Roger Federer announced following his Australian Open fourth-round loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas that he would play on clay for the first time since 2016. That obviously includes the French Open, but Federer also confirmed on Wednesday that the Madrid Masters is on his schedule.
The 37-year-old Swiss last played on the slow stuff at the 2016 Rome Masters, where he fell to Dominic Thiem in the third round.
“Federer is one of the best players of all time; it’s no secret”, said tournament director Feliciano Lopez. “We are happy because his return to Madrid is a gift to the tournament, but above all the fans will be able to see a unique player in the Caja Magica. Having the Swiss player back on clay with (Novak) Djokovic and (Rafael) Nadal is going to be unmissable.”
“Roger’s presence in the Caja Magica will make this year’s Mutua Madrid Open special,” the tournament’s honorary president Manolo Santana assured. “It doesn’t matter that he’s 37 because he still has that unmistakable class. The innate talent that has made him one of the best of all time. Being able to enjoy his tennis is something that no fan of the sport should miss.”
Federer has triumphed in Madrid on three occasions (2006, 2009, and 2012)–quite an impressive accomplishment in the Nadal era. Eleven of his 99 career titles have come on clay.
Feli is happy
Me too.
I figured Roger would play Madrid when he said he was going to play one clay masters. Don’t know what took him so long to make up his mind. 🙂 Maybe Mirka prefers Rome?
Eleven out of nineteen. That’s 11.11% of his titles came on clay. Not bad for a ‘non-clay’ player.
Roger won Madrid twice. Not sure if you can count “blue ice” as clay though…I think he won Hamburg a couple of times too, but of course that’s no longer a Masters and takes place after RG now so useless to him.
It’s odd – Roger grew up on clay but he wasn’t really great on the surface until 2005. Unfortunately for him Rafa “happened” that year. Roger would have had a whole bunch of RG’s except for Rafa, along with another Wimbly and AO. Otoh, how many slams would Rafa have if not for the Djoker?
Federer won it in 2009, too. Not sure what the circumstances were. I just remember being surprised he beat Rafa.
In 2009 the circs were that Rafa had played an amazing but brutal semi final vs Djokovic and was running on very sore knees (tendinitis) plus dealing with the split between his parents. Wasn’t a happy time for him but he had played some excellent clay court tennis that year.
Djokovic later claimed that semi had left him wiped out for a month, but that was Djokovic version 1, who had not yet become an iron man.
But in the end Roger played better than Rafa and won the final and would go on to defeat Soderling in the RG final that year, so it’s safe to say he was playing very well, although he came within a point of losing to Haas at RG that year!
Not bad? Worse than Djoko’s 13 out of 73 titles, and Djoko plays a few years later than Fed.
Yeah. Worse on clay than Rafa and Djoker still leaves Roger “not bad”!
The Dubai draw is out.
Kei
Tsitsipas
Cilic
Medvedev
Coric
Khachanov
Raonic
Federer
It should be noted that Roger’s 2006 win in Madrid was indoor hardcourt, not clay. “Madrid” was, of course, a totally different tournament then. It was replaced by Shanghai when Madrid replaced Hamburg as one of the spring clay Masters.
Fed’s odds to win Roland Garros are around 30 if anyone fancies it.
I read today on a Spanish website that Rafa may not play Madrid this year! When discussing his 2019 calendar he named Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome as firm.
Maybe he wants to give Ferrer a chance at winning the Madrid title?
I could be wrong but I don’t think that’s his motivation. More likely he wants a little easier schedule heading into RG. I’m sure Rafa would hate skipping Madrid but if he’s going to lighten up that heavy clay schedule Madrid is the logical one to skip.
Would be nice to see Ferrer going out on a high but I cant see him winning Madrid
Madrid conditions are ideal for Ferrer. If Djokovic doesn’t play, everyone else is beatable.
Federer? Well, would be nice for Daveeed to go out with his first win v Fed. But I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Ferru says he can still play good tennis for a match, maybe two, but then he’s done. Too bad!
Anyway, Djoker typically plays Madrid and Rome, may skip Monte Carlo, don’t think he ever plays Barce. But all that said, I’d sign for Ferrer winning Madrid!
In theory, but even his Duracell batteries have to run out sometime