Surprised to have already gone so far and anxious to save himself, Federer feels himself for the rest. “I have to decide whether to continue playing or not. Isn’t it too risky to keep pulling (on your knee), isn’t it a good time to rest? ”, he wondered at a press conference following his victory in a long standoff of more than three and a half hours with the German Dominik Koepfer (59th). The tournament in Halle, Germany begins on June 12 and is expected to kick off its grass season. Returning to competition in March after two right knee operations in 2020, the Swiss, who will celebrate his 40th birthday in August, has made Wimbledon his priority goal. “I hope to feel good the next few days and weeks. After a match like that, it’s never easy but, in any case, it proves to me that we’ve been on the right track for the past few months ”, he said, leaving doubt about his participation in the round of 16 in Paris. “With each game, I have to reassess the situation and see the next morning in what state I wake up and how my knee is. It may even be even more true after a match as long as today’s ”, said the former world number 1.
It was almost 12:45 a.m. and it was already Sunday, when the Swiss won 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 , at the end of this match broadcast on a private platform. For his first Grand Slam for sixteen months and behind closed doors on the night of Paris, the Swiss with twenty trophies is therefore wondering whether or not he will appear on the other side of the net on Monday, in eighth against the Italian Matteo Berrettini (9th).
From his close duel with Koepfer, “It was a completely separate game. My first night session at Roland-Garros, in front of… no one ”, he had said a little earlier. “But I love tennis, I love to play.” “If it had been full, maybe I would have gotten more nervous at the end. It was perhaps the only advantage of the fact that there was no one there tonight: I stayed mega calm, ”he said.
Heavy silence behind closed doors
He who had never before played a game behind closed doors that the Covid-19 pandemic has largely trivialized for almost a year, but whom he had until then escaped due to his double right knee surgery in 2020, will remember probably from his first experience.
“It was a hell of a game, with a lot of twists and turns on all sides”, a souri Federer. “I started well, I felt good, I could have taken the upper hand more frankly, but he fought well, he gave me lots of difficulties. It’s nice to have found the solution ”, he added.
Federer started the match from the right end: even if, for a long time, he failed to transform his chances, it was he who pocketed the first set in the decisive game. Then, finally, after 1h11 min of play, managed a break to lead 2-0 in the second.
But in the freshness of the Parisian night and the heavy silence behind closed doors, things then became more complicated for the Swiss.
An immediate break, and a new break exchange later, everything had to be redone for the Swiss. But faced with a percentage of success on the service in free fall, with a sudden accumulation of unforced errors (20 in this set alone), in particular in a new tie-break, the winner of Roland-Garros 2009 saw Koepfer equalize at a round everywhere after almost two hours of play.
“Thank you for not falling asleep”
The situation worsened when the German broke from the start of the third set, on a ball badly judged by Federer. But led 4-2 and clearly in great difficulty, head down and gloomy gaze, the Swiss, again more incisive and more precise, found the resources to pick up the score and turn in the lead after one more decisive game.
After a quick break in the fourth set from the first game, he seemed to finally have a glimpse of victory. It was without counting on a final start from Koepfer, who had yet received a penalty point for crossing the net and spitting on the mark of a ball.
Federer, however, managed to make a final effort to seize his opponent’s serve again, and end the game in stride on his second opportunity.
In the end, the Swiss won one point more than Koepfer (160 against 159). “And thank you for not falling asleep”, Federer started before leaving center court. For the last time ?
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