Federer starts comeback and targets being ‘100 per cent’ for Wimbledon

Roger Federer vowed that “the story’s not over yet” as he prepared for his comeback from injury and targeted a triumphant return at Wimbledon.

Federer – who will be 40 in August – has not played on the professional tour for almost 14 months because of two keyhole operations on his right knee.

He remains concerned about the state of that joint – which suffered an unexpected setback last spring – and admitted yesterday that “the knee will dictate how the comeback will be, how the results will be, how long I can keep doing this.

“How is the knee going to react when you fly transatlantic, you go from time zone to time zone? How is it backing up a best-of-five-set match or playing four days straight against top players?”

But he also offered plenty of encouragement to his fans. “I’m in such a wonderful position now that I can actually play five days straight, 2½ hours a day,” Federer said. “That’s something I didn’t expect to be doing this time of the year.”

His first match back will be played in Doha on Wednesday, and there is a good chance that it will come against British No1 Dan Evans. As the second seed, Federer receives a bye to the second round.

But Federer said that his first few weeks on the tour were likely to be no more than a preparation for the central part of his year: the grasscourt season. “It’s still [about] building up to being stronger, better, fitter, faster, all that stuff,” he said. “So, I hope by Wimbledon I will be 100 per cent and from then on the season really starts for me.”

Federer added that he was not concerned about his game – “for me, tennis is like riding a bike” – but more about how his body would respond. He underwent his first operation on that right knee shortly after the 2020 Australian Open, and made strong initial progress in his rehab, only for things to turn sour around six weeks later.

“I didn’t expect complications to come about,” he said.

“This is a moment when you question everything a little bit more.”

But when asked if he had ever spoken to family or support staff members about retirement, Federer replied in the negative.

He did not seem perturbed about Rafael Nadal drawing level with his record tally of 20 grand-slam titles, nor Novak Djokovic recently claiming an 18th major in Melbourne.

“I think, for them, maybe this is bigger than for me,” he said, of the three-way race to finish at the top of the grand-slam chart. “For me, it was very important the closer I was getting to Pete’s [Sampras] record and potentially break it. For them, maybe I’m the measuring stick, like Pete was for me.”

Wait almost over: Roger Federer is due to play his first match for 14 months in Doha on Wednesday