Roland-Garros – Roger Federer forfeit against Berrettini? “We have to decide what is best for the next step”

When Roger Federer took to the court to answer the traditional post-match interview, Marion Bartoli, charged for the occasion to ask him questions, was almost embarrassed, given the late hour and, sorry, the advanced age of his interlocutor. She promised the Swiss champion to ask him only one question. But Federer quickly reassured her: “We’ve been playing for three and a half hours, so I can answer more than one question anyway. “Sacré Roger, who will perhaps find a way to leave Roland-Garros undefeated since he is not at all sure that he will extend his Parisian adventure further.

Sometimes laborious, he found the resources, we do not really know where or how, to get out of an evening that stank the trap full nose and win in four sets against a Dominik Koepfer hitter and brawler in the right meaning of the term. What can make a guy run soon in his forties, who has nothing more to prove to anyone, neither to us nor to himself, on a Saturday night, like that, at past midnight, in front of? .. nobody ? The person concerned only needed four words to deliver the key: “I love tennis.”

Roger Federer released it at 12.50 a.m. and, in all its simplicity, that sentence says it all. He loves tennis too much not to savor these moments. Especially after such a long absence. Casually, this victory will be added to his abundant collection. Not for its quality, often erratic, but for its context. The late hour, the night session, and this place in the round of 16 which, even for him, is a form of feat after playing three matches since the Australian Open 2020. Federer has now also racked up more sets in six days (11) than in 16 months (9).

“It was a hell of a game he commented again. With lots of twists and turns on all sides. I think I started well, I felt good, I was leading in the second set. Maybe I could have taken the upper hand better, I give it a little too much these breaks. But he fought well. Honestly, he plays well. It was a completely different game from Cilic. The court was slower. Cilic is playing in the field, he is standing further away, you have to get used to it. He posed a lot of difficulties for me, so finding the solutions makes me very happy.”

No doubt, Roger Federer will remember his great Parisian first night session, in front of “no one” as he said. Before correcting itself. In front of anyone, or almost. “I still see people, I don’t know if they are sponsors, journalists, people I know from the press! “, he joked. Paradoxically, the closed door did not serve him. On the contrary, according to him: “I might have been a little more nervous at the end if there had been an audience. That was the only advantage tonight. Since there was no one there, I stayed mega-calm.“But basically, no matter how many spectators, what area, who the opponent is, Federer is just happy to play tennis.

“I love to play tennis, he insisted. We’ll see how long, but it’s cool here in Paris. It gives me great pleasure to play three and a half hours at a high level like that against a very good player.. “Arrived at Porte d’Auteuil without rhythm or benchmarks or real ambition, in any case admitted, Federer has therefore found a way to climb to the round of 16. Even for a champion of his caliber, it is a form of feat. . He himself admits to being surprised. He admitted that he did not expect “not to win three matches at Roland Garros.“

But he does not forget that Roland Garros is not an end in itself. If Roger Federer continues to play, it is because he loves tennis, but also because he is convinced that he can still claim a major title. Especially at Wimbledon. But the grass is coming. And the Halle tournament, its only preparatory meeting, will begin just after Roland-Garros. This is why it is not impossible that his match against Koepfer will be his last of the fortnight.

“I have to decide if I keep playing or not, he admitted at a press conference. I have to see if it’s not too risky to insist or if now is not the time to rest. Because I don’t have a week’s rest between here and Halle, like in recent years.Each match, from Geneva (where he had resumed on clay), we take stock the next morning when we wake up to see how my knee is doing. ”

But he hadn’t chained so many sets and matches or played such a long fight for a very long time. “It will be interesting to see how I am tomorrow (Sunday), he said again. We have to decide what’s best for the next step. I will see how I will feel. I’ll see what’s best with the team. I will also think of Wimbledon. A lot of things go through my mind.”

“Whatever happens, coming to Paris was the right decision“, he said after his victory against Marin Cilic in the second round. He has not changed his mind.”All the matches that I play since the injury, I withdraw information, he explains. I worked a lot, although it took a long time to come back. But after a game like this three and a half hours, there’s a lot of information to take away.“And a decision to be made: to play or not to play. Although he loves it. Federer has played with the heart, but to know if he will give cover against Berrettini, he will decide with the head.