Roger Federer Suffers First Round Exit At Geneva Open

BEVERLY HILLS, May 19, (THEWILL) – Former world number one and tennis icon Roger Federer has his work cut out for him if he nurtures any hopes of regaining any of his previous prestige after another return to the courts, that he used to dominate without breaking a sweat in his heydays.

Those hopes were prematurely ended by an uncharacteristic loss.

The Swiss legend, who was playing his first match on a clay court since losing to Rafael Nadal in the 2019 French Open semi-final, was beaten by the Spaniard Pablo Andujar, who played an impressive comeback game to take the deciding third set in the Geneva Open competition.

The 39-year-old lost in straight sets 6-4 4-6 6-4, but he led 4-2 in the third set and, the typical Federer could have not looked back from that point yet, Andujar recovered to win the final four games and take the match, to progress to the second round.

Although his opponent, Andujar, is ranked 75th in the world, the Spaniard is considered a clay-court specialist, having won all of his four career titles on the surface, much in the mould of his more illustrious compatriot, Rafa Nadal.

It was Federer’s second tournament since January 2020 after two knee operations that have shown to have had an impact on his performance so far. On his return in Doha, he showed glimpses of his best side when he beat British number one Dan Evans before losing in the second round to Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili for an early exit.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion had entered Geneva in the hope of stringing together a couple of match wins to get in some fitness for the French Open, which starts at Roland Garros on May 30.

Federer is not in the shape he needs to be in to pose a challenge against some of the best today’s game will throw at him and the eight-time Wimbledon champion may turn his focus to ensuring he is close to his peak for the grass-court Grand Slam at the All England Club on June 28 and let the clay season go.