Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic thinks Roger Federer isn’t done yet as he believes the 38-year-old Swiss will benefit from the Tour suspension and return extremely motivated. Federer, a record 20-time Grand Slam champion, appeared only at the Australian Open this season before he underwent a minor knee surgery in February.
The 38-year-old was expected to make a comeback during the grass season but that won’t be happening after the ATP suspended the Tour until at least July 13 — effectively cancelling the grass season. “When it comes to Roger, he will certainly perfectly use the break like he has always done.
I have personally seen how fascinating he and (Rafael) Nadal look on the court after making a comeback,” Cilic told Jutarnji. “Let’s recall how many injuries has Nadal had and whenever he makes a comeback — he rarely loses to a player he isn’t supposed to lose and who isn’t his rival.
“Federer especially. Throughout his career, he has been often taking breaks of two months or more and he would always return in a much better form. I don’t think he is done. Maybe his desire (to win big matches and titles) will be even bigger after a four or five month break.”
Cilic, 31, claimed his lone Grand Slam at the US Open in 2014, before he lost two Major finals against record 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer. Federer handed a straight-set defeat to Cilic in the 2017 Wimbledon final, before he edged out the Croatian six months later in a five-set Australian Open final.
“That Was Confidential” – Serena Williams Responds to Roger Federer
Roger Federer caused quite a stir today when he tweeted out his wish for ATP and WTA to merge into a singular association. A statement like that was never going to fly under the radar, especially coming from the Swiss man. Serena Williams was one of the countless athletes and fans to respond to the tweet. However, for some mysterious reason, she has since deleted her tweet.
Roger Federer Wants ATP and WTA to Merge
The tennis season has been suspended since early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Roger Federer believes this the perfect time to open the door to discuss merging the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association.
This is not a notion that Federer has conjured up out of thin air; it has been floating around for decades. But when Federer says something, the whole tennis community listens.
One of the earliest tennis players to ever touch upon the topic was none other than tennis legend Billie Jean King. She jumped at Roger’s tweet and expressed her wish for it to happen at long last.
So did retired Australian player Rennae Stubbs.
Many current professional players too replied to his tweet, and most were in agreement with Roger.
Simona Halep was one of the first ones to respond.
Nick Kyrgios tweeted a simple ‘yes’ to the notion. While at first glance one might think he is agreeing with Federer, with Nick you never really know what is going on.
We’ll leave that one for you to interpret.
Another big influencer in tennis, Rafael Nadal, showed his support for his arch rival’s idea. But then again, that is hardly surprising.
If there is anyone who has as much clout in tennis as Roger it is Serena Williams. And she too agreed with the sentiment and expressed it with a bit of humor. However, as we mentioned before, she deleted her tweet later on for an unknown reason.
We did get our hands on an image of her tweet though.
If Federer and Williams want it to happen, this could be the best chance for it to materialize. However, it will be a difficult one to pull off. Let’s wait and watch how things pan out.
