Roger Federer announced earlier this week that he has healed physically and will be able to play in next month’s Hopman Cup. Federer has not taken the court since losing to Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals in early July because of a knee injury.
“I know you all haven’t heard much from me while I’ve been recovering from injury,” the 35-year-old Swiss wrote on Facebook. “I’ve missed you! I’m thrilled to be returning to the tour starting in January at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. I’m feeling healthy and ready to be back!”
The team competition features eight countries each consisting of one man and one woman. Switzerland (Federer and Belinda Bencic) is joined in the field by France (Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic), Germany (Alexander Zverev and Andrea Petkovic), Great Britain (Dan Evans and Heather Watson), Australia (Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova), the Czech Republic (Adam Pavlasek and Lucie Hradeka), Spain (Feliciano Lopez and Laura Arruabarrena), and the United States (Jack Sock and CoCo Vandeweghe).
Federer is then scheduled for a week off prior to the Australian Open.
In addition to his encouraging announcement, 17-time Grand Slam champion is going to provide his fans with an additional treat. His practice from Dubai this Thursday will be streamed live on Twitter and Periscope.
“Since it’s been awhile, I wanted to do something special for all my fans who’ve been supporting me this whole time,” Federer added on Facebook. “This Thursday, Dec. 22, at 2:00pm Dubai time, I’m going to broadcast my practice live on Twitter and Periscope from @RogerFederer. I’ll bring you along as I head to my practice court, and will stream some of my practice (warmup, drills, and even some points) live, and will leave some time for Q&A afterwards as well.
“I missed seeing you all in the second half of 2016. But hopefully you can join one of my last practices in 2016 live before 2017 kicks off! All you need to do is follow me on Periscope or visit my Twitter page at 2pm Dubai time to tune in.”
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FED is back…Hooray!!!!