaxing. Last year, after London, we could only take a week’s rest and — in a perfect world — that just wasn’t enough time for the body to rest and heel and mentally get away from it all.

“But, it was all I really was able to get, so — this time around — we had a longer time off and it did me really well. It was nice.

“When you’re taking a rest, you’re just enjoying it and happy to be away from it all, but then you also get hungry again to come back. I guess that’s the way I felt towards the end of the vacation.”

Federer’s otherwise immaculate injury record was somewhat blighted last year, with back and right leg ailments contributing to his quarter-final loss to Czech Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon back in June.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner’s physical condition has subsequently taken on an even greater significance as he approaches his 30^th birthday in 2011, although everything is holding up just fine right now.

“The challenge from the last year has been to try to stay really healthy again and I’ve been able to accomplish that, so that’s a good thing,” the 2010 Australian Open champion said.

“I don’t have to think about doing all of the right things to stay healthy and can now, pretty much, live a basically normal life again; I don’t have to think about picking up my daughter once too many times.

“Those kinds of things are in the past, so now I can really just focus on my fitness, my practice, my schedule, my tennis and then go from there.”

Federer naturally enters every tournament with the intention of winning it, but Dubai — where he has emerged victorious in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 — holds an extra special resonance from the other stops on the ATP Tour.

“I’m always the same at tournaments every single year, but I really get excited about coming to Dubai and coming back for the eighth time,” he added.

“It’s exciting for me to come back to places where I’ve done well in the past. I’ve had so many good memories from so many tournaments and that’s what gets me going. I’m feeling well and very positive about the next few months.”

alex@khaleejtimes.com