Roger Federer sent fans’ hearts racing with one shot.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion shared this shot of a recent practice session ahead of his comeback in Doha.
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“The countdown to Doha begins,” Federer captioned the shot. “One week to go.”
Federer is scheduled to launch his comeback in Doha, set for March 8-13th.
It will be the 39-year-old Federer’s first match since he lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open semifinals.
The former world No. 1 has been rehabbing his right knee after undergoing a pair of arthroscopic surgeries last year. The owner of 103 career titles, Federer looks eager for his first ATP match in 13 match.
What’s Federer’s health status ahead of his comeback?
Pierre Paganini, Federer’s long-time trainer, told Swiss writer Rene Stauffer: “[Roger] actually trains almost normally. If you were to watch, you would say: he is not hurt, everything is fine. But one must not forget: Only when all the stages are over do you begin to work on reactivity in pre-exhaustion…It took an incredible amount of patience to get to this point.”
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve