Federer to play Geneva Open for the first time

Roger Federer seen here in Geneva in 2019, when he played at the Laver Cup tennis event Keystone / Martial Trezzini

Swiss tennis great Roger Federer will take part in the Geneva Open in May for the very first time, it has been announced.

Organisers confirmed the rumours of the star’s participation in the clay court tournament on Sunday.  “The Gonet Geneva Open is fully aware of how lucky it is to welcome the greatest player of all time,” tournament director Thierry Grin said in a statementExternal link.

The player flagged up his participation shortly afterwards in a tweet, saying he couldn’t wait to play in Switzerland again.

Hi everyone!
Happy to let you know that I will play Geneva and Paris. Until then I will use the time to train. Can’t wait to play in Switzerland again.

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) April 18, 2021External link

Federer has not played in a tournament since he made his long-awaited return to competition in Doha in March – he had been out for over a year during which he had two surgeries on his right knee – in which he made it to the quarter finals.

The Geneva Open, which is played at the oldest and largest tennis club in Switzerland, will help Federer prepare for the French Open at the end of May. Last year’s Geneva Open was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Swiss players have won the event four times, with Stan Wawrinka lifting the trophy in 2016 and 2017. In 2019 it was won by German player Alexander Zverev.

Federer, who turns 40 in August, has won 20 Grand Slam titles during his career. He regularly plays in another Swiss-based tournament, the Swiss Indoors Basel. The Basel native has won the event ten times, the last time being in 2019. The 2020 competition was also cancelled due the coronavirus pandemic.