Winning the French Open would give him four consecutive major championships, something no man has achieved since Rod Laver won a true Grand Slam in 1969.
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US Open champion Flavia Pennetta, meanwhile, re-entered the top 10 this week despite having retired at the end of last season. But, Federer’s injuries and the continued dominance of younger players like current No. 1 Novak Djokovic make Federer’s chances of adding to his Grand Slam look slimmer and slimmer by the day.
In 2016, we have seen worrying signs of high mileage on the Federer clock.
It forced him to scratch from the 2014 World Tour Finals title match against Djokovic in London although he recovered in time to team up with Wawrinka for a first Davis Cup title later in the year.
That marked Federer’s final professional match before Thursday’s announcement that he would not play in the French Open.
Because of Federer’s withdrawal, nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal will move up from No. 5 to No. 4 in the seedings, meaning he will avoid a possible quarterfinal rematch against top-ranked Novak Djokovic. He knew that he was sapped by a couple of lengthy, hard victories against Nadal and Kei Nishikori.
“Right now I feel good when my feet first hit the clay”, Williams said to CNN. That was part of a rough stretch for Nadal, who appears to be inching closer to finding his old “King of Clay” form.
The draw was made on Friday morning to the odd backdrop of music from a jazz quartet, while outside Roland Garros security is extremely tight this year after the events of the past six months. The 14-time Grand Slam champ is going for a tenth title at Roland Garros.
He was in doubt for the Rome Masters the following week, too, but arrived early for a number of tentative practice sessions at the Foro Italico before taking to court to win his opener against Alexander Zverev, though was still clearly hampered by his back. The all-time mark of 24 belongs to Margaret Smith Court. Prior to that, Federer had withdrawn from the Madrid Open due to back issues.
The women s tournament is missing two-time champion Maria Sharapova who is serving a doping suspension and the injured Caroline Wozniacki.
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“I have tried to defend there once, twice”.
