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Roger Federer Cares More About Wimbledon Than Roland Garros

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In some rather shocking news, All-time tennis great Roger Federer announced that he is withdrawing from the ongoing French Open tournament. The statements he made regarding the decision certainly seem to indicate that Wimbledon takes priority over Roland Garros.

Roger Federer Withdraws from French Open

The French Open marked the first tournament back for Roger Federer since last year’s Australian Open. He had a pair of knee surgeries in between but was able to come back and win each of his three matches over the first week at Roland Garros.

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After a lengthy third-round victory, Federer announced on Sunday that he would withdraw from the French Open.

Although surprising, this decision does make sense. At 39 years of age, recovering from two knee surgeries is no easy feat.

Roger Federer was able to win each of his first two matches at Roland Garros with relative ease. But after a third-round grinder against Dominik Koepfer that lasted over three hours, it appears rest and recovery became his focus.

The following comes from Federer’s official statement on the decision, which was released by the French Tennis Federation:

“After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery. I am thrilled to have gotten 3 matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court.”

Roger Federer is a 20-time Grand Slam winner, and it was really great to see him back on the court this week.

Where this story gets interesting though is when one considers what lies ahead on the tennis schedule.

With the third Grand Slam of the year, Wimbledon, set to begin in less than a month, many believe Federer’s decision to bounce from the French Open early is about more than just fatigue.

Roger Federer has won all four tennis majors in his career. But he has the most success at Wimbledon, winning the event eight times. Furthermore, Federer has only won Roland Garros once in his illustrious career.

He used a tweet about his third-round match by Andy Murray to confirm that he will indeed be a part of Wimbledon:

With Father Time likely to overtake him sooner than later, Federer may very well be pulling out of the French Open in order to be better prepared for a run at Wimbledon. He is a far better grass-court player than he is clay. However, he has not won the third Grand Slam since 2017.

That being said, with clay-court ace Rafael Nadal on cruise control through the first week at Roland Garros, Federer’s best opportunity at one last major championship undoubtedly lies at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

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