Federer putting a priority on Olympics in 2021

Roger Federer continues to look ahead to 2021 with optimism.

Earlier this week he announced that he has regained the rights to his famous RF logo, which will be available at Uniqlo outlets as soon as this coming Tuesday. That is no doubt a delight for Federer fans–as is the fact that he is looking forward to Tokyo Olympics participation.

The Olympics were postponed from the summer of 2020 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which also wiped out five months of the tennis season. If the pandemic allows, the Games will now be held July 24 to August 9, 2021. And if they are held, Federer plans to be there.

The 39-year-old Swiss made his intentions known during a video chat with Kei Nishikori on Saturday.

Nishikori: “I know you came to Japan last year. Do you have any plans (to come back) next year?”

Federer: “Yes. Obviously the big plan is to be there for the Olympics. This is for me the big one. Maybe selfishly for me it wasn’t a bad thing that it was moved (from 2020), because of the problems I had this year. Let’s hope now for the best for the Olympic Games coming to Tokyo this next year. Clearly this is one of my big goals; I really hope I can come back to Tokyo and Japan for that. I remember winning in Tokyo in 2006 at Ariake Stadium and that will be the Olympic Stadium.”

As Federer noted, he would not have been able to play this year because he was sidelined by a knee injury. Now that the 20-time Grand Slam champion appears to be ready to go from a physical standpoint for 2021, he hopes to make a return trip to Japan. Federer won the Japan Open–at the aforementioned Ariake Stadium in Tokyo–in his first and only appearance at that tournament back in 2006.

In addition to singles and potentially men’s doubles, mixed doubles with Belinda Bencic could also be an option.

“I’m ready,” Bencic assured. “It’s just up to Roger now. Nothing has been decided yet, everything is still very far away for me, but in addition to the Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympic Games remains one of my big goals–in singles and maybe also in mixed. If we stay healthy, I would like to compete with Roger.”

Federer was supposed to play mixed doubles with Martina Hingis at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but they ended up withdrawing. He has never won a singles gold medal but triumphed with Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.