ROGER FEDERER MAY be the holder of 17 Grand Slam titles and one of the games greats, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously — and that’s why he’s so universally loved.
The 35-year-old was back on the court in Perth this morning as he stepped up his injury comeback in the Hopman Cup against teenager Alexander Zverev.
In one of the highest quality singles matches ever seen in the 29-year history of the team event, Federer provided glimpses of his best form but couldn’t quite hold off the bold 19-year-old German.
During two hours and 30 minutes on court, the pair traded blows in-front a crowd of 13,785 before Zverev closed out a game decided by three tie-breakers (7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4)).
It was Zverev’s second straight win over Federer, having beaten him in Germany last June, and the result also mirrored that of an unofficial match on the practice court on New Year’s Eve.
But Federer was upbeat afterwards and even got involved in a bit of fun whilst watching team-mate Belinda Bencic play her singles match against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.
And he was loving it too.
It was only the 35-year-old’s second match since a six-month layoff due to knee and back injuries following his win over England’s Dan Evans on Monday.
But Federer — who is out of the top 10 for the first time since late 2002 — said he was on the right track for the upcoming Australian Open.
“I am very happy, I have played five good sets so far,” he said.
“I am very pleased, practice has gone great, the matches have been a lot of fun and I am playing good tennis.”
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